The Setup
There are two kinds of caterers (and a mixture of the two which could be considered a third):
1. On-premise, meaning they have a banquet hall or venue of some kind;
2. Off-Premise, meaning they cook wherever the party goes.
As an off-premise caterer, and as a person who well remembers my creative writing teachers’ rule to write what I know, I intend to address only the off-premise catering experience.
Just to get this out of the way, here’s my personal situation: I have a Facebook account, a Twitter account, a Linked-In account, a website and a blog. Though I have a publicist – in part to keep the social media in order - I produce a lot of the content for all five (pictures and text). This doesn’t include maintenance of www.theknot.com, www.weddingwire.com, www.eventective.com, www.decidio.com, www.eldweddings.com and all the other www.dot.com sites that might direct a potential client to me.
I use a catering software package that makes me ten times as productive as I was without it, but that needs to be maintained too, for updated costing, new recipes, new ingredients, new contacts, menus and events. I have a professional kitchen (with professional equipment that must be maintained and sometimes repaired), a monstrous (or so it seems to me, yet I keep buying!) amount of dishware, platters, trays, flatware, props, etc., all of which is insured, as are my bartenders and my food (big liability, don’t you know!)
I have a chef on salary year-round, and when the spring and fall wedding seasons crank up, I’ll be working with twenty to thirty contract staff, whose names, addresses and social security numbers have to be tracked. I have an accountant who works my taxes, and a bookkeeper who handles the annual 1099s and tracks my day-to-day situation.
I have a home office with computer, scanner/copier/printer and a shredder; I have a kitchen office with a laptop and scanner/copier/printer. I have a smart phone and a netbook (for staying in contact when I travel), and umpteen chargers and spare batteries, so I am never completely out of contact. I have a video camera with tripod, as well as a small pocket sized Canon and a voice memo recorder. 
I have two vehicles dedicated to business, as well as my personal car (an adorable though aging Mini Cooper), that is often used for work purposes. Actually, I work pretty much all the time, so my Mini rarely gets a true joy ride!
I have any number of food magazine subscriptions, professional organization dues, a business license, and cookbooks to pay for. I attend an annual catering convention in Las Vegas, as well as several industry events throughout the year.
Lest you think I’m about to kvetch about any of the above, allow me to take this moment to state for the record, that I LOVE my work. I often tell clients (when they think a new idea is really fun), that I’m all about fun; I had a boring career once upon a time, and I’m not going to do that again. To repeat, I LOVE my work.
That said, the reality of my professional life is a function of the demands (time and money) of all of the above, plus anything I might personally wish to do (pay the mortgage, for example, buy a pair of fun strappy sandals, or even mascara, though one tube really lasts me a long time!)
The Creation
So, you’re getting married! That’s great!
And you’re getting married on that beautiful green! Fabulous, we’ve worked there a lot, and everybody loves that venue. It will be great! So what do you want to eat? Here are some pictures of our past work, what’s your style? Is this beachy, elegant? Both? Do you want to have a rollicking good time? Will this be sweet, softly romantic? Have you chosen a florist? A baker? Who’s your photographer? Are you allergic to onions or garlic? Will you be inviting vegetarians or vegans? Is there perhaps a Midwestern contingent on the guest list requiring meat and potatoes? Are you adventurous? Sushi anyone?
No, no, just the bride’s family is adventurous, the groom’s family, well … what will we do about the groom’s family?
No worries, Dine by Design can make you all happy. Really? Yes, really. Trust me.
I’ll send you the first proposal, though it probably won’t have any pricing on it, because you’ll have to make some choices. How, you ask? Well, if I were you, I’d talk it out with your man, your parents, perhaps his parents? Your wedding coordinator? Think about it, and let me know. You don’t have to do all the work; I’ll help whenever you need. Yes, call me, we can do a conference call with your groom or your mother, and work it out. No, no, no, you don’t have to decide on the quantities, that’s what I’m here for…well, one of the things.
So, this second proposal, is that closer? More … you?
Because that beautiful green doesn’t come with ovens, tables, chairs, lighting, protection from weather, forks, dance floors or trash cans, we’ll have to figure that out too. Do you want seating for everybody? No? What about the grandmothers? And what about the ceremony, if it’s hot, you’ll really want chairs for your guests; they’ll be cranky if they’ve gotten all dressed up to stand and sweat. No, sitting and sweating isn’t a lot better, but it’s an improvement.
Ok, so seventy-eight chairs on the beach, and a chuppah, then another ninety chairs on the green? Perfect. No, I’m sorry, I know it seems wasteful, but it will take a good bit of time to get the chairs up to your party from the beach and, I promise, it will cost more than renting double the chairs.
Thank you so much, we’re delighted and honored to cook for your big day! You can just sign the contract and now we have a plan, we’re on track, we all know what we’re supposed to do and … we’ll get it done.
Never mind about the chuppah, the florist emailed that she’s doing something really grand, so we’ll take that off the rental list and, oh, your wedding coordinator just called to say we need to add a large table for the seat assignments, and a smaller one near the walkover, so we can serve your guests our amazing Mint-Ginger Lemonade and water before the ceremony. (Note to self: order more 9 ounce plastic cups.) I’ll call the rental company and add those items to your proposal, and remind the florist we’ll need two more linens; here’s a revised copy. Is that the eleventh version? No, sorry, the tenth. (Note to self: revise layout for two new tables.) Oh, of course your head count changed! It almost always does, not to worry, we’ll just add to the tables, chairs, glassware, flatware, china, napkins, menu, tent size, lighting and perhaps another oven? Here’s the eleventh! (Note to self: wedding coordinator txted that the band needs to eat at 3:00 pm. Check itinerary to confirm we’ll be onsite by that time.)
The Day-to-Day
Approximately ten days before the reception, I meet with my chef to work out all the food orders and weekly Prep List that will schedule the preparation of every item on every menu, down to the candied walnuts and croissant croutons. Naturally, we keep staples on hand, but unlike a restaurant, we have complete menus to order for every individual event. We have orders for our seafood guy, our staples guy, our specialty woman, our produce folks, the people who supply our skewers and napkins, and maybe the company that makes our Bride&Groom to-go boxes.
Once every two to three weeks, I meet with the Party Managers, to go over the events on the horizon, and we determine what special skill set (bartenders, oyster shuckers, cooks) might be required for each party and how many workers we’ll need. The Party Managers then send out event notifications, and wait to hear back who might be available for the events. Staff is assigned and, at the beginning of each week, the Party Managers check uniform stock to be sure we have all sizes, all clean, for all the parties going out that weekend.
Kitchen prep help is called in based on the Prep List for all the parties, and every item produced is labeled, color coded and stored in a cooler assigned to that particular party. The orders begin to arrive during the week, the pantry staples early on, the produce and seafood the day before, and each item is checked in and shelved in the appropriate location, rearranging the shelves to set up first in, first out. Early in the week we work on vinaigrettes, candied nuts, some sauces, and as we get closer to the day of, we start work on the more perishable items.
Each night the kitchen is thoroughly cleaned: all stainless surfaces are sanitized, and the floors are swept, scrubbed, hosed, squeegeed and allowed to dry, before the next morning’s onslaught. During the peak wedding seasons, the nights are sometimes so late that patches of the floor are still damp in the morning.
Two days in advance, I put together the Pull List for each party. Sometimes I create the layout, sometimes it’s the florist, and the Pull List is based on the style, the number of food tables, the specific food elements: platters, trays, chafers, tongs, meat forks, sauce spoons, ladles, picks, dinner napkins, beverage napkins, containers for dinner napkins and flatware, the proper number of sternos (with always a back-up), the knives, towels, tin foil, plastic wrap, hand sanitizer, latex gloves, silver, copper and stainless polish, glass cleaner, salt&pepper, pots, pans, work spoons, whisks, cutting boards … quite literally, a large party will have a three, maybe four-page Pull List, with potentially hundreds of items.
Everything on the Pull Sheet is pulled and staged in the crowded spots near the front of the two kitchen spaces by two groups: the Party Managers, who work with all of the front-of-the-house materials, and the Chef, with all the back-of-the-house equipment and, naturally, the food. Depending on how busy we are, they may begin staging non-perishable items a day in advance. Great care must be taken to never mix the parties, and much attention must be given to what is loaded into what vehicle. (I can’t tell you the number of times an over-zealous worker loaded the dirty laundry basket for one party or another. Ha!)
The Event
The non-perishable foods are pulled first, the crackers, salt&pepper, oils, vinegars, Tabasco, Crystal. As the departure moment gets closer, we slide frozen blue ice chillers into our food carriers, and gel packs into the coolers. Then we start loading the cold food.
The front of the house equipment and back of the house food and equipment is loaded into the vehicles, while the Party Managers and Chef check off each bin. Service staff begins to arrive and each is sent to the back to find appropriately sized shirts and aprons. The Party Managers assemble all documents associated with the events: Menu, Rental List, Alcohol List, Layout, and Itinerary. These items are placed inside a metal form holder we call “The Brain”, along with a pen, a sharpie, a long lighter, business cards and Altoids. (This is why you so often hear Dine by Design crew screaming out for their brains!)
Right before leaving, the Chef goes through all the coolers, looking for any items that are non-staples, that could be associated with a particular event and might have been misfiled and/or overlooked when I wrote the Pull Sheets.
We assign personnel to vehicles and leave for the gig in caravan form. Once onsite, the unloading begins, and the Party Manager coordinates this along with the Chef, so that front of the house equipment doesn’t get taken to the kitchen staging area, and food doesn’t end up in the party zone. The Pull Sheets are organized with food on the left, and equipment on the right, so the Party Managers know what service equipment is associated with what food items, and they set up the buffets and stations using the Sheets as guides.
Heat is critical, and whether we’re working in a house or a tent, we immediately check the ovens. It doesn’t happen often, but we’ve found ourselves in a client’s rented house with no functional oven! In a tent situation, we’ve got to open the propane flow and light the pilot lights before we can get heat. If we’re working outdoors in a new venue, the next thing that has to be determined is the water source.
We organize the kitchen and the party areas and the Chef and Kitchen Assistant consult on the Event Worksheet to add timing specifics, and we begin to cook.
After appetizers and the main dinner rush, the kitchen begins to organize what stays, and what can be sent back to the kitchen to begin washing. Food continues to be replenished, but most of it is in a holding oven or cooler at that point, and a good deal of the equipment can be packed up.
If we’ve rented glassware, flatware or dishware, a part of the kitchen staging area becomes the bussing zone, and a washtub is set up to rinse the rentals and return them to milk crates (dishware), racks (glassware) or zip-lock bags (flatware). On a large event, two people will work the bussing area, while the rest of the FOH staff tidies up the venue. On smaller jobs, the Kitchen Assistant can help with this task.
Once the wedding has moved onto the cake, the Chef or the Kitchen Assistant returns to the kitchen to begin working with any leftovers. Unused staples must be reshelved, unused food products that will keep, such as butter, cocktail sauce, unopened containers of cream, are repackaged, labeled, dated and returned to their proper spots in the cooler. The Party Manager returns at this point, and is responsible for returning all washed front of the house equipment to its proper storage location.
At the event, the FOH staff is busily rinsing cake plates and forks, and doing the final bussing of the area. When that task is complete, they’ll return to the kitchen, bringing with them all the trash the party generated.
The Wrap-Up
Inevitably the food staff is finished in advance of the bar, and it then becomes the responsibility of the bartenders (plus a Closer on larger parties) to police the area for any trash or rented tableware before leaving. At the end of their shift, the bartenders organize the liquor; either for self-serve, if the venue is a private house, or for return to the client, if the event took place at a resort area.
At the kitchen, there are tasks for each person associated with an event, and the event is not complete until all the equipment is washed/bleached/sanitized, and returned to its proper place.
I wait at the kitchen for each party to return, and, when each event is complete, I hand the workers an envelope with their pay form and event pay. The forms are signed, the pay pocketed, and thus ends another catering gig.
Yes, it’s often possible to get a great meal in a restaurant for less than you’d pay to get a great meal from Dine by Design Catering. But the difference is that I and my staff bring your food to you. We work in unknown kitchens, in tents, in August, in rain, in yellow-fly season and through red tide!
We are traveling kitchens, with experienced, energetic, very hard working staff. We serve food that makes people happy and garners us great reviews, which make us proud. Yes, that costs money, but we provide you with a personal, quality service that doesn’t cost you peace of mind. We are here to please with our culinary creations and friendly and professional service that, as they say, is priceless.
The End.
Until next weekend!
Final photo credit to Kansas Pitts Photography
Tuesday, May 1, 2012 at 08:59AM 
Other charities benefiting from the event were Emerald Coast Children's Advocacy Center, Kidz 1st Fund, George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts, Alaqua Animal Refuge, Children's Volunteer Health Network, Inc. and Camille's Art for Autism.
