Resource Management

Hospital, university and business foodservice operators handle catering with smart staffing solutions and attractive benefits.

Restaurants & Institutions

Jamie Popp
Special to R&I

Catered events are fun for staff and customers at Maine Medical Center.

As a business proposition, catering has the makings of magic. Added to noncommercial settings, it offers the potential of unbudgeted revenue opportunities without asking for much in the way of big cash outlays. The kitchen facilities already are in place, most equipment and supplies are on hand and the basic food-prep functions are not unlike those required for the core business.

And even though there are existing staff resources from which to recruit, the people part of the equation often presents challenges: Although similar, the required skill sets aren’t always identical. Nor are the hours.

The same set of workers may need to operate a cash register one day and the next be versed in the finer points of banquet or buffet service. If they’re accustomed to serving sandwiches, salads and beverages to a student population, the employees will discover that five-course meals for senior university officials ask for different approaches.

Operators find that one of the best strategies is to present catering jobs to the staff as opportunities to learn new and different skills, to be exposed to varied service situations and—of no small consequence—to earn extra cash. Cross-training also is a big part of good retention rates of full-time and part-time employees in facilities that offer catering services.

Staffers may be behind the scenes prepping lettuce for salads in the cafeteria, at the cash register during a lunch rush or planning a meal for hundreds of people at Eastman Lodge at Eastman Chemical’s Bays Mountain Recreation Area. The lodge, typically used for special events, is located on the Kingsport, Tenn., company’s 400-plus-acre campus.

Maine Medical Center’s cohesive, well-trained catering staff has little turnover.

Nine full-time staff members are cross-trained so they’re able to work in the employee cafeteria or manage catering duties, depending on needs, according to Darlene Sampson, project manager at Southern Foodservice Management in Birmingham, Ala. The contractor is one of eight foodservice companies that are part of the organization’s virtual cafeteria, which includes franchises such as Arby’s and Subway.

Southern’s training is conducted monthly and new hires work with another staff member for three days before working alone. “Almost every employee on staff at some point in the day may assist with the catering prep as well as prepare food for service in the cafeteria,” Sampson says. “We work our unit as one whole piece with the exception of budget. We all prep, deliver, set up, serve, break down and clean up.”

Employees at Children’s Hospital Central California are enticed by continuing education courses and cross-trained among catering and retail outlets such as Starbucks, says Foodservices Director Dawson Gilbert. His department at the Madera, Calif.-based hospital makes as much as $100,000 each year in for-profit catering as opposed to internal catering that gets charged back to other departments.

Staffing special events requires nimble scheduling among all employees when only a select few are responsible for catering. One and a half full-time equivalent employees manage the hospital’s 75 events, including formal dinners, parties, meetings and luncheons.

“We have cross-trained everyone in foodservice to help out,” Gilbert says. “In addition to catered events, we serve as many as 62,000 per month in the cafeteria so we stay really busy. If we didn’t cross-train, we’d have a nightmare on our hands.”

Catering Cachet

For some, catering business is profitable enough to warrant a dedicated staff. Because there’s a certain cachet associated with catering, it can be easier to hire and retain for the positions.

“Staffing for catering is not a problem and we have very little turnover,” says Mary Keysor, director of nutrition services at Maine Medical Center in Portland. “Staff for catering get so many positive comments about their work and the food that they stay in their jobs for a long time. Our lead has been here for almost 10 years.”

West Virginia University (WVU) in Morgantown has a full-time assistant director, catering manager, three supervisors, two lead workers and a sales manager, who handle part-time students who do everything from setup and bartending to serving food to guests.

“Our assistant director or catering manager will have a group of students come in to go over [how drinks and food should be served] and etiquette,” says David Friend, director of foodservice.

WVU’s three-tiered training program offers classes for entry-level workers all the way through to event management for experienced students. The university also uses its student workers as mentors.

“We have a mentoring program where a student manager or supervisor works one-on-one with new employees and coaches them at events so they know proper protocol,” Friend says.

Student Service

Not all catered events take place in off-hours when kitchens are idle and staff members can be called on for overtime. They often run concurrent with cafeteria dining service, making it a challenge to maintain customer service levels across all venues. Staffing is the best way to circumvent problems.

“Proper staffing for various events is one of [foodservice operators’] major concerns,” says Paul Fairbrook, author and former foodservice director at University of the Pacific at Stockton in California.

There are some benchmarks to estimate the number of workers needed depending on the type of function. In Fairbrook’s latest book, “Catering on Campus: A Guide to Catering in Colleges and Universities,” he recommends approximately one server per 20 guests for a seated meal for more than 120 people, and one server for every 40 guests in buffet service for more than 120.

West Virginia University works on a similar model of establishing metrics, specifically a set number of workers that are needed for various types of catered functions. Foodservice Director David Friend posts blank schedules for events with the number of positions needed to be filled; this gives students opportunity to sign up according to their availability and experience.

“Our full-time catering manager puts all events into a book with the time of event, set up, clean up and how many students are needed,” Friend says. Students for the most part are grateful for the available slots and grab those that suit their schedules.

University of Massachusetts at Amherst keeps a schedule book, which is used to post events as well as track student availability. The number of workers required is based on the scale of service, says Catering Director Brenda Ryan-Newton.

“If it’s buffet service, we’ll schedule one waitperson per 20 guests,” Ryan-Newton says. “Dinner at the president’s house is one wait staff per six to eight people besides additional staff pouring wine, water or other beverages.”

While the schedule book still stands as a guide, UMass introduced its almost entirely collegiate server staff to online scheduling last year.

“The week before events, a schedule goes out to students so that they can respond with their availability,” Ryan-Newton says about a blanket e-mail that is sent every Thursday. “Before they would have to come in and check the schedule. This has been wonderful for us.”

Restaurants & Institutions is the leading source of vital information for the entire foodservice industry, covering chains, independent restaurants, hotels and institutions.

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