Exercises: Catering

The arithmetic in this chapter converts a staffing ratio into minutes. Do it by hand until it is automatic.

Difficulty guide: ⭐ Foundational (5–10 min) · ⭐⭐ Intermediate (10–20 min) · ⭐⭐⭐ Challenging (20–40 min) · ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Advanced (40+ min)

Part A: Conceptual Understanding ⭐

A.1. Name the six service styles and rank them by service duration for 140 guests.

A.2. Explain why family style takes roughly a quarter of the time of plated service. What changes?

A.3. State the four menu constraints in order of how much they bind, and explain why the couple is last on the list and first in the conversation.

A.4. Distinguish the four dietary categories. Which one is a safety issue, and what follows from that?

A.5. Name the four parts of the allergen protocol.

A.6. What are the four things usually wrong on a BEO, and which one costs the evening rather than money?

A.7. Define without looking back: guaranteed count, overset, corkage, BEO, staffing ratio.

A.8. Why is dinner "the only immovable block in the middle of a wedding," and what does every extra minute of it cost?

Part B: Applied Analysis ⭐⭐

B.1. Convert ratios into minutes. For each, compute theoretical and realistic per-course service duration, then the total across three courses:

  • (a) 120 guests, 15 tables, plated, 1:20
  • (b) 120 guests, 15 tables, plated, 1:30
  • (c) 180 guests, 23 tables, plated, 1:25
  • (d) 180 guests, 23 tables, family style
  • (e) 240 guests, buffet, one double-sided line

For (a) versus (b): what do the two extra servers cost, and what do they buy?

B.2. Choose a style. For each event, recommend a service style with reasoning:

  • (i) 90 guests, museum with a warming kitchen only, formal, food ranked first, 11 dietary requirements
  • (ii) 250 guests, hotel ballroom, tight 10 p.m. curfew, party ranked first
  • (iii) 60 guests, restaurant buyout, food ranked first, no dance floor
  • (iv) 160 guests, field kitchen, vision says "dinner party," mixed ages including several elderly guests
  • (v) 130 guests, gallery, standing reception style, guests expected to mingle

B.3. Reallocate a menu. A couple has: 3 passed canapés ($1,400), a plated dessert ($850), a three-course plated dinner ($9,100), and a wedding cake bought separately. 110 guests, budget $11,800 all-in for food. Rebuild it using §14.2's four eating moments. Show what you cut, what you add, and what it costs.

B.4. Build a dietary matrix. For a 150-guest wedding, construct a plausible matrix — the typical rate is 8–14% with some requirement. Include at least two medically serious allergies and one religious requirement. Then write the allergen protocol for one of them, by name.

B.5. Audit a BEO. Find every error:

Event 14 June · Guests: 156 · Plated, three courses · Service staff 5, kitchen 3, lead 1 · On site 2:00 p.m.–11:30 p.m. · Dietary: 8 vegetarian · Bar: hosted, 5 hrs · Equipment: caterer supplies china, glass, flatware, linens · Vendor meals: 10 · Cake cutting $3/guest · Service charge 22%, admin 3%, tax 8% on food and service charge.

Additional facts: the guarantee submitted was 142. The proposal was 1:20 staffing. The dietary matrix shows 4 vegan, 3 vegetarian, 2 coeliac, 1 severe shellfish allergy. The rental order also includes linens. The vendor matrix shows 18 crew.

For each error: what it is, what it costs, and the line you write.

B.6. Set a guarantee. 138 invited, 121 confirmed yes, 6 confirmed no, 11 non-responders at the deadline. Of the 11: four are local close family, three are travelling internationally, two are one household, and two are colleagues. What do you guarantee? Show your reasoning per §14.5, and price being wrong in each direction at a $128 loaded rate.

B.7. Place dinner. Ceremony 4:00, cocktail hour 4:30–6:00, hard curfew 11:00 p.m. 150 guests, plated at 1:25, three courses, toasts, cake cutting, first dance. Build the block from 6:00 to the first dance and report how much dancing remains. Then do it again with family style and report the difference.

Part C: Real-World Application ⭐⭐–⭐⭐⭐

C.1. Build the service-duration calculator. ⭐⭐ Inputs: guests, tables, staffing ratio, service path distance, number of courses. Output: theoretical and realistic duration per course and total. Test it against §14.1's worked examples.

C.2. Read a real BEO. ⭐⭐⭐ Obtain one — from a caterer, a venue, or a couple who has recently married. Run the §14.4 checklist. Report what you found and how many of the four common errors were present.

C.3. Attend a tasting. ⭐⭐⭐ If you can get to one, ask of every dish: "how does this change at 130, in a field?" Record the answers. If you cannot attend one, interview a caterer with the same question about three of their dishes.

C.4. Ask about allergens. ⭐⭐⭐ Ask two caterers what their protocol is for a severe allergy. Compare to §14.3's four parts. Report honestly where their answer was less rigorous than the chapter's, and where it was more.

C.5. Price the season. ⭐⭐ Pick a dish and price its main components in-season and out-of-season with a local supplier or a wholesale price list. Report the difference as a percentage. Does §14.2's 20–35% figure hold?

C.6. Count the cocktail hour. ⭐⭐ At any event with passed food, count the pieces offered to you across the hour. Compare to the 5–7 per guest figure. Were you hungry?

Part D: Synthesis and Critical Thinking ⭐⭐⭐

D.1. Cross-chapter integration. Chapter 11's service path, Chapter 12's RFP, Chapter 13's kitchen constraints, and this chapter's staffing ratios all determine dinner. Build the single worksheet that converts them into a first-dance time. What are its inputs, and where would it mislead?

D.2. Critique the duration argument. The chapter argues that service style dominates the evening's shape. Construct the case that this over-weights the timeline — that guests do not experience dinner as duration, that a leisurely plated meal is a feature rather than a cost, and that planners' obsession with minutes reflects the planner's experience of the day rather than the guest's. Then respond.

D.3. The dessert argument. §14.2 says cutting the plated dessert saves $600–$1,000 and nobody notices. Argue the other side: that a wedding cake is frequently mediocre, that a plated dessert is a real course, and that "nobody notices" is a claim about aggregate satisfaction rather than about quality. Where do you land?

D.4. Transfer. Compare wedding catering with a domain that solves high-volume service under time pressure: airline catering, hospital foodservice, stadium concessions, or a restaurant's Saturday service. What does the comparator do that events could adopt?

D.5. Design the brief. §14.2 recommends briefing constraints and priorities rather than selecting dishes. Write the one-page catering brief template. Then argue for the limits of the approach — where does an open brief produce a worse result than a specified one?

Part M: Mixed Practice (Interleaved) ⭐⭐–⭐⭐⭐

M.1. (Ch.6 + Ch.14) A caterer's BEO shows a service charge of 22%, an admin fee of 3%, and tax at 8% on food plus service charge. Menu price $96. Compute the loaded rate, and say whether a gratuity should be added.

M.2. (Ch.13) The BEO says the caterer supplies linens. Your rental order also includes linens. What has probably happened, what does it cost, and what do you do?

M.3. (Ch.5) Your guarantee is due at −14 days. Your RSVP deadline was −5 weeks. Eleven guests have not responded. Walk through the sequence from the deadline to the guarantee.

M.4. (Looks like one thing, is another) A caterer's proposal is $14/head below two comparable bids and the staffing ratio is 1:32 rather than 1:20. Is this a price difference or a product difference? Show the arithmetic that answers it.

M.5. (Ch.11 + Ch.14) The plating area is 200 sq ft at the far end of the tent from the farthest table, 70 feet away. What does that do to the service duration, and what would you change?

Part E: Research and Extension ⭐⭐⭐⭐

E.1. Interview a working caterer about service staffing. Ask: what ratio do you staff at for each service style, what determines it, and what happens when a planner asks for more? Write 600 words, and compare their figures to §14.1's table.

E.2. Investigate food safety requirements for outdoor catering in your jurisdiction — temperature control, hand-washing, permits, and who is responsible. Write a 700-word brief with sources. Note explicitly what you could not establish. (Chapter 9.)

E.3. Research how allergen management is handled in commercial foodservice — the systems, the training, and any regulatory requirements in your jurisdiction. Compare to §14.3's protocol. Is the chapter's protocol adequate? Report honestly.

Solutions

Selected solutions: appendices/answers-to-selected.md. Templates: appendices/appendix-a-templates-and-worksheets.md. Rubrics: instructor-guide/additional-assessments/all-assessments.md.