Who to Hire for Catering Assistance

If you run a successful catering business, you'll likely be asked to cater huge events that require several helpers and assistants to make the entire event run smoothly. Many caterers get their start by creating catered meals out of their own homes and in their own kitchens. As their reputation grows and develops, however, the frequency of jobs and the scope of jobs will begin to increase. There comes a point when it will be impossible for you to provide high quality service to customers without hiring some catering assistance. When this time comes, it is important to know exactly who needs to be hired and what jobs need to be filled. These five common caterer assistant jobs are a great starting place for your hiring process.

The Event Planner

A recent trend in the catering business is to fuse two common event services into one. Event planners and caterers often team up to provide an all-in-one event management service to their customers. Event planners are the individuals who take care of renting tables, dishes, flatware, and glassware, managing guest lists, reserving an event location, and monitoring the entire event to make sure everything happens on time and efficiently. You can hire an event planner for a single event or team up with an event planner who has an established business, but having one of these professionals at your event will make your job much simpler.

The Kitchen Help

If you have a huge event to cater, you will need to hire professional chefs and cooks who know their way around a large, industrial kitchen. It's best to hire people who have experience cooking. You will not, as the head caterer, have the time to explain commonly understood cooking terms to a newcomer. Hire individuals who know how to prepare sauces, check food temperature, combine ingredients accurately and efficiently, and organize the cooking process so that everything is finished at the same time. The more experience these people have, the less hectic your job will be.

The Prep Team

The prep team, on the other hand, doesn't have to have a great deal of cooking experience. Prep teams are made of individuals who assemble the finished food products. They may place food on trays, assemble sandwiches and other layered dishes, arrange vegetable and fruit trays, or place garnishes on the appropriate dishes.

The Wait Staff

If your event involves professional service for guests, you will need a wait staff to manage this process. Wait staff must dress and behave professionally. They will be required to serve food to guests, refill beverages, and even take orders at events where two or more options are offered for the main course. While hiring experienced waiters is ideal, you can easily train your staff to handle these responsibilities.

The Cleaning Staff

Most caterers have their kitchen staff and wait staff pitch in to help with the cleaning process. However, you may wish to hire a few individuals to show up after the event has ended to make the cleaning process go by more quickly.