Sometimes in your career, there will be occasions where the pressure is truly on. This might be due to an event, a particular VIP's visit or perhaps an audit, but there will be those times when you feel as though your obsessive attention to detail just isn't enough.
I had one of these experiences about a month ago. To add some context, I am fortunate enough to be the GM on one of the most prestigious catering contracts on the planet, and on this occasion, the client's global COO was bringing his team to my site. A whole host of VIPs to serve his! This is a man characterized by his own obsessive attention to detail, a man who has previously entered brand new buildings and suggested the best thing that could happen was for it to burn down and start again. No prisoners would be taken.
Needless to say, the pressure was on.
Two weeks before the big day we began to receive word of the group's requirements and created the menu and offer to suit. At this point, I only had one chef in my kitchen - one incredibly talented chef that is - and the brief we received was a sit-down meal for 300 executives. Not quite fine dining but still a step above the norm with a focus on local and fresh.
Needless to say, it was a pretty lofty request for such a small team.
Nevertheless, we set about our work with quiet efficiency, continuing all of our usual business activities whilst trying to balance our attention on what could possibly be our impending doom. I had attempted to explain to my team how senior our visitors are in their world, but they didn't really care. My team wasn't interested in hearing who they were, or their previous experience or if this visit went south we'd all be in for the chop. Regardless of their salaries, these visitors would be treated in the exact same manner and with the same courtesy as any other guest or customer they had the pleasure of serving.
As brilliant as my team is, there simply wasn't enough of us to manage this kind of event with any real confidence, so we arranged for some extra helping hands from other sites across the wider business. Usually, we would work on the premise of around 20 guests for each front of house staff member. Any more guests per person and we are often spread a little thin but any less and the team have periods where they aren't doing a whole lot. So I find 20 workers to be a good ratio on most occasions.
Now, the event itself was a bit of a challenge due to the pandemic, we hadn't hosted an event for anybody for 18 months. I was concerned we would be a little rusty and perhaps not as prepared on the day as we should be. This was made all the more difficult as every day for 10 days the brief changed, the requirements changed and the numbers changed.
Placing orders under ever-changing numbers and requirements is, quite frankly, a massive headache. We were either going to run out of food or have enough to feed the city. The most difficult part, though, was we had no direct contact with the client. Because of the nature of the business and the seniority of our guests, we had to go through 6 other people in order to clarify any details. By the time we had heard the answer to any questions we raised, the details had changed again, over and over and over.
When hosting an event, I like to keep it simple. I will always aim to have one point of contact who liaises on behalf of the client. Even having two people can cause issues as they often have varying ideas and requirements. Therefore, I have one person with whom I can get all of the information I need. The idea behind this is for the client and their party to hash out any arguments or disagreements on their end and provide me with solely the facts and figures I need to run the event.
Unfortunately, this isn't always the case.
