Cafe, Restaurant and Catering Managers
Organise and control the operations of cafes, restaurants, catering businesses and related establishments to provide dining, takeaway and catering services.
Saturday: two events, one kitchen
You are the owner and manager of a small catering company, running a corporate lunch at noon and a wedding reception at six on the same day. It is 9am. The van is half loaded, the kitchen is full of trays and your phone has already rung four times. Three things are about to land on you.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
We have just heard our directors want to join the lunch. That makes it fifty instead of thirty-five. I assume you can manage that? It is only fifteen more sandwiches and a few salads, surely.
Say you will ring back within the hour with options and a price
You check stock and staff, then offer a plan with a clear extra cost. Kelly agrees and thanks you for being straight. Quick, honest options beat a rushed yes.
Say yes immediately, because the client is important and you do not want to lose them
The food stretches but the wedding prep falls behind. A last-minute yes means a cost somewhere else. You also forgot to talk about the price.
Say no, because there is no way to change numbers on the day
You protect your day but lose a good chance to serve a client who might have booked again. A firm no without an alternative leaves a client with nowhere to go.
The van will not start, and the wedding marquee people are due on site at two. I could ask my cousin to bring his ute, but it is not insured for your equipment. What do you want me to do?
Use the cousin's ute and hope nothing goes wrong, since there is no time
Nothing happens to the load, but only by luck. If something had been damaged you would have been without cover, and Ollie would have carried the blame.
Hire a proper, insured vehicle from a trusted supplier and re-plan the loading
It costs more than you hoped, but the equipment arrives safely and on time. Spending on a sound solution is cheaper than a problem later.
Wait for the mechanic to come and look at the van first, in case it is a quick fix
The mechanic arrives and needs a part, and by then you have lost two hours. Hoping for a quick fix cost you the margin for a backup plan.
I think I made a mistake. A guest told me she has a serious allergy and I wrote it down, but I cannot find the note, and I am not sure whether I told the kitchen. I am so sorry.
Thank her for telling you, go to the kitchen with her, check the guest's dish and confirm the note with the chef
The chef confirms the meal is safe and prepares it separately. Priya learns that speaking up about a possible mistake is exactly right. In catering, an honest report beats a hidden slip every time.
Reassure her it is probably fine and ask her to carry on serving
The guest's meal goes out without a check. Nothing goes wrong this time, but you have taught a new staff member that allergy notes can be treated lightly. They cannot.
Take over the allergy table yourself so Priya does not have to worry
The guest is looked after, but Priya feels removed from the event and never learns what happened. Looking after the guest is right, and so is teaching the person who spoke up.
How it went
Both events run, the van is returned and the last tray is washed. Managing a catering business means planning, quick decisions, looking after a small team and keeping clients informed. Would you rather be on the floor or the one making the plan behind it?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: Eighty meals for a hundred and ten guests
A fictional case set in a fictional catering company running a wedding and a corporate lunch on the same Saturday.
The situation
Hamza Qureshi ran Wattle and Fig Catering. A client had booked a garden party for eighty, and on the morning of the event rang to say twenty-eight more people were coming. The food was already prepared and the venue's tiny kitchen was set up for eighty. Two of Hamza's waiting staff had also not turned up. The client said it was just a few extra people and could not understand why it was a problem.
What they did
Hamza did not say yes or no on the phone. He called back in ten minutes with a clear plan: he could feed everyone if they were happy to have a more relaxed, shared platter style and a slightly shorter menu. He moved one cook from the kitchen to the floor, and borrowed two servers from another event. He asked the client to confirm in writing, and explained the extra charge before anything else happened.
How it turned out
The food went out on time and the guests did not know it had been a scramble. The client was a little grumpy about the extra charge but paid it. Hamza added a rule to the booking form that changes in the last two days would be treated as a new quote.
What would you do?
- Why did Hamza ring back with a plan instead of answering straight away?
- How would you speak to a client who thinks a change is easy?
- What would you want to know before you said yes to the extra guests?