Food and Beverage – Lesson 20
Lesson—20
Buffet & banquets:
Banquets are special function organized for professional, social or state occasions. This outlet is usually the largest revenue-earning outlet in the F & B service department. It serves food & beverages to a gathering of people at special functions such as weddings, parties, conferences & meetings.
Banquet staff:
In the above setup banquet manager is over all in charge of administration dealing with guests and co-coordinating all arrangements. The supervisor co-ordinates the implementation of function arrangements & controls staff job allocation. The waiter & asst waiters make the actual arrangements & do to service. The banquet representative prepares a sales kit of brochures, fact sheet; layout etc. and visits potential clients to solicit business. The representative is often present in function to ensure that guests are satisfied with the arrangement. The secretary handles all correspondence & filing & often takes bookings on the phone.
Taking a booking for banquet:
Bookings taken on special information sheet called function sheet or function prospectus. The type of information recorded is:
- Name of booking party.
- Name of the person to whom the bill is to be sent to
- Nature & type of function
- Date of function
- Time of function
- Number of people expected and number guaranteed. A guaranteed number is the minimum number of people for whom a charge will be made.
- Menu—type of service required
- Win, alcohol, & non-alcoholic drinks to be served.
- Type of table layout
- Special arrangements such as band, microphones, lectures, ramps, flowers, ice-sculpture etc
- Seating plan and name of guests for state banquets
- Types of menu
- Price to be charged per person.
- Price for hall and special arrangements.
Banquet table layouts:
The type of layout is dependent upon
- Nature of function
- Number of cover’s required.
- Size of hall allocated.
- The desires of the guest
- The type of service to be provided
Space & guest per waiter:
Usually a banquet table accommodates three to six guests on each side. Spaces between covers should be a minimum of 20” & a maximum of 32” per cover (24” ideally) space between tables should be a minimum of 4 ½ feet.
Two waiter’s are allocated to 8—10 covers the wine waiter may serve up to 30-35 covers. The banquet supervisor normally stands behind the chairman during the meal. The manager stands right opposite the banquet supervisor for signals or instructions.
See Diagram: -1.6(DIFFERENT SHAPES OF BANQUET SET-UP)
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