CATERING & BANQUET OPERATIONS

Catering

is the business of providing food service at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, hospital, pub, aircraft, cruise ship, park, filming site or studio, entertainment site, or event venue.

banquet

on the other hand, is a formal meal held to celebrate an event organized in honor of a person or an anniversary. It is a large meal or feast, complete with main courses and desserts, often served with ad libitum alcoholic beverages, such as wine or beer. In banquet events, a menu is preselected by the client for all guests attending the event.

Commercial Operations

include food and beverage dining services, public cafeterias, restaurants, banquet and catering centers and individual caterers.

Institutional or Welfare operations

include dining at businesses, hospitals, nursing homes, schools, private clubs, leisure and recreation companies, transportation companies (railway, shipping/cruiseline, and airline), prisons, military installations, religious organizations, athletic facilities, etc. Just about any place where the main focus of the property is not necessarily food service.

On-premise catering

indicates that the function is held exclusively within the caterer’s own facility. All of the required functions and services that the caterer executes are done exclusively at their own facility.

Off-Premise Catering/ Social Caterers

These enterprises prepare food in one location, then deliver it and serve it at another location. Off-premise catering often involves producing food at a central kitchen, with delivery to and service provided at the client’s location.

Party Food Caterers.

caterers supply only the food for an event. They drop of hot or cold foods and leave any last-minute preparation, plus service and cleanup, to others.

Hot Buffet Caterers.

caterers provide hot foods that are delivered from their commissaries in insulated containers. They sometimes provide serving personnel at an additional charge.

Full-Service Caterers

caterers not only provide food, but may also cook food to order on-site. They also provide service personnel at the event, plus all the necessary food-related equipment - china, glassware, flatware, cutleries, tables and chairs, tents, and so forth. They can arrange for other services, like décor and music, as well. In short, a full-service caterer can plan and execute an entire event, not just the food for it

Mobile Caterers

may cook food from their own cooking facility and take food to where the market is by using the vehicle or mobile unit. They may also cook food order on-site.

Conventional or Traditional System

is characterized by a complete kitchen and dining set-up. Menu items are prepared in a kitchen in the same facility where the meals are served and held a short time, either hot or cold, until serving time. Food ingredients have a low “degree of convenience”. This means they are usually bought in its typical market form and then finished for serving in the production area.

Commissary (Central Production or Satellite Kitchen) System

is described as a large, central production kitchen with centralized food purchasing and delivery of prepared foods to service satellite units located in separate, remote areas for final preparation and service. The satellite units which may be found in several different locations that acts as distribution centers which receive the product either in fully or partially finished form. This are then made ready for serving in the satellite units. Commercial and airline catering and many fastfood restaurants use such a system or at least a modified version of it.

Ready Prepared (Cook/Chill or Cook/Freeze) System

This system involves the production of large batches of food products which are then either quickly chilled or frozen until service time. This system requires good food storage facilities since the service time and preparation time are far from each other. The highest level of sanitation standards is necessary since storage carries the risk of spoilage. Differentiated from the commissary system, food products can still be prepared in individual kitchens instead of a centralized one; however, the place of preparation is not the place of service. Since the products are prepared in advance, the obvious disadvantage of such system is that it requires a high amount of storage space and equipment.

Assembly/Serve System

The assembly/serve systems require very minimal production facilities. This has led to the use of the term kitchenless kitchen. It buys its products pre-prepared and only needs re-heating and assembly before it is served. The establishment has a very little to do with the actual preparation of the products. There is a very high “degree of convenience” and use of ready to eat convenience foods. This type of system requires good forecasting skills since shortages may be harder to cover especially if suppliers have no provision for such emergencies.

Types of Catering Systems

• Conventional System is best for high-quality, customizable, and fresh food.

• Ready Prepared System works well when holding space is available and service speed needs improvement.

• Commissary System is ideal for multiple outlets with limited space or labor.

• Assembly Serve System is best for cost savings and operational simplicity.

Eliminates Guesswork
Consistency and High Quality Products
Eases Costing
Eases Training of Staff
Minimize Left-over and Waste
Prevents Dependence
Facilitates control
Saves Time

Benefits of a Standardized Recipe

Banquet

This setup is used for weddings and most dinner and lunch events. It includes tables that accommodate large number of people since these types of events are usually for large crowds. Often, a head table for the VIP or sponsors is facing all guests in attendance. For weddings or celebration parties, a dance floor is also allocated. There are two common banquet set-ups

Banquet Rounds

This setup use round tables which can accommodate from 6 up to 12 persons.

Imperial or Traditional Banquets

This type of setup use rectangular tables used in traditional banquets of olden times.

Cocktail parties

This set-up often has minimal seats or no seats at all to influence conversations and guest interactions. The flow of guests is important for this type of function.

Meetings

This type of set-up is often used for smaller number of people. The set-up often involves discussions and learning so the setup should encourage conversations among participants.

Classroom style

This setup is used for seminars and similar events. It is setup where all the guests are seated on a table facing the front of the room This setup is good for lectures and if you are going to use visual aids such as videos or PowerPoint. It is also good if you are going to be doing any testing of participants. This style takes up the most amount of space, which results in a lessening of the amount of guests that may be accommodated in a room.

Theater or Lecture style

This is the easiest to set up since guests are provided only chairs, all facing in the same direction. This type of physical setup would be used when the guests are listening to a presentation.

Boardroom style

This setup is often used for smaller meetings such as a board of directors’ meeting. This style of setup is used when all participants want to be able to see and communicate directly with each other. It works well for brainstorming activities and problem-solving exercises. There are different variations to this set up

Boardroom style

Traditional o Hollow Style
T-Style
U-Style