How to "easily" manage your event

8 Great Tips for running your event smoothly

By Sam Moore

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8 Tips for a function that runs smoothly

Who's Waiting are a professional Wait Staff provider to Events and Functions around Sydney. Over the years we have developed a reputation for making good events exceptional. As you would imagine, with thousands of events under our belt, our experience is what makes the difference. We thought you we would share some of the most often made mistakes or "obstacles to success" that we encounter. In the following pages we will run through some of the most important tips for your functions. Tips you may or may not have thought of - but which we consistently find both invaluable and easy to implement for even the home based function. This series was first published in our blog at www.whoswaiting.com.au/blog - please feel free to join us there where we regularly publish information that you will find informative and useful if you are active in the Sydney social scene.

Tip#1: Order enough glass ware.

It is very easy to under supply glasses for your event or function. Often you won't be sure of the numbers attending and you may be tempted to cut a middle number for the glasses. Or perhaps you will say - 100 people, 100 glasses - easy! The problem is that people change drinks, move from red wine to white, prefer soda water as the evening draws to a close - particularly if they will be driving. How many times have we had to collect glasses and expedite one of our team to the kitchen to wash and speedily dry the returns before we'll run out at the bar? (don't want to count!). How many glasses should you order? around twice as many as your guests - but that is dependant on what you'll be drinking in tip#2 we'll look at what that might be and how to select quantities of glasses based on types of drinks likely to be consumed, the style of event and the type of guests you expect to be present at your event.

by Sam Moore - www.whoswaiting.com.au

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8 Tips for a function that runs smoothly

Tip#2: What influences glass ware requirements?

So expanding a little on the theme of having enough glasses and types of glasses at your function! There are a couple of major influences at any function or event that will normally give us the lead on how many and what types of glasses we need to provide. The two biggest influences are; will champagne be served (and is it French)? and will bottled beer be provided? Let's start with the beer issue. If you are serving beer then you are more than likely expecting a good quota of guys on your guest list. It's not that women don't drink beer but they do drink it less frequently and in lower quantities than blokes. Similarly beer drinkers in Australia (men and women) will more than likely drink from the bottle - even at swanky events - so your need for highball glasses just diminished considerably. Champagne. Flipping the coin over here, your champagne drinkers will be predominately, but not exclusively, women. Now why the "French" Champagne question? Well of course any French man or woman will tell you that champagne can only be champagne if it comes from the region called Champagne in France - true enough! - but regardless and whether the esteemed quality is generally discernible or not - if it is French champagne - your champagne drinkers for the night will stay on this drink for longer, before moving to another drink - e.g. wine (very often white wine) - and of course this means that you will need more champagne glasses (flutes). Just an additional note - if the quality of the champagne is good, then more of the gentlemen will drink it too again, more champagne flutes! So where does that leave us in terms of actual numbers? Well for a 100 person event where champagne is served we'd go 30 - 40 highballs (mineral waters, soft drinks etc.), 50 - 60 champagne flutes (but 70 where the quality is very good) and 50 wine glasses which will cater for men who prefer wine or move to wine (often red wine) after beers and for women who move to white wine after their champagne. No champagne? Then 30 - 40 highballs as before and 70 wine glasses. Don't forget some jugs for water (2-4) and plenty of ice. It's nice to have slices of lemon handy for the sparkling mineral waters too. Guests are especially grateful for these towards the end of the evening.

by Sam Moore - www.whoswaiting.com.au

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8 Tips for a function that runs smoothly

Tip#3: Tea towels an underestimated resource

Tea towels! Very important members of our team - never to be under estimated or under appreciated. The thing about tea towels is not only do you use them all the time (and I mean all the time) - so does everyone else - and they are going to forget theirs so... bring extras! I'm referring here to cooks and caterers particularly - because once they have used them around the cooking area - they are no good to the drinks staff. So tip number three is to have lots of clean, dry and lint free tea towels in two different colours so that the kitchen can use one colour and the drinks staff can use another. Tea towels save you money! really? I here you ask - that's a good one - how? Well, if you are hiring glasses for your event, tea towels will allow two things to happen that will save you; 1 - depending on how many staff you have available you will most likely be able to turn glasses that are coming back to the bar or the kitchen for re-use - drying is impossible with wet tea towels - but with nice, clean, dry and lint free ones your glasses can go back to the floor looking their best and you should be in a position to reduce the numbers of glasses that you need to hire. 2 - most glass hire companies (even us sometimes!) charge a fee for glasses that are returned unwashed and polished. This fee can be as high as 30% (not with us of course - 15% on a bad day with Who's Waiting) anyway enough plugs for us - you already know how reasonable we are - the fact is you can keep staff busy towards the end of the evening getting those glasses clean and dry ready for return - only - if you have lots of lovely, dry clean tea towels that have not be stained by the catering people. Keeping your drinks cloths separate from the catering side of things is, of course, important for hygiene as well - food and drink does not mix off the table. Cleaning your bar area is best done with chucks or kitchen cloths which will take up liquid readily and leave things clean and hygienic for the next round of drinks. Minimum requirements? we don't recommend going to a job without 6 - 8 tea towels. They really can be very, very useful!

by Sam Moore - www.whoswaiting.com.au

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8 Tips for a function that runs smoothly

Tip#4. Ice the essential ingredient

Was it ice we were going to speak about? well sort of - it is about ice - but it's really about drinks, because no one is interested ice except polar bears and Eskimos (and climate change scientists - and possibly the rest of us now we know what's going on) - I digress already - doesn't take long! First thing about ice for your drinks is that you need good tubs to put it in! We like the ones that fit inside each other (like those Russian dolls that go endlessly inside each other... digressing again, tut-tut) - but if you turn them around they stack. That is very useful for larger functions where you want to keep a revolving system of tubs going which will chill your drinks and present the coldest to the server at waist level (for instance) - or, of course, where you are short of floor space - which is so very often the case. Once you have your tubs sorted out you want to add your drinks - wine standing up. How many times we have seen the uninitiated empty their two 5kg bags of ice into a tub and then spend 10 minutes trying to jam the drink bottles into the unforgiving ice - only to have to scoop it to one side with their hands - and on it goes - not a pretty sight. Further more - whilst heat rises, cold doesn't! it sinks - so the best way to quickly chill your drinks is to stand up all your wine bottles in the tub (beers are better laid down sideby-side) and then take 1-2 5kg bags of ice and tip them on top. The ice will fill in all the cracks and you can wait for those particular drinks to get nice and frosty. btw - generally best to slam dunk the bag of ice on the floor before opening as the ice may be partially frozen together and then you have to get the kitchen knife out and start making out like your an actor in a Hitchcock movie or something! Timing - One hour is plenty of time to chill your drinks if done this way. Quantity 2x5kg bags per tub. Another useful thing to remember is to keep those empty boxes once you have taken the bottles out and put them in the tub. You may have a deal with your alcohol supplier to return full slabs or you may just use them for storing unused bottles - equally they are great for the rubbish which you or someone (usually us) will have to deal with.

by Sam Moore - www.whoswaiting.com.au

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8 Tips for a function that runs smoothly

Tip#5: Just a little more on packing those tubs with drinks

Just finishing off ice and cold drinks - Josef (wait staff wunderkind to you and me) reminded me that there is a cool little trick for cases of 24 beers that have 4x6 packs inside. Sometimes you get little cartons (like with Crown Lager etc) but more often you will get the standard 6 pack cardboard wrapper with the bottle tops sticking out. So here's the tip - if you have a number of cases to ice down, open your boxes and taking each 6 pack in both hands by grabbing the first two and last two beers (wrap the the thumb and index finger around the necks) - lift the pack slightly and squeeze the bottle necks towards each other. When you do the underside of the cardboard wrapper will pull apart. Slide the pack back and go to the next and repeat until all four packs have been processed. Then you can just lift the cardboard wrappers off - hurl them over you shoulder as if you do this all the time - and proceed to easily transfer your bottles to tubs for icing. If you're working with multiple cases this is going to save you lots of time and agro!

by Sam Moore - www.whoswaiting.com.au

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8 Tips for a function that runs smoothly

Tip#6 Arrival and departure of staff

Some tips on how to stagger the arrival and departure of staff efficiently so that you function is covered effectively and your budget doesn't blow out or leave staff members hanging around with little to do (always to be avoided!). We'll take as an example a 100-120 person event with a range of drinks and canaps or nibbles and that will run from say 6pm to 10pm. Imagine for instance that it's a product launch or store opening. How many staff we need for this event will depend mostly on whether the guests are expected to all arrive at once or to drift in over time. Examples of a event where everyone arrives at once would be where there is a speaker or if the guests are already at a conference or seminar and come straight to the area where the function will be held - in this case 6 staff will be called. However if the event is a simple launch or gallery type affair with no "main event" then 5 staff will be adequate. So assuming 5 staff and a 6pm guest arrival time. Two staff will arrive first at approximately 5pm. These two will bring in the tubs, ice down the drinks and set up the bars etc. They prepare the alcohol and glasses (back-up) that may be needed if the demand is heavier than expected and they will make sure they have the timing sorted out with the caterers for taking food out on the floor after everyone has been served a drink. The next two staff are scheduled for 5:30pm. They will be responsible for polishing up the glassware, final presentation of the bars (we have 2 in mind), and serving areas. The last staff member will arrive just ahead of the guests at 6pm. This person will be put directly onto food service. The first two arrivals will operate the bars. The reasoning for this is that it is they who have set them up and so know where all the drink items are and can most effectively put their hands on whatever is required by the guests. At Who's Waiting this will often be a two man team that is used to working together as this encourages a high degree of teamwork and professionalism. As the guests arrive the 3 floor staff will move around the floor with their trays offering and distributing drinks to the arrivals. At the point when all the guests have a drink these 3 will return to the kitchen and start taking out the food. The two behind the bar or bars will tend guests who come to the bars directly or prepare the drinks for the orders being taken directly on the floor by the other staff.

by Sam Moore - www.whoswaiting.com.au

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8 Tips for a function that runs smoothly

If the event has gone as planned then around 8.50pm the supervisor will approach the customer (holder of the event or function) to see if they want to let the first two staff members go. Since all staff work a 4-hour minimum, it makes sense for the first arrivals to depart at the end of their shift and leave the later arrivals to finish off the job. Provided this is authorised then the first two leave and the remaining 3 now handle the diminished number of guests. From here on out we will have one staff member on the floor, one on the kitchen/food service and one on the bar. If there were 2 bars - one will have been wound down by the first two staff members before leaving reducing the bar facilities to one. Prior to leaving, the first two staff members tidy up and remove the rubbish, pack and rinse glasses and rinse and drain platters ready for the caterer to pick up and remove from the floor all items that won't be needed. Additionally they will remove drinks bottles that are going to be excess to requirements, wipe them down and pack them back into the boxes (which were saved - remember tip#4?). By 9:30 the event may effectively have wound down. If that is the case, the two 5:30 arrivals can leave after they have packed up all excess items not handled by the first two departing staff members. The last remaining staff member will handle the bar during this phase and then just before 10pm he or she will start the final wrap up and transport the items provided by the wait staff company (Who's Waiting?) to the van ready for departure. In reading through this you will realise that at all stages during the evening the way the staff were staggered allows for additional hands on deck if the event changes course - for instance if more guests arrive earlier, or stay later, the flexibility is there to handle the change without it being generally perceptible to the guests or the customer. The aim is to only be noticed for how professionally the event has been handled - apart from that, the hospitality staff will blend-in seamlessly with the function. Next we look at the importance of supervision...

by Sam Moore - www.whoswaiting.com.au

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8 Tips for a function that runs smoothly

Tip#7: The importance of supervision

The subject at hand? - The importance of supervision. This tip will wrap up the series that we have been running except for a little reminder in tip #8 on the importance of quality staff. That will unashamedly explain why Who's Waiting and other quality staff suppliers like us are so worth the extra couple of bucks per hour that our staff cost. So... what does a supervisor really do? A supervisor's work starts long before they get to your venue. The key ground work your supervisor does is to evaluate and organise the type and quantity of staff you are going to require to bring off your function successfully. Importantly this ability is somewhat of an art - meaning? - well since you ask, it means that the staff that will be needed will be greatly influenced by your type of event, the length of your event and style of your event. Always conscious of your budget a supervisor will be looking to make sure you steer clear of problems, present the correct image and have a reasonably elastic capacity to handle increased work load at peak times - without over staffing or arriving way too early. A supervisors work is greatly enabled by talking with the host or hostess. Your expectations will determine who amongst their staff they choose to put in charge of certain areas of service and how much weight they give to different responsibilities. They then of course need to brief the staff they choose for the job with the subtleties involved in that particular function or event. Having made these decisions and briefed the team, the supervisor naturally becomes the focal point on the night. The staff know what they have been assigned to do and if they encounter an obstacle in service delivery they will come to the supervisor to find out how he or she wants to manage the issue. The host of hostess is going to be busy with guests so when something needs to be adjusted or included - then again the supervisor will be his or her first port of call to make sure it happens - gracefully! Events are all about work flow. The focus of the activity changes throughout the night and the supervisor watches and picks the appropriate moments to switch certain staff from one activity to another - always looking to keep the staff somewhat in the background of the proceedings and catching potential problems well before they occur. Liaison with the caterers, provision of new supplies as stocks run down and rolling out the appropriate items at the right time (champagne for toasts is good example) - all of these actions fall to a supervisor.

by Sam Moore - www.whoswaiting.com.au

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8 Tips for a function that runs smoothly

For the average event we assign a supervisor to any requirement over 2 staff members. Our silver grade supervisors can handle up to 5 staff and our gold supervisors will mange up to 11 staff. Beyond this we tend to form a hierarchy all ultimately topped by our most experienced gold level supervisors. These staff members have experienced all levels of functions in all types of environments - must be comfortable with VIP clients and have proved themselves in the industry for over 5 years at least (for most it is more like 10 - 20 years). I hope this penultimate tip gives you something of an insight into how important your supervisor is to the smooth running of your event and why it is in your interests to choose carefully. Our last tip is a shameless plug for the premier wait staff providers in Sydney Who's Waiting

by Sam Moore - www.whoswaiting.com.au

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8 Tips for a function that runs smoothly

Tip#8: Why quality staff are the way to go

In the tips series that has just gone by we've looked at events from the staffing point of view; items they require, tips on how to cover the events requirements effectively, things that can go wrong and supervision. The last and perhaps most important "tip" of all is to use quality staff and a quality organisation (like who's waiting) to supply and manage staff at your event. Like so many areas in life - if you are looking to make a small saving at the expense of well trained staff, you will pay a big price in professionalism, event atmosphere and credibility - not to mention the stress that goes with not being able to relax and get on with the event itself. Quality staff need to be trained. No uni students or casual workers are innately blessed with all the knowledge and experience required to support a first class event. They need top level supervision and experience in the subtleties of service provision especially under pressure. The saying that comes to mind is pay peanuts, get monkies! Prices for waiting staff can range from $25/hour for the student end of town to $45+ for well established staff. The difference however is much less when you add up your costs for the event. If you use well trained agency staff you will require a) fewer staff leading to a reduction of the overall cost difference, b) fewer supervisors who will be less stressed and more productive - which will lead to better thinking on the job - delivering a much higher level of service delivery and delight for your customers, c) less waste, as well trained staff invariably use the food and resources more efficiently and d) a much better atmosphere at your event. A good team will significantly raise the enjoyment level of your guests as they feel themselves in good hands and literally feed off the energy that a well presented, competent team brings to a function. Cutting corners on staff quality really is the best way to downgrade an event and demonstrate to your guests that their pleasure is not at the top of your priority list! And worst of all, it can end up being more expensive when all factors are considered.

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by Sam Moore - www.whoswaiting.com.au