SC - Serving question

[Huette von Ahrens]

- --- Siegfried Heydrich <baronsig at peganet.com> wrote:
>     I see from some of the menus posted to the list
> that people serve 3, 4,
> or 5 dishes in a given course. How do you
> co-ordinate that with your
> servers? Does all of it come out at once, or do they
> bring them out one at a
> time? And if they do, how do you keep the servers
> alive? Run the poor kids
> into the ground . . .

Actually, I coordinate it with the Server Coordinator
...

What I try to do is have one cook work on each of the
dishes to be presented per course.  This way, the
dishes are pretty much ready to be served at the same
time.  I usually serve the meat dishes first, one at a
time, followed closely thereafter by whatever side
dishes there are.  This way, the whole course is
served within 10 minutes.  Yes, the server has to come
and go from the kitchen four or five times per course,
and then after their tables have finished serving
themselves, return the serving dishes to the kitchen.
If I had my druthers, I would prefer to have one
server per table, in addition to a drink server who
will handle serving the liquids for two or three
tables.  This only happens if I get enough serving
volunteers.  I usually feed my servers before the
banquet with all the food that can be made ready in
advance.  This keeps them energetic and happy.  What
isn't ready, they get to eat in between courses.  My
servers do not have to pay for their meals.  Their
service is more than abundant payment.  I have had no
one die from serving my banquets.  I have had many who
volunteer repeatedly because they like my food and how
I treat them.

>     We have a serious lack of serving vessels here,
> and so I try to do
> family service whenever possible - bring out a dish
> in the container in
> which it was cooked, set it down, and let the guests
> divvy it up. Makes
> portion control a whole lot easier, not to mention
> life for the servers. I
> tend to use no more than a dozen servers for a feast
> serving 250. Is that
> normal for everyone else?

No wonder your servers are exhausted ... for 250, I
would have 25 servers and 6 drink servers, plus at
least two servers just for the royals at the head
table.

If you have a "99 Cents Only Store" in your area, they
are the best place to start a good store of serving
vessels.  I never rely on the hall to have adequate
serving dishes, so I always provide my own.  After
many banquets, I have quite a storehouse full which
only needs the occasional replacement of broken or
damaged dishes.  Lately, the "99 Cents Only Store" has
been offering serving trays that look like silver
platters.  These being 99 cents each, 60 trays are
$59.40 plus tax.  When I do a feast for 300, this will
adequately serve one per table per course, so that
while 30 are in use, 30 are being prepared for the
next course.  The first set is washed immediately and
is ready for the third course preparation.  This store
also has many different kinds of large salad bowls,
which do well also for stews and sloppy dishes.  I
also used the individual salad bowls for serving
sauces for the whole table.  I try not to have
anything served in individual bowls, etc.  When I
serve soup, I usually have special servers with carts
and large pots who serve the soup individually, and I
make sure that everyone brings their own soup bowls. 
Providing 300 soup bowls is too costly, even when
using paper bowls, which I refuse to use anyway.  

While the thought of spending $60+ per serving
dish/tray sounds like a lot when you are thinking of
having to purchase everything at once, I usually only
buy one set per feast, so the cost is extended over a
long period of time.  When I first started, I had to
buy a few sets and borrow a lot to fill in.  But now
after 25 years, I have a full storage shed and am
willing to loan them out to those in need.  The
hardest part are tablecloths.  I usually have to make
my own.  Because of this, they usually aren't very
stain resistant and need to be replaced frequently. 
Especially when people bring their own candles and
candlesticks.  Most don't seem to think about how much
their candles drip and how difficult it is to clean
off wax dripped over two or three hours onto a
tablecloth or whether or not their colored candles
will leave permanent stains, which they do.

I hope that this is of help to you Siegy.

Huette

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Send instant messages & get email alerts with Yahoo! Messenger.
http://im.yahoo.com/