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| So You Want To Be a Banquet Manager... |
| Sure, it looked like a glamorous position when you attended your friends wedding last month. Watching the banquet manager, or maitre d’, escorting the bride & groom into the room, then directing his staff in serving the food, then later even taking center stage during the cake cutting ceremony, seemed like a cool job. You even thought, hey, I would like to do that. Now it's time to tell you the truth! |
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| Unique Visitors: 532 |
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| Food Safety's Dirty Little Secret |
| 2008-09-21 08:03:00 |
From the first reports of a salmonella outbreak this spring, it took a full 89 days before jalapeño and serrano peppers correctly came under suspicion as the culprit. During that period, as more than 1,440 victims trickled in to hospitals, federal officials struggled to trace the source of the outbreak, erroneously singling out tomatoes for weeks before homing in on peppers. No sooner had that outbreak tapered off than the high-end Whole Foods Market was forced to launch a massive recall of E. coli-infested ground beef.The incidents prompted renewed calls for reform and stricter oversight of food safety. Some lawmakers are even suggesting stripping the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture of their inspection duties and giving them to a new agency. Yet the FD...
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| The Rudest Wedding Guest Remarks Ever |
| 2008-09-17 08:01:00 |
Appalling comments made by real wedding guests... Most couples are showered with congratulations when they announce their engagement, and compliments usually abound on the day of the wedding. But every now and then the couple may encounter a remark that's off-putting, to say the least. Whether it's a jab about wedding expenses or an assertion that the marriage won't last, some people can be truly tactless when it comes to wedding talk. We asked couples to share the rudest remarks they've heard wedding guests make. "My father-in-law (who has been married five times) shook my husband's (his son's) hand as he passed through our receiving line and said, 'I hope you enjoy being married to a flight attendant more than I did!'" "We had a distant family member ask if my fiancé had eno...
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| You Look Like a Jerk When You Dance! |
| 2008-09-14 07:27:00 |
What is it with the dopey bride & grooms that insist on taking dance lessons so they can "show-off" their dancing skills on the wedding day? They look like fools...no, no...they look like the dead guy from the movie Weekend at Bernie's.Yes, I know I'm a banquet manager, and a large part of my business is weddings. But, as you can tell from my past posts, I don't write much about them because..................I can't stand them!!!!!There's nothing more annoying than a neurotic bride or a macho groom that think they own the place just because their getting married here. She's barking orders 'cause there's a crease in one of the table cloths, he's too concerned about extra Budweiser on the bar. Enough already! Anyway, back to my story.Why is it that it's always the most whitey white ...
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| Which Waiter Would You Rather Have? |
| 2008-09-10 07:17:00 |
The pretty brunette that's as dumb as a stump and gets your order all wrongor...The ugly guy waiter that is very attentive and gets it all right?......
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| Another Story About a Great CEO. |
| 2008-09-08 07:19:00 |
CEOs say "how you treat a waiter can predict a lot about character".By Del Jones, USA TODAY Office Depot CEO Steve Odland remembers like it was yesterday working in an upscale French restaurant in Denver. The purple sorbet in cut glass he was serving tumbled onto the expensive white gown of an obviously rich and important woman. "I watched in slow motion ruining her dress for the evening," Odland says. "I thought I would be shot on sight." Thirty years have passed, but Odland can't get the stain out of his mind, nor the woman's kind reaction. She was startled, regained composure and, in a reassuring voice, told the teenage Odland, "It's OK. It wasn't your fault." When she left the restaurant, she also left the future Fortune 500 CEO with a life lesson: You can tell a lot about a person by...
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| No Eating in the Kitchen Dammit! |
| 2008-09-04 07:16:00 |
As a banquet manager, I never work less than 12 hours a day. Most of the time I'm too busy to even eat. I usually just pick a little morsel of food here and there. At the end of the day I wonder why I have a splitting headache and can't wait to get home.But one thing I can't stand is when a waiter of mine thinks it's ok to eat a full meal in the kitchen during lunch or dinner service. Sometimes it's chicken marsala, pasta primavera or even a 6oz filet mignon. Good country we live in, huh?I'm breaking my butt all day and some ex-housewife just leaves her customers in the ballroom, then strolls into the kitchen, so she can eat a free meal on my time. And you want to get paid your "grats" too?"I'm hungry", she says. "We never got a break", she moans. Or, "that's my favorite dish" she...
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| A Great Comment on How To Treat a Waiter |
| 2008-09-02 07:31:00 |
This is a recent comment from a reader of this blog. She gives a perfect example of how everyone should treat a waiter. Please support her and visit her blog Stress Management and Other Things."When I was growing up, my mother raked in the bucks. One day in high school I was having a terrible day and called her and she was busy. In a rare, cherished moment she canceled all her appointments and took me out shopping, then to eat at a nice restaurant. The waitress was sullen at us and my mom and I were not happy, but my mother, as effervescent as champagne, acted like all was better than usual.Afterward, she told the maitre d' what a great waitress we had and doubled her tip. (We're talking 30% instead of 15%.) We went to the car and I was furious because she'd been outright rude to me and ...
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| Italian Cookies... |
| 2008-08-28 07:47:00 |
An elderly Italian ex-banquet manager lie dying in his bed. While suffering the agonies of impending death, he suddenly smelled the aroma of his favorite Italian anisette sprinkle cookies wafting up the stairs. He gathered his remaining strength, and lifted himself from the bed. Leaning against the wall, he slowly made his way out of the bedroom, and with even greater effort, gripping the railing with both hands, he crawled downstairs. With labored breath, he leaned against the doorframe, gazing into the kitchen. Were it not for death's agony, he would have thought himself already in heaven, for there, spread out upon waxed paper on the kitchen table were literally hundreds of his favorite anisette sprinkle cookies.-----Was it heaven? Was it that big b...
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| We're The "Blog of the Day" |
| 2008-08-26 07:41:00 |
On August 23, 2008 this blog was voted "Blog of the Day".From their website:"Blog of the Day Awards offers the best selection of weblogs and famous blogs on a variety of topics. Selection of Best Blogs of the Day is usually done a few days ahead of time based on nominations up to that point.Criteria include content, quality, creativity, and the personal opinion of the judges. Judges grant up to four awards each day in recognition of outstanding nominees who are recommended by visitors to the site and by a panel of judges who bestow the honor of a Daily Blog Award upon the recipients."Cool, huh? Not too bad for a little ol' banquet manager.........
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| The Tables Are Turned |
| 2008-08-24 08:05:00 |
WAITERS love to complain about bad tips, but sorry, we'd say these servers deserved it. "So last week I went for dinner in Chelsea, and the waiter was remarkably slow - say he'd come over to take the drink order, flirt and make eyes at my companions, then leave us for 30 minutes at a time. Finally I turned around to look for him and saw him making out with a girl in the next booth!" "While sharing a carafe of house wine with a group of friends over dinner at a dimly lit Indian restaurant, a friend let out a small scream upon discovering a roach doing the backstroke in her glass of merlot. As we all gagged at the thought that the roach had been in the carafe the whole time we were drinking, the waiter reassured us, 'No, no. They fall from the ceiling.' Gee, thanks, we feel so much better...
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| Is The Store Room More Important Than Customer Service? |
| 2008-08-20 06:07:00 |
I've spent so much time training my staff, designing new service standards and buffet setups, reduced labor and have upsold tons of new revenue, that you would think they would appreciate that. But NOOOOOO!"Hey, banquet manager", the boss said. "Why does the storeroom look like this"? I couldn't say what I really wanted to say, so I tried this - "We just came off a week with over 6000 covers that had every room being turned multiple times". "There were no service issues and as a matter of fact, most guests raved about their experience". "We'll get to it a.s.a.p.". I though that would WOW him."Yeah, that's great but you still need to get the rooms in order". "It doesn't matter how busy ...
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| Fast Food German Style |
| 2008-08-18 08:30:00 |
"You know I like to complain about waiters and their poor service, but this is ridiculous! I wonder if they automated the banquet manager too". Read on...Germany likes to call itself the "Land of Ideas" - and over the centuries it has certainly had plenty of them. It was Germans who invented the aspirin, the airship, the printing press and the diesel engine. But Germany has surely never produced anything quite as weird as the automated restaurant. I say "restaurant" - but it actually looks more like a rollercoaster, with long metal tracks criss-crossing the dining area. The tracks run all the way from the kitchen, high up in the roof, down to the tables, twisting and turning as they go. And down the tracks - in little pots with wheels fixed to t...
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| There Are Robot Waiters After All |
| 2008-08-15 05:17:00 |
"On my last post, Bacon Alarm Clock, I made a comment about what's next - a robot waiter. Then it got me thinking if anyone has actually invented such a thing. Well here it is... P.S. My favorite is the WA-7."*********************Robo Waiter 1 from Hong Kong's Cyber Robotics Technology has shiny lights for eyes and can guide guests to tables as well as deliver orders. (Robo Waiter 1) This robot follows Canada's earlier 2001 robot named Jose, the Canadian robo-waiter. Developed for the 2001 Robo-Cup hosted by the American Association for Artificial Intelligence, Jose, the Canadian robo-waiter won the "Hors-d'Oeuvres Anyone?" international competition. Jose is shown below serving a muffin to Minister of Industry Brian Tobin. (Jose, the Canadian robo...
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| Bacon Alarm Clock |
| 2008-08-12 07:08:00 |
"No banquet manager likes to wake up early, especially by an alarm." The Wake n’ Bacon gently wakes you up with the mouthwatering aroma of bacon, just like waking up on a Sunday morning to the smell of Mom cooking breakfast. A frozen strip of bacon is placed in the night before. Because there is a 10 minute cooking time, the clock is set to go off 10 minutes before the desired waking time. Once the alarm goes off, the clock sends a signal to a small speaker to generate the alarm sound. We hacked the clock so that the signal is re-routed by a microchip that responds by sending a signal to a relay that throws the switch to power two halogen lamps that slow-cook the bacon in about 10 minute...
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| Stiffed Again! |
| 2008-08-08 08:48:00 |
I hasn't been a good month for me. First I get a $15.00 tip from a customer that ordered $1400.00 worth of wine then I got stiffed last weekend. Here's what happened.When the bridal party arrived to take pictures before the ceremony (which was taking place in the garden), a man approached me and asked it I was the maitre d'. I said "Yes sir" and introduced myself. He said "So you're the one I need to see at the end of the party, right?" Well, that was a great opening conversation. I thought the money was in the bag.The group walked outside to take some photos. I followed right behind with a few pitchers of ice water and cups since it was over 90 degrees. I offered everyone ice water and they was thrilled. The groom came over to me and thanked me, introduced himself and said "Did y...
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| I'm Ranked #4 in Google and #1 in Yahoo !!! |
| 2008-08-06 08:11:00 |
"Sometimes you gotta toot your own horn."This blog was started on April 7th 2008 with the first post: Are You Nuts?When I started this blog, I didn't know what to expect or if I would even continue to keep it going. As with most banquet managers, I don't have much free time due to my job and life in general. But I kept at it and that's the key.I've been told I have "tunnel vision" and it's usually meant as a bad thing. But I must be doing something right since, if you type in "banquet manager" into Google or Yahoo, this blog comes up #4 and #1 respectively. Not bad for only being around for 5 months.I've had a lot of help though. Many people have supported me in various ways. Some are banquet managers, some are wait...
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| Guess Your Age By Eating in a Restaurant… |
| 2008-08-05 06:08:00 |
"Don't tell me your age; you probably wouldn’t tell the truth anyway, but your waiter may know!" Did you know that doing a little “dinner math” your waiter, or banquet manager, can tell you how old you are. Try this to find out. No cheating… 1. First, pick the number of times a week that you would like to go out to eat to a restaurant. (more than once but less than 10) 2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold). 3. Add 5. 4. Multiply it by 50. 5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1758. If you haven't, add 1757. 6. Now subtract the four-digit year that you were born. 7. You should now have a three digit number. The solution: The first ...
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| We've Always Done It That Way... |
| 2008-07-30 09:36:00 |
That's one of the worst things a waiter can say to me. When I started working at this hotel, most of my banquet waiters worked here around 7 years and some up to 15 years. After a few days of observation, I made a list of the things I know we can do better on and designed the steps needed to make it happen. No big deal, I've done this many times before.When I sat with the staff and informed them of the changes that will happen (mind you - I only started with 5 things out of my list of around 20) you would have thought I asked them to sell me their first born child! I heard every excuse in the book - this wouldn't work or that's too hard to do. Then...they said the one thing that drives me crazy - "but we've always done it that way".I don't care how you've done it in the past, this is h...
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| We Just Switched To Starbucks Coffee |
| 2008-07-29 08:54:00 |
BIG Deal... Jackie Mason was right...And to top it all off, they wanted to charge us over $5 for a coffee mug with their logo on it! Are they NUTS?......
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| Lesson on How Consultants Can Make a Difference in an Organization... |
| 2008-07-26 08:50:00 |
Last week, we took some friends to a new restaurant, “Mike’s Place,” and noticed that the waiter who took our order carried a spoon in his shirt pocket. It seemed a little strange. When the busboy brought our water and utensils, I observed that he also had a spoon in his shirt pocket. Then I looked around and saw that all the staff had spoons in their pockets. When the waiter came back to serve our soup I inquired, 'Why the spoon?' “Well,” he explained, “the restaurant's owner hired Andersen Consulting to revamp all of our processes. After several months of analysis, they concluded that the spoon was the most frequently dropped utensil. It represents a drop frequency of approximately 3 spoons per table per hour. If our personnel are better prepared, we can reduce ...
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| Soup To Nuts Carnival |
| 2008-07-23 15:04:00 |
Do you write a food related blog and looking for additional "traffic"? Then you should look at a blog carnival.If you've never participated in a blog carnival, here's all you need to know, it's the best way to attract visitors to your blog and to connect with other bloggers.Of all the carnivals out there, why is Soup To Nuts the one carnival you shouldn't miss? Because there is no other carnival that provides you as much exposure. It's that simple.Every website, every blog, attracts its own organic traffic.In Soup To Nuts, unlike other carnivals, you don't benefit just from the traffic that comes to one blog, you get visitors from five different host blogs.People visiting the carnival can easily navigate from one host blo...
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| A $15 Tip On a $1400 Wine Order... |
| 2008-07-21 07:24:00 |
You know, we've all read stories about what is the "proper" amount to tip a waiter, or maitre d', etc. Some say 15% for average service, some 20% for very good service, and even more for exceptional service.Well, during a wedding last weekend, I was asked by a guest if he could order a few bottles of wine and have it served at his table. "Sure", I said. I went to get our full wine menu and brought it to him. He ordered 4 very good bottles of wine and I looked forward to a nice bill. I set up a separate bar tab for him and he was going to put the charges on his credit card later on, no problem.My staff gave freshly polished red and white glass to each guest and got the wine bucket ready. I performed the usual wine presentation procedure, and opened all 4...
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| Banquet Manager Saves Groom's Life with Donated Kidney |
| 2008-07-16 09:50:00 |
I just came across this article online and had to share it with all of you. It's from December 2007 but such a wonderful story that it's good to hear anytime. This is one GREAT banquet manager that we all can be proud of!The sales manager at a Long Island reception hall donated one his kidneys to a rather new friend: A client whose wedding he booked in 2003. Rick Bellando works at Oheka Castle in Huntington, Long Island and rented the historic mansion to Matthew Fulgieri and his bride and became friends with the pair while helping them plan their wedding.Fulgieri, a 42-year-old father of two in Queens, was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease--a fatal condition and the one that killed his mother. His doctors informed him that both of his kidneys wou...
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| Baked Beans... |
| 2008-07-14 10:42:00 |
Once there lived a woman who had a maddening passion for baked beans. She loved them but unfortunately, they had always had a very embarrassing and somewhat lively reaction to her.Then one day she met a man and fell in love. When it became apparent that they would marry she thought to herself, "He is such a sweet and gentle man, he would never go for this carrying on."She made the supreme sacrifice and gave up beans. Some months later her car broke down on the way home from work. Since she lived in the country she called her husband and told him that she would be late because she had to walk home.On her way, she passed a small diner and the odor of the baked beans was more than she could stand. Since she still had miles to walk, she figured that she would walk off any ill effects by th...
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| The Government Can't Run a Restaurant |
| 2008-07-11 08:04:00 |
It's a good thing the government doesn't try to run a banquet department...By Paul Kane Washington Post Staff WriterMonday, June 9, 2008; Page A01 Year after year, decade upon decade, the U.S. Senate's network of restaurants has lost staggering amounts of money -- more than $18 million since 1993, according to one report, and an estimated $2 million this year alone, according to another. The financial condition of the world's most exclusive dining hall and its affiliated Capital Hill restaurants, cafeterias and coffee shops has become so dire that, without a $250,000 subsidy from taxpayers, the Senate won't make payroll next month. The embarrassment of the Senate food service struggling like some neighborho...
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| I Can’t Go Out to Eat Anymore! |
| 2008-07-06 09:35:00 |
Did you ever wonder what it was like when you could go to a restaurant or a friends wedding without spending most of your time critiquing everything about the place or the service? It’s gotten so bad that I need to sit facing a wall or the corner of the room just so I don’t see what’s going on. Since I’ve been banquet manager, I just can’t enjoy myself when I go out (which isn’t too often because I work too many damm hours). When I do go out to eat, it’s usually at a “theme restaurant” that is supposed to provide quick service (since I’m normally so impatient). I just can’t stand it when the waitress (where are all the guy waiters?) comes to the table and gives me the same prepared speech that she has used for 10 years; “Hi, my name is Bambi, and I’ll...
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| Spaghetti... |
| 2008-07-01 08:05:00 |
A doctor was having an affair with his nurse. Shortly afterward, she told him she was pregnant. Not wanting his wife to know, he gave the nurse a sum of money and asked her to go to Italy and have the baby there. ”But how will I let you know the baby is born?” she asked. He replied, “Just send me a postcard and write “spaghetti” on the back. I'll take care of expenses.” Not knowing what else to do, the nurse took the money and flew to Italy. Six months went by and then one day, the doctor's wife called him at the office and explained, “Dear, you received a very strange postcard in the mail today from Europe, and I don't understand what it means.” The doctor said, “Just wait until I get home and I will explain it to yo...
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| Jonathan Tisch Going "Down the Ladder" Serving as Banquet Waiter, Line Cook, Room Attendant, Bellboy |
| 2008-06-27 08:20:00 |
| Wouldn't you love to see your F&B Director or GM do your job as mega-millionaire Jothathan Tisch did? They probably wouldn't know the first thing to do but they love to tell you how to do your job! Our bosses have no idea... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Jun. 5, 2003 - The white tablecloths hung perfectly. The cutlery gleamed; the glasses shone; the entire table was set, almost to a fault. But the banquet captain in training, a man named Jonathan Tisch, was unable to master the art of folding linen napkin into fans."He's doing very good, except for the napkins," said Danny Outerino, a banquet captain at Loews Miami Beach, peering at the near-perfect table set in one of the hotel's ballrooms
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| Don't You Hate it When This Happens - Part 2 |
| 2008-06-24 08:00:00 |
As banquet managers, and all hotel employees, we go through some kind of customer service training at every property. We're taught that service is # 1 and that we must do all we can to take care of the guest and anticipate their needs, wants and desires. (yeah sure, what about our needs, wants and desires?).Anyway, we start our hotel career with the best of intentions and "assume" that everyone else will do the same. But NO, it never seems to go that way. Some crap always happens to ruin my day. Either it's a lazy waiter, a dopey sales manager, an incompetent meeting planner, or the G.M. just being a pain in the butt!There are so many things that make me say..."I hate it when this happens" that I needed to add a Part 2. Here it goes...The event's sales manager allows the customer to ...
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| I'm Listed on Alltop.com |
| 2008-06-20 08:25:00 |
Yeah Baby!Because of all the support, and visits, from our readers, this blog was selected to be listed on the Alltop.com website. We're listed under the "Career" section.Info from their site:"We help you explore your passions by collecting stories from “all the top” sites on the web. We’ve grouped these collections — “aggregations” — into individual Alltop sites based on topics such as environment, photography, science, Muslim, celebrity gossip, military, fashion, gaming, sports, politics, automobiles, and Macintosh. At each Alltop site, we display the headlines of the latest stories from dozens of sites and blogs." "You can think of an Alltop site as a “digital magazine rack” of the Internet. To be clear, Alltop sites are starting points—they are not destinations ...
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| Is There Any Food That We Can Eat? |
| 2008-06-18 10:09:00 |
The recent case of salmonella poisoning in raw tomatoes has caused me to write this post.Many fast food restaurants, with McDonalds leading the way, have removed raw tomatoes from their menu. The same goes for other restaurants. Now it's hitting the banquet departments. At work it’s a real pain in the butt since the chef has to modify some dishes that we serve. They don’t want to do it but it they don’t, the wacky customers say “is that a chopped-up tomato in that dish or a red pepper” or some other stupid comment like that. And don't ask the waiters what's in the food because they sure don't know.The industry-standard tomato and mozzarella platter is a big no-no. Customers are calling to change their menus for events that are weeks or even months ...
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| Award-Winning Details |
| 2008-06-17 13:27:00 |
From Hotel F&B MagazineJune 2008This came across my email today and I wanted to pass along these ideas for buffets & action stations. Congratulations to the Hilton Suites Phoenix.In the ultra-competitive world of banquets and catering, being recognized with an award is always good. But when its based on guest feedback, its even better. Hilton Suites Phoenix recently won a Connie award within Hilton (nicknamed after founder Conrad Hilton) as the best of the brand when it comes to meetings F&B in North America. Action = Reaction F&B Director Andrew Wintz says action stations are the foundation of the propertys F&B for groups. It always adds an experience enhancement as opposed to just a dry service occasion for the guest, he says. Some examples include: Mad...
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| Hells Kitchen TV Show Can't Serve Food! |
| 2008-06-11 11:04:00 |
I've been trying to watch the Hells Kitchen TV Show as much as possible this season (when I'm not stuck at work overseeing a dopey dinner meeting). There has been one thing I've noticed that has me puzzled; they don't serve the food correctly!I don't mean the cooks can't serve food correctly (they have enough problems so I won't pick on them here). It's the waiters. They continually serve the plates of food from the guests' right-hand side. Did you see it again last night?It was so obvious, especially at the table of 12 ladies (swimsuit models, yeah sure!) where they tried to serve the entire table at once. They had multiple waiters with 2 plates each go to the table but what did they do? They served from every wh...
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| Don’t You Hate it When This Happens…? |
| 2008-06-09 12:00:00 |
A banquet manager has the hardest job in the hotel and the most unforgiving. When most of the hotels big-shots are home with their families or enjoying their weekend off, we're dealing with the most ridiculous crap day in and day out.Don't you hate it when this happens to you...The breakfast actual start times are 7:00am instead of 8:00am as on the BEO.The kitchen forgot to schedule a cook to work the omelet station so you have to pull another server to cover the station; or you do it yourself (dammit, I got my new suit on!)The guests from today's pharmaceutical sales convention didn’t leave the room at 5:00pm as you were told and your wedding reception starts at 6:00pm in the same room.The dishwashers are scheduled to leave at 11:00pm but your wedding ends at 12 midnight (who’s supp...
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| Comedian Jackie Mason's Take on Starbucks |
| 2008-06-04 09:40:00 |
Around 20 years ago, I had the pleasure to share the stage with Jackie Mason for a private concert. This was before my days as a banquet manager. He was hysterical as usual.I came across these comments from him about Starbucks and thought you may enjoy a laugh. Be sure to remember Jackie Mason’s voice as you read. If I said to you, “I have a great idea for a business. I’ll open a whole new type of coffee shop. Instead of charging 60 cents for coffee, I’ll charge $2.50, $3.50, $4.50, and $5.50. Not only that, I’ll have no tables, no chairs, no water, no free refills, no waiters, no busboys, serve it in cardboard cups, and have the customer clean it up for 20 minutes after they’re finished.” Would you say to me, “That’s the gre...
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| Banquet Staff...a Strange Bunch |
| 2008-05-28 18:01:00 |
Don't you get tired of listening to the B.S. you get from the typical banquet waiter? The same lame excuses, or justifications as to why they didn't do something, why they're unhappy or why they didn't make enough money. I thought I would list a few for you. See if you ever heard any of these...I forgot I was on the schedule.Frankie said he was going to pick me up, it's not MY fault I'm late.I thought she WANTED the fish!Esteban's my partner. He was in charge of the coffee!I can't find any more tongs!You don't care about us!Where's my wine key? How should I know there was wine with this dinner?Why do I always get mopping the floor as my closing assignment?You always give me the tables in the back!There's no clean silverware!I'm gonna talk to the G.M.Didn't Maria tell you we switched ou...
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| Readers Comments |
| 2008-05-22 16:31:00 |
This blog is only 2 months old and so far the response has been fantastic. I wanted to take the time to not only thank you but to post a few comments here from some of our readers.With your help, we can make this blog THE place on the web for banquet managers and anyone in our related field. With that as my goal, I will keep on sharing my stories with you (also, with the never ending B.S. we deal with each day, I’ll have plenty to write about!)Please support us by adding your comments, bookmark this page, email a post to a friend, subscribe to my RSS feed, tell your assistant banquet manager, phone your grandma…You get the idea. Thanks.Amy said on April 13th:Hey – thanks for the nice plug –I know there are planners out there who are unqualifie...
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| National Waiter and Waitress Day |
| 2008-05-15 08:45:00 |
…are they kidding? This is a great country for so many more reasons than I could ever name, especially here. We celebrate political, religious, cultural and sexual diversity in every form. We even go so far as to name a “special day” after various types of people to remember and commemorate them. We have the normal days: Presidents Day Mothers DayFathers DayGrandparents DayD-DayIndependence DayFlag DayAll Saints DayVeterans DayThanksgiving DayNew Years Day Then we have the “cute” days: Groundhog’s Day Girl Scout DayApril Fools DayAdministrative Professionals Day (give me a break!)Beautician’s DayTake Your Son or Daughter to Work DayF...
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| Dinner in The Sky |
| 2008-05-08 21:50:00 |
You have got to see this!I just got home from work and wanted to burn off some steam before going to sleep (those f@*^! waiters again). Anyway, I started surfing the web and came across the craziest thing I ever saw. A company called "Dinner in the Sky" that serves you breakfast, lunch or dinner at a table seating up to 22 people, suspended over 150 feet in the air from a crane! WHAT THE F...!!!Listen, right now I'm too tired to explain it very well and can't do it justice. But I had to tell you about it. Just go the the website - http://www.dinnerinthesky.com and check it out.Click here to see a slideshow of various images from events held in different countries -http://www.dinnerinthesky.com/slideshow.phpYou know that I usually sign-off my posts wit...
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| Restaurant Waiters -vs.- Banquet Waiters |
| 2008-05-06 23:03:00 |
…who’s better? In addition to my banquet experience, I have also managed a fine dining restaurant. I have seen both the good and bad in both kinds of waiters. Here’s how I rate each. Banquet Waiters Basically lazy. They want to do the least amount of work and get the highest tips possible.They will do everything they can to cover-up a stain or hole in a tablecloth instead of changing the linen. (see above)Very stubborn. They think they know the business better than the manager.They only thing they really know is how to piss off the manager!Never has a clean uniform on.Unwilling to change. Just because they have done something a certain way for the past 15 years, t...
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