A Well Oiled Machine

In the world of events, as with many other areas of life, every single detail plays a significant role in the larger picture. An event operates much like a machine, with each of the elements, no matter how small, playing an integral role in its successful operation. While our clients are most familiar with their event specialists, our culinary, setup, scheduling teams are continually hard at work behind the scenes doing their part to ensure that each event is served with our promise of great food and great service.

The busiest time for any event is the week leading up to it and the day of. Food is ordered from suppliers and prepared by the culinary team. Linens are delivered and checked-in. Beverage orders are placed and delivered. Scheduling ensures we have servers available and the correct ratio for each event to guarantee service success. However, these few points are only the tip of the ice berg.

Each department manager has a deep understanding of our operation and a library of knowledge to gather their resources and work with their teams to carry out their responsibilities. Every single task, no matter how big or small, is part of ensuring success for our clients based on the content of the BEO (banquet event order). For example, when our setup manager receives the BEO he begins to determine an event’s equipment needs such as how many chaffing dishes, water glasses, and which equipment is needed. Our setup manager knows the numbers inside and out. Every piece of equipment that goes to an event goes through our setup department, along with every piece of equipment that gets set at the event itself. Not only is this department vital to the operations team, they are vital to the serving team as well. Without our setup department’s continual hard work and strategizing, we wouldn’t be nearly as efficient as we are.

Operations doesn’t just start and end with our setup department. We have other individuals in our organization that are also vital in by using a cross-over role to work with multiple departments. Our Vice President of Food and Beverage ensures that all the beverage setup team pulls for an event is ordered in the correct quantities, develops specialty cocktails, and reviews the BEOs on a regular basis for accuracy and consistency so that our team is operating at its most efficient point. Working with him is our Director of Food and Beverage who takes a more execution-based approach to events by working with our event specialists to create diagrams for large scale events and managing the events themselves as they happen. He also works closely with our scheduling manager to guarantee we have the appropriate staff for each event. Every element of our responsibilities is a team effort from start to finish.

At our heart, we are a caterer, so without our expansive menu and high quality food and beverage products our other departments wouldn’t be tasked as they are. Culinary is responsible for producing every food item on each and every BEO for every event we cater. They feed thousands of people every month with diligent planning and preparation. As our event captains are preparing to depart for their event locations, our executive and sous chefs are taking the time to go over the BEO with them to verify that every item requested is provided. From there they attend the events to plate dishes and guarantee the quality of the presented menu meets our standards – as well as attend to action stations like the pasta station pictured above. Their commitment to an event doesn’t end once the food it prepared and served, it carries through until the last empty plate is loaded into the dishwasher.

The event itself is where all these parts come together in a medley of movement. Our event captains and their staff work cooperatively with our setup team to finish setting the event and put on the finishing touches. However, once an event ends our event machine doesn’t stop working. Our teams come together once again to tear down events and begin preparing for the next one. There is equipment to clean and restock, food to donate to Second Harvest, consumption reports to tally, and planning for the next event to begin. Thinking through every step before an event is crucial to the final product, especially when there are events back-to-back and several pieces of equipment are needed continually. Regardless of how insignificant a piece of an event may seem (like washing the dishes), together, they create a well-oiled machine, ensuring an enjoyable experience for all.