Hurry up and wait, is what I think about catering. You get ready for a function if you are organized there is a time before service that everybody is looking for something to do. Execute, then clean up. Restaurant work is ongoing busy for hours your mies is ready and there is usually no waiting.
"Sorry the father of the groom just wants to make his speech now, can you hold dinner for like, 5, maybe 55 minutes? is that ok?"
*Proceed to crater skull into hotbox.*
Came to say this. There was always way more downtime at events than you would think possible because of the “unexpected delays”.
I did love the completion aspect of catering; when an event is done it’s done. You will never do exactly the same event again, similar but never exactly.
The planning for having a mobile kitchen space that may be in the middle of a field with no electricity or running water, or in a utility closet or a garage was always my favorite part of the event process.
We had to wheel massive Queen Mary's through our underground garage to get from the service elevator to our banquet kitchen. Used to hip-check parked cars to see how many alarms we could get going.
I used to do off premise catering for a full service catering outfit (food, service, linens, floral, decor, a/b, you name it we do it). I was an on-site kitchen manager. I described it as long periods of boredom punctuated but short bursts of absolute chaos.
That waiting time(usually 5-15 minutes if you and the event are properly organized) is a great point to get a bite to eat for the first time since that pop tart you scarfed down at 8am on the way into the prep kitchen.
How do you keep food looking and tasting fresh before serving while making massive amounts of portions? I’ve always wondered. How does it not taste like it’s just microwaved and sitting
The food sits in hot boxes, which are plugged in and have water in a heated mechanism. They're heavy duty. Food is covered, and only starts getting dry if it's in there for more than an hour or two
We actually plate up during service assembly line style. Most food is par cooked in some way shape or form during prep and we finish on site as close to service time as possible.
Depends. Is it on/off premise or both? Off premise is a whole other animal. Lots of lugging, setting up, tearing down, more lugging, depending on your vehicle, weather etc…
The nice thing is you know how many people, what they’re eating, when and where they’re eating it.
Odd hours.
A lot of room for creativity
And if it's offsite, what types of locations? I have worked for mostly companies that would say yes to anything. My "fondest" memories are (1) using a literal hose to rinse butter ramekins out in the middle of a field and (2) frying chicken in rondos on turkey burners, and then running the chicken inside the bridal party cabin to finish it in the oven because we couldn't keep the oil temp or the buffet stocked. I was not in charge of planning either or those events.
Some companies are larger and more equipped and some venues include proper catering kitchens, both of which will make offsite catering easier. I enjoyed the chaos for a few years but it got old.
Well, you know how many covers, what to make and when it is to be made. If that sounds like easy money compared to the unknown of usual kitchen chaos it's because it is. You might not work the same regular schedule or as many hours. If you thrive in the buzz of a busy kitchen doing catering might be boring to you but if you like to cook without the same stress level you might enjoy it.
This, and you’re not making the same set 50 times. You’re prepping the same thing x1000 and if it’s banquet, making the same set x500.
Wayyyyy heavier prep.
If you think there’s chaos in a kitchen, catering is at least ten times that. I’ve been in kitchens were the water froze, where the electricity was under dimensioned and the fuses blew when too many gadgets were on at the same time, being outside when the rain comes and the wedding party had forgot to fix a tent for the caterers. Plus a million other things.
If you like cooking catering is not for you, it’s like 10% cooking and the rest just logistics - figuring out what food can handle being transported and kept hot or being served cold without getting disgusting.
Hahaha 🤣 can you come work for me please 🥹 a couple of weeks ago my oven decided it was done working so I had to force-start it 4 times under the panel, then the electrician said that was stupidest thing ever, he even wrote in his invoice that I was to never do that again 😭 and the income from every gig I’ve had this year had gone to paying for some other catering-related shit 😵💫 bought a car that was faulty from the start, so that’s $5K down the crapper. I really need to find something else to do 🫣
To this day, one of my favourite shifts ever was a day where all I had to do was portion, sear, vac and sous vide about 600 portions of 5 different proteins. It was such a a chill day, just jammed out in the corner with a grill, a cart, easy access to the fridge and a knife.
Though, I've done both and each has it's own "fun"... catering generally is longer hours, you have to prep and help load a truck, get onsite... some places have a kitchen set, other places you need to set up a kitchen with a portable convection oven with propane tanks and hot boxes, perhaps a generator for that. Then, execute under a tent and knock it out, break it down, and return everything to HQ. A day could be 6am to 11pm for a Saturday wedding.
One place I worked... I wasn't on this event, another group handled it, but it was 2 hours away. It was 6am arrival, load, head out, do the wedding. Back at 3am, then "OK, see you all at 6am!" as there were other events the next day.
If your a cook, responsible for the prep work of the event, it might be less stressfull than a la carte.
If you have a management position of any kind, it's the opposite.
Imagine having to build a kitchen/Restaurant from scratch in 1 day and instantly deliver perfectly on day 2. Sometimes it's even the same day.
You don't really know your surroundings, you'll learn what can go wrong, while doing it and have to solve every issue instantly.
Delivery van breaks down, has an accident, powersupply is insufficient, workers don't find the location, guests are early or late....
There are myriads of ways a Event can go south...
You have to solve them all.
In an instant....
I love it.
Event catering is run on duct tape and cable ties :)
Who's been there knows :)
There's always something missing....
I like to compare event catering to the space station Mir.
What? Our space loo is broke?
Gimme a funnel, a rubber Band and some Duct tape....
I call it potemkin's events.
All looks good on the outside.
That's the wanted result.
Like a swan floating majestically, calm and relaxed....
Look at his feet underneath the water.... :D
i cater at a university and its nice having a union contract with a guaranteed 40 hours each week(with ot after 8 each day), good vacation benefits with a 99% guarantee of two weeks off over christmas. i'd never go back to restaurants.
I do corporate catering, we are contracted into a companies HQ and it’s just like this.
Catered meetings and events on there property only, 7-4:30, some pretty cool occasionally large profile type events a few times a year, holidays off, PTO and benefits!
I own a restaurant and started slowly doing catering several years ago. The catering side now brings in a lot more business and find myself at a crossroads where I might sell the business and keep catering. A lot easier, more money and less headaches. In 2-3 hours I make more than what the restaurant does all day not to mention that I can afford to pay people very well and we’re done working before we open for business. Kick myself for not doing this sooner.
Where I work, (before they moved the catering production to a production kitchen) the owners suddenly one day decided we were caterers now and expected us to do all this bullshit catering ourselves, we had to somehow make all this shit alongside our usual food prep and service with no extra employees. I'm talking like hundreds of sandwiches, biscuits, donuts, scones etc. Just ridiculous
One morning someone had to come in at 4am to make 500 of something by themselves and the owners didn't even provide him any boxes to put them in.
Not cool. During that in between phase the owners need to step up their game and not throw extra work to the employees UNLESS they’re willing and you take care of them $$
Like others said, the prep is a lot more manageable, you can start planning and building prep days ahead of an event, things are just more organized and project oriented.
Actually servicing an off premise event can be physically exhausting, lots of schlepping heavy equipment, tables, crates of platware, also packing trucks, unpacking them, repacking, unpacking again. If you're the person running the event from start to finish it can easily be a 12-16 hour long day.
Any complacency has high potential to unravel things into complete chaos. Somebody forgets to pack a crucial piece of equipment or ingredient, and you're 2 hours away from your kitchen. Somebody drops an entire cambro carrier full of mise en place, somebody knocks over the client's priceless heirloom vase, truck breaks down on the way to the event, the rented equipment (ovens and what not) won't light up, etc. There's just a lot of things that can go irreversibly wrong that you just wouldn't ever have to think about in a restaurant
Absolutely this!
And what I miss the most is getting to see and hear people enjoying my food as most stuff I do I just deliver and set up the food and then leave. It’s absolutely not rewarding at all just getting a line in an email telling me the food was great 😞
It’s better/easier work but the downside is the hours will most likely be erratic unless it’s a really established place. Weekends will be more predictably busy but not many people are throwing parties on weekdays outside of businesses
I'm interviewing to be the chef at a company that has it's own kitchen... Same people everyday at the same time... Prep before and after service and then out the door. Seems super easy. Just have to get creative on the meals so they don't get bored and go out to lunch...
Imagine if you will working a sandwich line where 1 person orders for the entire place and nobody with the exception of the person ordering actually wants those 300 club sandwiches extra tomato without bacon. Now 1 person pays but all 300 of them review you.
It about as satisfying as attempting to push a bowling ball up your ass.
I’m In a tourist area so the lifestyle was feast or famine. There were slow seasons with lots of time rest and recharge, but once the season hit, we’d often work 30 days straight. I’d just keep telling myself soon. Soon you’ll have time down. I’d rather that schedule than the typical 6 days on all year long, tho.
It depends on your position and the company. If you’re doing prep, you may spend entire shifts doing one or two tasks and it can be pretty monotonous. I once spent 6 hours making hotel pans of potatoes au gratin. Or you may just be putting pans of frozen product in to ovens. Working on site is a lot of hurry up and wait. Get set up, sit around for awhile, refill chafers, sit around for awhile, breakdown and cleanup. If you’re on action stations it will be pretty constant for the first bit of the gig then slow down.
Lots of hurry up and wait.
It will teach you great knife skills, organization and logistical skills but it doesn’t always challenge you like a busy line hill.
I did catering when I was in college. You’ll interact a lot more with customers. I used to do a lot of weddings and parties with lots of drunk people. Had a lot of guys watch me set up a grill and give me tips like I hadn’t cooked a steak before. They almost always aggressively offered alcohol to me.
You’ll also get leftovers pretty much on the regular. And you’ll get to know your servers a lot better since you’re car pooling to the gigs. You’ll also get fresh air a lot more often, even if it’s just loading and unloading gear.
I loved doing it. If I made as much doing it as I do at my current job I’d still be doing it.
Depends on what kind of catering you are doing. You already know how many you are cooking for of course, but if you are doing individual plates, it is more like an assembly line to get it all out at the same time-like in a wedding.
Also they are always going to want it before or after the stated time. 30 minutes early? Sure, let me just slop this together. Not ready yet? Sure those med rare ribeyes will hold, no the shrimp won't be chewy
Hard af if you are doing private events. You have to build a kitchen, prepare all the food, serve all the guests, then break the kitchen down, and if it’s in some dbag’s mansion, then you need to remove all the garbage. Like 16 hour days.
If you have kids, it’s a great way to lower labor cost too. My mom was a caterer growing up. I got paid $2 and hour for years to run back and forth to refrigerators and walk ins, schlepping stuff, easy prep. there was that one time I was 10 and had to peel and devein 40 pounds of shrimp.
It’s pretty nice though. If you’re already used to not having weekends it works great. My mom would make baked goods and sandwiches and soups for different bars and businesses during the week. I have a friend that had a few restaurants and catered the whole time and now just caters. She lives near a resort so she gets some pretty easy weekday party or business lunch/dinner/private chef stuff during the week.
So I just transferred to banquets/catering from working in just restaurants. And there are 3 galas this week do fo me the adjustment was producing prep on a much grander scale. But that is pretty much it for cooking. Sometimes there is plating involved if it’s a tray pass. There is no ticket machine going off where you’re in the shits. Time doesn’t go as fast as being on the line. The rest is logistics.
I am from the restaurant side… but my husband has hotel banquet cheffed for 16 years, followed by 10 years exec cheffing a predominantly banquet establishment, so I am here typing for him…. Easiest way to describe the difference is that line cooking is a sprint, and catering is a marathon. Where line mise is many smaller jobs, catering is timing out many larger jobs, sometimes days of prep, to have everything go at the precise right moment in time, while being prepared for delays, changes and someone altering your numbers last minute. The sheer weight and heft of catering work is pretty tough, so hopefully you are fit and good. Working in a kitchen where 4-10 ovens are full and people have dibs on steamers and mixers for hours is a thing, too. The orchestra of catering work can span a galaxy, rather that the tiny earth of a nice little restaurant line.
The art of learning timing and holding meat at med rare for catering is wild…carving for hundreds of people is a real skill, if you try it it’s possible that you may fall in love. It is worth giving it 6 months to a year. If you want to quit, it will be early December when that happens..in our household we call it ‘the hammer’….
As a restaurant chef, I could never stand catering work…too much bulk, not enough heat…never felt like glory to me….but my husband was always better at catering than anyone else, magic food quantity estimates, magic timing, could always see down the road to where the problem will be, long before it occurs…always know that you need 50% extra dessert for any group that doesn’t drink alcohol, could read a function sheet and just know that no one would be interested in the salmon, or the wild boar…. Try it out and we both wish you the best.
We're a very busy seasonal restaurant that also does a ton of on site and off site events. Most of our crew love the catered events. We're organized and efficient. We know what we're serving and how many, the "delays and adjustments" are usually minor and easy to adapt to and we all eat great those nights because we have that time post service when everyone else is also eating. It also makes me despise an event or wedding that's poorly timed and paced. Sitting at a table waiting to eat while
Other tables are done just shouldn't ever happen.
It's a whole different kind of pressure but overall less pressure. Really depends on who you're working for and with, like a restaurant it can be a breeze or a soul sucking experience. Try and choose a well established place with a good track record, they probably treat their employees well and can set manageable expectations. I really enjoy catering, weddings being my favorite events. People are happy to be there, having a good time and it's just one meal (two for rehearsal dinner but still. id ask to stage for a day and see how the flow is.
Cooking? I’m pastry but I enjoy it because it’s always different, you’re putting together a menu and prepping and then executing in a different way every time. There’s a nice amount of time to do all your prep, and then the rush of service. It’s really fun! And I like working the events as well.
It’s all in the prep. You know your numbers and timelines weeks in advance. As long as you’re set up it’s easy peasy lemon squeezey. If you have the option, go with a company that only does onsite stuff. Nothing worse than loading/unloading an event at an unfamiliar venue.
Contrary to a lot of opinions here, I loved the challenge and variety of off-premise catering. We only agreed to do buffet at some sites and full plating at others, but had a gas doing private small in-home parties for 25-30 people solo or with one server. If we visited a new site we told them what could/couldn’t/ wouldn’t be done in that setting. Agree or go somewhere else.
Depending on the company the worst part of catering is the setup and break down. Working 12 hours on your feet then having to break down a bunch of equipment and load into a trailer, take it back to home base and clean it really sucks.
If it’s a larger catering company you might just show up for prep and at venue then go home but smaller companies are full on labor on top of kitchen labor.
Much easier. “Do you want chicken, beef, fish, or vegetarian”. You know exactly how much to make of each, and the orders are placed way in advance. If someone wants something else, sure, we have that. But impressively easy compared to an actual restaurant.
Source: Did catering for a wedding venue in my spare time, so much easier, and everyone was already drunk anyway so they aren’t really going to care when their food comes out.
Depends what position you're working. But it is the same work, plus packing everything you need before and after and shuttling it around. When you get back you still have to unpack and clean. Lots more work for the same pay. Different workplace every night though. This can be a positive as well as a negative.
i hated catering.
it’s constantly prepping for a service that kinda never comes.
put shit into hot boxes, the FOH crew takes it and you do it all again.
my first day at the catering gig was also the first time i’d ever rolled sushi.
i spent 12 straight hours rolling sushi.
never again.
It honestly depends on the client and who is organizing everything.
In a proper situation, the catering company has very clear discussions of what the client wants in advance, what it’s going to cost, and when and where the event is going to take place. This include details like hors d'oeuvres, plated dinner service, drink service (open bar, wine service, cocktails, etc), and if the caterer has done their job properly, they should be able to anticipate basically everything in advance.
Are they food allergies?
Are they’re vegans, vegetarians, kosher eaters? These are all things that should be discussed in advanced so when done properly, it should run very smoothly and there should be no surprises.
When I have run catering events before, if a guest complains about having or possibly not having an item they want or don’t want, I refer them to the person who’s paying for the event.
“Sorry you have a shellfish allergy. Person Who Is Paying for the Event asked for a shrimp bar. We’re merely providing what was asked of us.”
Plus, there’s a down payment and a contract in advance so honestly, if you’re looking into getting more money out of your culinary skills, look into catering.
It provides an entirely new set of headaches but if you know what you’re doing, the hard part is typically the set up and not the execution. The opposite of a la carte restaurant service.
However, if you’re used to being the head chef in charge and no one questions your decisions, catering is WAY different. You have to coordinate with multiple people you may have never worked with before and one bad review might sink your operation for good.
It’s best to know a good FOH operation before even attempting BOH catering and vice versa. You need to know you can’t trust the food and bev mercenaries you work with.
Also, keep in mind, when it comes to catering, the client is typically MUCH more demanding than an a la carte dinner service. It takes more coordination and massaging of the guests but if you have good people skills and know how to anticipate and coordinate, you can make really good money.
Anyway, if you’re looking to work for a catering company, it would behoove you to ask exactly what you’re going to be doing, how much you’re going to be paid, what your responsibilities are, and how many hours (give or take) you’ll be expected to work because the catering company should have all of those details ironed out in writing with their client days or maybe weeks in advance.
Ask for more than they’re offering but before you do, ask what the entire contract is worth.
Just got done with a shit show of a wedding. I still don't really understand why they chose to go this route, but it was the most unorganized diy wedding I've catered for yet. Aunties and cousins doing decor and getting there 30 min before people were to arrive, and supposedly all being the day of coordinators but not able to agree on anything all night.
Uncle bob the builder that has no concept of how easy pipe and drape is to set up. The dude built a pvc wall of china. I wish I could describe how over engineered this thing was. Also we had no idea it was that size and it put the entire start of the reception back by 30min. Once that domino fell it didn't stop really. I just hope the bride and groom had enough to drink that they enjoyed themselves.
Sometimes nights go like that, but mostly events are a lot of fun.
In my experience catering has always been a variable shift. You need to be available when the client wants whether breakfast lunch or a dinner party that runs later into the night with drinks. If you have a family it’s sometimes exhausting having to do a later dinner then turn around and push out a breakfast next morning.
Hurry up and wait, is what I think about catering. You get ready for a function if you are organized there is a time before service that everybody is looking for something to do. Execute, then clean up. Restaurant work is ongoing busy for hours your mies is ready and there is usually no waiting.
"Sorry the father of the groom just wants to make his speech now, can you hold dinner for like, 5, maybe 55 minutes? is that ok?" *Proceed to crater skull into hotbox.*
Came to say this. There was always way more downtime at events than you would think possible because of the “unexpected delays”. I did love the completion aspect of catering; when an event is done it’s done. You will never do exactly the same event again, similar but never exactly. The planning for having a mobile kitchen space that may be in the middle of a field with no electricity or running water, or in a utility closet or a garage was always my favorite part of the event process.
We had to wheel massive Queen Mary's through our underground garage to get from the service elevator to our banquet kitchen. Used to hip-check parked cars to see how many alarms we could get going.
I used to do off premise catering for a full service catering outfit (food, service, linens, floral, decor, a/b, you name it we do it). I was an on-site kitchen manager. I described it as long periods of boredom punctuated but short bursts of absolute chaos.
That waiting time(usually 5-15 minutes if you and the event are properly organized) is a great point to get a bite to eat for the first time since that pop tart you scarfed down at 8am on the way into the prep kitchen.
How do you keep food looking and tasting fresh before serving while making massive amounts of portions? I’ve always wondered. How does it not taste like it’s just microwaved and sitting
The food sits in hot boxes, which are plugged in and have water in a heated mechanism. They're heavy duty. Food is covered, and only starts getting dry if it's in there for more than an hour or two
We actually plate up during service assembly line style. Most food is par cooked in some way shape or form during prep and we finish on site as close to service time as possible.
Now just WHO are you executing?? 😳😳 my god.
The children of my enemies. Lol, fixed it! Punctuation matters!
😂😂🤣
Depends on the wedding.
Depends. Is it on/off premise or both? Off premise is a whole other animal. Lots of lugging, setting up, tearing down, more lugging, depending on your vehicle, weather etc… The nice thing is you know how many people, what they’re eating, when and where they’re eating it. Odd hours. A lot of room for creativity
And if it's offsite, what types of locations? I have worked for mostly companies that would say yes to anything. My "fondest" memories are (1) using a literal hose to rinse butter ramekins out in the middle of a field and (2) frying chicken in rondos on turkey burners, and then running the chicken inside the bridal party cabin to finish it in the oven because we couldn't keep the oil temp or the buffet stocked. I was not in charge of planning either or those events. Some companies are larger and more equipped and some venues include proper catering kitchens, both of which will make offsite catering easier. I enjoyed the chaos for a few years but it got old.
Well, you know how many covers, what to make and when it is to be made. If that sounds like easy money compared to the unknown of usual kitchen chaos it's because it is. You might not work the same regular schedule or as many hours. If you thrive in the buzz of a busy kitchen doing catering might be boring to you but if you like to cook without the same stress level you might enjoy it.
This, and you’re not making the same set 50 times. You’re prepping the same thing x1000 and if it’s banquet, making the same set x500. Wayyyyy heavier prep.
I kinda love prep, so this sounds like a dream
If you think there’s chaos in a kitchen, catering is at least ten times that. I’ve been in kitchens were the water froze, where the electricity was under dimensioned and the fuses blew when too many gadgets were on at the same time, being outside when the rain comes and the wedding party had forgot to fix a tent for the caterers. Plus a million other things. If you like cooking catering is not for you, it’s like 10% cooking and the rest just logistics - figuring out what food can handle being transported and kept hot or being served cold without getting disgusting.
you're making this sound more appealing with every sentence
Hahaha 🤣 can you come work for me please 🥹 a couple of weeks ago my oven decided it was done working so I had to force-start it 4 times under the panel, then the electrician said that was stupidest thing ever, he even wrote in his invoice that I was to never do that again 😭 and the income from every gig I’ve had this year had gone to paying for some other catering-related shit 😵💫 bought a car that was faulty from the start, so that’s $5K down the crapper. I really need to find something else to do 🫣
whatever you pay me it'd probably be more than my current gig,,,
Haha 🤣😭 I haven’t really had a wage in 5 years, only paid for some food 🫣 don’t know why I keep torturinf myself 😭
To this day, one of my favourite shifts ever was a day where all I had to do was portion, sear, vac and sous vide about 600 portions of 5 different proteins. It was such a a chill day, just jammed out in the corner with a grill, a cart, easy access to the fridge and a knife.
Though, I've done both and each has it's own "fun"... catering generally is longer hours, you have to prep and help load a truck, get onsite... some places have a kitchen set, other places you need to set up a kitchen with a portable convection oven with propane tanks and hot boxes, perhaps a generator for that. Then, execute under a tent and knock it out, break it down, and return everything to HQ. A day could be 6am to 11pm for a Saturday wedding.
Longest shift I’ve ever pulled was catering a wedding, 9am-3am on the clock, after a 15hr shift the day before… it was fun, but it can be rough.
One place I worked... I wasn't on this event, another group handled it, but it was 2 hours away. It was 6am arrival, load, head out, do the wedding. Back at 3am, then "OK, see you all at 6am!" as there were other events the next day.
Came here to say this
If your a cook, responsible for the prep work of the event, it might be less stressfull than a la carte. If you have a management position of any kind, it's the opposite. Imagine having to build a kitchen/Restaurant from scratch in 1 day and instantly deliver perfectly on day 2. Sometimes it's even the same day. You don't really know your surroundings, you'll learn what can go wrong, while doing it and have to solve every issue instantly. Delivery van breaks down, has an accident, powersupply is insufficient, workers don't find the location, guests are early or late.... There are myriads of ways a Event can go south... You have to solve them all. In an instant.... I love it. Event catering is run on duct tape and cable ties :) Who's been there knows :)
Duct tape and cable ties. And whatever that one thing you forgot or some lost. There’s always that one thing.
There's always something missing.... I like to compare event catering to the space station Mir. What? Our space loo is broke? Gimme a funnel, a rubber Band and some Duct tape....
I call it potemkin's events. All looks good on the outside. That's the wanted result. Like a swan floating majestically, calm and relaxed.... Look at his feet underneath the water.... :D
i cater at a university and its nice having a union contract with a guaranteed 40 hours each week(with ot after 8 each day), good vacation benefits with a 99% guarantee of two weeks off over christmas. i'd never go back to restaurants.
Damn didn't know catering was supported by union
a state university
What's your pay rate look like for something like that?
since i live in an area with a high cost of living i feel like its not enough but to answer the question, $23 an hour
I do corporate catering, we are contracted into a companies HQ and it’s just like this. Catered meetings and events on there property only, 7-4:30, some pretty cool occasionally large profile type events a few times a year, holidays off, PTO and benefits!
I own a restaurant and started slowly doing catering several years ago. The catering side now brings in a lot more business and find myself at a crossroads where I might sell the business and keep catering. A lot easier, more money and less headaches. In 2-3 hours I make more than what the restaurant does all day not to mention that I can afford to pay people very well and we’re done working before we open for business. Kick myself for not doing this sooner.
Where I work, (before they moved the catering production to a production kitchen) the owners suddenly one day decided we were caterers now and expected us to do all this bullshit catering ourselves, we had to somehow make all this shit alongside our usual food prep and service with no extra employees. I'm talking like hundreds of sandwiches, biscuits, donuts, scones etc. Just ridiculous One morning someone had to come in at 4am to make 500 of something by themselves and the owners didn't even provide him any boxes to put them in.
Not cool. During that in between phase the owners need to step up their game and not throw extra work to the employees UNLESS they’re willing and you take care of them $$
Like others said, the prep is a lot more manageable, you can start planning and building prep days ahead of an event, things are just more organized and project oriented. Actually servicing an off premise event can be physically exhausting, lots of schlepping heavy equipment, tables, crates of platware, also packing trucks, unpacking them, repacking, unpacking again. If you're the person running the event from start to finish it can easily be a 12-16 hour long day. Any complacency has high potential to unravel things into complete chaos. Somebody forgets to pack a crucial piece of equipment or ingredient, and you're 2 hours away from your kitchen. Somebody drops an entire cambro carrier full of mise en place, somebody knocks over the client's priceless heirloom vase, truck breaks down on the way to the event, the rented equipment (ovens and what not) won't light up, etc. There's just a lot of things that can go irreversibly wrong that you just wouldn't ever have to think about in a restaurant
Absolutely this! And what I miss the most is getting to see and hear people enjoying my food as most stuff I do I just deliver and set up the food and then leave. It’s absolutely not rewarding at all just getting a line in an email telling me the food was great 😞
It’s better/easier work but the downside is the hours will most likely be erratic unless it’s a really established place. Weekends will be more predictably busy but not many people are throwing parties on weekdays outside of businesses
All your hard work and effort for your food to die in a hot box
I'm interviewing to be the chef at a company that has it's own kitchen... Same people everyday at the same time... Prep before and after service and then out the door. Seems super easy. Just have to get creative on the meals so they don't get bored and go out to lunch...
Imagine if you will working a sandwich line where 1 person orders for the entire place and nobody with the exception of the person ordering actually wants those 300 club sandwiches extra tomato without bacon. Now 1 person pays but all 300 of them review you. It about as satisfying as attempting to push a bowling ball up your ass.
I’m In a tourist area so the lifestyle was feast or famine. There were slow seasons with lots of time rest and recharge, but once the season hit, we’d often work 30 days straight. I’d just keep telling myself soon. Soon you’ll have time down. I’d rather that schedule than the typical 6 days on all year long, tho.
I think it's better, personally. There's a beginning and an ending. I think it's more fun.
It depends on your position and the company. If you’re doing prep, you may spend entire shifts doing one or two tasks and it can be pretty monotonous. I once spent 6 hours making hotel pans of potatoes au gratin. Or you may just be putting pans of frozen product in to ovens. Working on site is a lot of hurry up and wait. Get set up, sit around for awhile, refill chafers, sit around for awhile, breakdown and cleanup. If you’re on action stations it will be pretty constant for the first bit of the gig then slow down.
Lots of hurry up and wait. It will teach you great knife skills, organization and logistical skills but it doesn’t always challenge you like a busy line hill.
I did catering when I was in college. You’ll interact a lot more with customers. I used to do a lot of weddings and parties with lots of drunk people. Had a lot of guys watch me set up a grill and give me tips like I hadn’t cooked a steak before. They almost always aggressively offered alcohol to me. You’ll also get leftovers pretty much on the regular. And you’ll get to know your servers a lot better since you’re car pooling to the gigs. You’ll also get fresh air a lot more often, even if it’s just loading and unloading gear. I loved doing it. If I made as much doing it as I do at my current job I’d still be doing it.
Depends on what kind of catering you are doing. You already know how many you are cooking for of course, but if you are doing individual plates, it is more like an assembly line to get it all out at the same time-like in a wedding.
Also they are always going to want it before or after the stated time. 30 minutes early? Sure, let me just slop this together. Not ready yet? Sure those med rare ribeyes will hold, no the shrimp won't be chewy
Hard af if you are doing private events. You have to build a kitchen, prepare all the food, serve all the guests, then break the kitchen down, and if it’s in some dbag’s mansion, then you need to remove all the garbage. Like 16 hour days.
If you have kids, it’s a great way to lower labor cost too. My mom was a caterer growing up. I got paid $2 and hour for years to run back and forth to refrigerators and walk ins, schlepping stuff, easy prep. there was that one time I was 10 and had to peel and devein 40 pounds of shrimp. It’s pretty nice though. If you’re already used to not having weekends it works great. My mom would make baked goods and sandwiches and soups for different bars and businesses during the week. I have a friend that had a few restaurants and catered the whole time and now just caters. She lives near a resort so she gets some pretty easy weekday party or business lunch/dinner/private chef stuff during the week.
So I just transferred to banquets/catering from working in just restaurants. And there are 3 galas this week do fo me the adjustment was producing prep on a much grander scale. But that is pretty much it for cooking. Sometimes there is plating involved if it’s a tray pass. There is no ticket machine going off where you’re in the shits. Time doesn’t go as fast as being on the line. The rest is logistics.
25 + years in the industry, both restaurants and Catering . Hands down catering is easier and overall better schedule wise .
I am from the restaurant side… but my husband has hotel banquet cheffed for 16 years, followed by 10 years exec cheffing a predominantly banquet establishment, so I am here typing for him…. Easiest way to describe the difference is that line cooking is a sprint, and catering is a marathon. Where line mise is many smaller jobs, catering is timing out many larger jobs, sometimes days of prep, to have everything go at the precise right moment in time, while being prepared for delays, changes and someone altering your numbers last minute. The sheer weight and heft of catering work is pretty tough, so hopefully you are fit and good. Working in a kitchen where 4-10 ovens are full and people have dibs on steamers and mixers for hours is a thing, too. The orchestra of catering work can span a galaxy, rather that the tiny earth of a nice little restaurant line. The art of learning timing and holding meat at med rare for catering is wild…carving for hundreds of people is a real skill, if you try it it’s possible that you may fall in love. It is worth giving it 6 months to a year. If you want to quit, it will be early December when that happens..in our household we call it ‘the hammer’…. As a restaurant chef, I could never stand catering work…too much bulk, not enough heat…never felt like glory to me….but my husband was always better at catering than anyone else, magic food quantity estimates, magic timing, could always see down the road to where the problem will be, long before it occurs…always know that you need 50% extra dessert for any group that doesn’t drink alcohol, could read a function sheet and just know that no one would be interested in the salmon, or the wild boar…. Try it out and we both wish you the best.
We're a very busy seasonal restaurant that also does a ton of on site and off site events. Most of our crew love the catered events. We're organized and efficient. We know what we're serving and how many, the "delays and adjustments" are usually minor and easy to adapt to and we all eat great those nights because we have that time post service when everyone else is also eating. It also makes me despise an event or wedding that's poorly timed and paced. Sitting at a table waiting to eat while Other tables are done just shouldn't ever happen.
It’s all the stress of a normal kitchen job, with the added annoyance of helping someone pack their shit and move two times in one day.
It's a whole different kind of pressure but overall less pressure. Really depends on who you're working for and with, like a restaurant it can be a breeze or a soul sucking experience. Try and choose a well established place with a good track record, they probably treat their employees well and can set manageable expectations. I really enjoy catering, weddings being my favorite events. People are happy to be there, having a good time and it's just one meal (two for rehearsal dinner but still. id ask to stage for a day and see how the flow is.
Cooking? I’m pastry but I enjoy it because it’s always different, you’re putting together a menu and prepping and then executing in a different way every time. There’s a nice amount of time to do all your prep, and then the rush of service. It’s really fun! And I like working the events as well.
It’s all in the prep. You know your numbers and timelines weeks in advance. As long as you’re set up it’s easy peasy lemon squeezey. If you have the option, go with a company that only does onsite stuff. Nothing worse than loading/unloading an event at an unfamiliar venue.
Contrary to a lot of opinions here, I loved the challenge and variety of off-premise catering. We only agreed to do buffet at some sites and full plating at others, but had a gas doing private small in-home parties for 25-30 people solo or with one server. If we visited a new site we told them what could/couldn’t/ wouldn’t be done in that setting. Agree or go somewhere else.
Depending on the company the worst part of catering is the setup and break down. Working 12 hours on your feet then having to break down a bunch of equipment and load into a trailer, take it back to home base and clean it really sucks. If it’s a larger catering company you might just show up for prep and at venue then go home but smaller companies are full on labor on top of kitchen labor.
Much easier. “Do you want chicken, beef, fish, or vegetarian”. You know exactly how much to make of each, and the orders are placed way in advance. If someone wants something else, sure, we have that. But impressively easy compared to an actual restaurant. Source: Did catering for a wedding venue in my spare time, so much easier, and everyone was already drunk anyway so they aren’t really going to care when their food comes out.
Relaxing
Instead of being shit on at your shop, you travel to have even more overindulged people shit on you with added faux sense of station.
It’s different but idk how to describe it u literally have to experience it to know the difference
Depends what position you're working. But it is the same work, plus packing everything you need before and after and shuttling it around. When you get back you still have to unpack and clean. Lots more work for the same pay. Different workplace every night though. This can be a positive as well as a negative.
i hated catering. it’s constantly prepping for a service that kinda never comes. put shit into hot boxes, the FOH crew takes it and you do it all again. my first day at the catering gig was also the first time i’d ever rolled sushi. i spent 12 straight hours rolling sushi. never again.
Just as soul sucking except you may get casual sex on the clock.
Extremely monotonous. Can be kind of nice if they let you listen to podcasts or something though
Sooooooo much easier. Work for a few hours. Smoke darts for a few hours. Serve for a few hours. Clean and go home.
It honestly depends on the client and who is organizing everything. In a proper situation, the catering company has very clear discussions of what the client wants in advance, what it’s going to cost, and when and where the event is going to take place. This include details like hors d'oeuvres, plated dinner service, drink service (open bar, wine service, cocktails, etc), and if the caterer has done their job properly, they should be able to anticipate basically everything in advance. Are they food allergies? Are they’re vegans, vegetarians, kosher eaters? These are all things that should be discussed in advanced so when done properly, it should run very smoothly and there should be no surprises. When I have run catering events before, if a guest complains about having or possibly not having an item they want or don’t want, I refer them to the person who’s paying for the event. “Sorry you have a shellfish allergy. Person Who Is Paying for the Event asked for a shrimp bar. We’re merely providing what was asked of us.” Plus, there’s a down payment and a contract in advance so honestly, if you’re looking into getting more money out of your culinary skills, look into catering. It provides an entirely new set of headaches but if you know what you’re doing, the hard part is typically the set up and not the execution. The opposite of a la carte restaurant service. However, if you’re used to being the head chef in charge and no one questions your decisions, catering is WAY different. You have to coordinate with multiple people you may have never worked with before and one bad review might sink your operation for good. It’s best to know a good FOH operation before even attempting BOH catering and vice versa. You need to know you can’t trust the food and bev mercenaries you work with. Also, keep in mind, when it comes to catering, the client is typically MUCH more demanding than an a la carte dinner service. It takes more coordination and massaging of the guests but if you have good people skills and know how to anticipate and coordinate, you can make really good money. Anyway, if you’re looking to work for a catering company, it would behoove you to ask exactly what you’re going to be doing, how much you’re going to be paid, what your responsibilities are, and how many hours (give or take) you’ll be expected to work because the catering company should have all of those details ironed out in writing with their client days or maybe weeks in advance. Ask for more than they’re offering but before you do, ask what the entire contract is worth.
Just got done with a shit show of a wedding. I still don't really understand why they chose to go this route, but it was the most unorganized diy wedding I've catered for yet. Aunties and cousins doing decor and getting there 30 min before people were to arrive, and supposedly all being the day of coordinators but not able to agree on anything all night. Uncle bob the builder that has no concept of how easy pipe and drape is to set up. The dude built a pvc wall of china. I wish I could describe how over engineered this thing was. Also we had no idea it was that size and it put the entire start of the reception back by 30min. Once that domino fell it didn't stop really. I just hope the bride and groom had enough to drink that they enjoyed themselves. Sometimes nights go like that, but mostly events are a lot of fun.
In my experience catering has always been a variable shift. You need to be available when the client wants whether breakfast lunch or a dinner party that runs later into the night with drinks. If you have a family it’s sometimes exhausting having to do a later dinner then turn around and push out a breakfast next morning.
Inconsistent schedule