Best Practices

General Banquet Service Guidelines

• When in view of guests, stand upright and attentive with your hands behind your back. Do not slouch!

• Do not congregate in groups on the floor or chat with your fellow servers during service.

• Maintain awareness of your surroundings, always be ready to help out other servers, and be available to your guests.

• When speaking to guests, smile and make eye contact!

• If a guest asks you a question, listen carefully, identify a solution, and address the issue quickly or find a captain to help.

• Walk counterclockwise while serving food to the guest. Walk clockwise while serving beverages and clearing plates.

• Serve all plated food from the guest’s left side. Serve drinks from the guest's right side. Clear all plated food from the right side. Avoid reaching across a guest to serve them or another guest!

• When carrying dishes, keep your fingers away from the food. Hold the plate by the edge/rim.

• After each course, clear the corresponding silverware for that course.

• If a guest leaves the table, re-fold their napkin neatly and set it back on the table.

Common Catering Terminology

Cocktail Reception Positions

During cocktail hour, you may be assigned to one of the following positions:

Hors D'oeuvres Passer

• When passing appetizers, hold the tray just below chest level when offering to guests. Hold a spiraled stack of cocktail napkins in your other hand.

• Know the main ingredients in the appetizer you are serving, including any allergens. If you don’t know, ask the chef!

Drink Passer

• When passing a tray of drinks, place one hand under the tray and one hand on the side of the tray to keep it stabilized. Hold your tray at waist level, smile, make eye contact with the guest, and offer them a beverage by its name. Be prepared to list the ingredients if asked!

• Keep a stack of spiraled cocktail napkins at the front of your tray closest to the guest.

Busser

• As a busser, it is your responsibility to keep your assigned area clean and tidy of all used china, flatware, glassware, and trash. As you move throughout the room, hold your bussing tray at your side, and lift it towards a guest if you notice they are finished with their drink.

• Don’t stand around - there is always something to bus!

Styles of Service for Sit-Down Events

Most Common:

• Plated Dinner

  • The traditional sit-down dinner service is the most popular type of dinner service. Most plated dinner menus include three courses. Guests make a selection from two to three entrees when RSVPing to an event.

• Buffet Style

  • Food is arranged on a buffet table according to the proper sequence: salad, vegetable, starch, protein, bread & butter, then dessert. Wait staff serve guests along the buffet line, or guests serve themselves.

• Family Style

  • Guests are seated at the table with a salad or starter. Once the salad course is finished, servers bring out large platters of food which are passed around amongst the guests at the table.

Less Common:

• Ballet Service

  • In this elegant style of synchronized meal service, teams of servers pick up two plates each from the kitchen, then proceed to the dining room with their team to a specific location at a table. Once everyone is standing behind their guest, plates are placed in front of each guest simultaneously.

• French Service

  • Platters of food are prepared in the kitchen. Servers then take the platters of food to the tables of guests. Utilizing service utensils, servers place each food item onto the guest's plates.