Quiz: Catering

Target: 70% or higher. Several questions require arithmetic.

Section 1: Multiple Choice (1 point each)

1. The chapter's central claim about the planner's role in catering is:

  • A) The planner should design the menu
  • B) Food is the caterer's job; service is a schedule, and the schedule is the planner's
  • C) The planner should negotiate the per-head price down
  • D) Catering decisions should be left to the caterer entirely
Answer **B).** *Why B:* The two figures nobody converts are the staffing ratio and the service duration, and both determine the shape of the evening. Everything else on a catering proposal is discussed at every tasting. *Reference:* Chapter overview, §14.1

2. Family style takes roughly a quarter of the time of plated service because:

  • A) The food is simpler
  • B) The unit of service changes — three platters per table instead of one plate per guest
  • C) Fewer staff are needed
  • D) Guests eat faster
Answer **B).** *Why B:* Plated delivers 140 individual plates; family style delivers 54 platters for the same 140 guests, and the guests do the rest of the work. *Reference:* §14.1

3. Plated service for 140 guests at 1 server per 25 takes approximately how long per course, realistically?

  • A) 5–8 minutes
  • B) 12 minutes
  • C) 18–25 minutes
  • D) 45 minutes
Answer **C) 18–25 minutes.** Theoretical is ~12 (18 tables ÷ 6 servers × 4 min), and **it runs 1.5–2× longer in practice** because plating is not instantaneous and the kitchen releases in waves. Three courses with clearing: 45–70 minutes of service. *Reference:* §14.1

4. Adding two servers to a 140-guest plated dinner (1:25 → 1:18) costs roughly $520 and buys:

  • A) Better food
  • B) About 20 minutes of dinner, returned to dancing
  • C) Nothing measurable
  • D) A shorter cocktail hour
Answer **B).** *Why B:* Per-course duration falls from 18–25 minutes to 13–18. Across three courses that is ~20 minutes — and since the end of the night is fixed, it comes back as dancing. *Reference:* §14.1

5. The four menu constraints, in order of how much they bind, are:

  • A) The couple, the budget, the season, the kitchen
  • B) The kitchen, the season, the guest count, the couple
  • C) The budget, the kitchen, the couple, the season
  • D) The season, the guest count, the budget, the kitchen
Answer **B).** *Why B:* And the couple is **last on the list and first in the conversation.** A field kitchen eliminates whole categories before anyone's preference is relevant. *Reference:* §14.2

6. At a raw site, the menu should be dominated by:

  • A) Cold dishes
  • B) Simple dishes
  • C) Things that are better after 40 minutes than after 4
  • D) Whatever the couple chose at the tasting
Answer **C).** *Why C:* Braises, roasts, grains, gratins, composed salads dressed at service. **Not a compromise** — these are among the best food anyone serves at a wedding, and a caterer asked for them will be relieved. *Reference:* §14.2

7. The most under-budgeted and most-noticed eating moment at a wedding is:

  • A) Dinner
  • B) Dessert
  • C) Cocktail hour
  • D) Late-night food
Answer **C) Cocktail hour.** *Why C:* Guests arrive from a ceremony, stand for 60–90 minutes with nothing to do, and drink on an empty stomach. **Three passed items is not enough at any guest count — the working figure is 5–7 pieces per guest.** *Reference:* §14.2

8. A couple has ordered a wedding cake and a plated dessert. The typical saving from cutting the plated dessert is:

  • A) $1–$2 per head
  • B) $6–$10 per head
  • C) $20 per head
  • D) There is no saving
Answer **B) $6–$10 per head** — $600–$1,000 at 100 guests. *Why B:* Most guests eat one dessert. The saving buys the under-catered cocktail hour or the late-night food that keeps the party going. *Reference:* §14.2

9. An allergy is handled differently from a vegan requirement because:

  • A) Allergies are more common
  • B) An allergy is a safety issue and a preference is a hospitality issue — they need different systems
  • C) Vegan meals cost more
  • D) Caterers charge extra for allergies
Answer **B).** *Why B:* A vegan guest receiving the wrong plate has a disappointing evening. An anaphylactic guest receiving the wrong plate has a medical emergency. **A protocol with named delivery and confirmation, versus a good dish and a correct count.** *Reference:* §14.3

10. The four-part allergen protocol includes all of the following except:

  • A) The chef knows the guest by name and table
  • B) The plate is marked and hand-delivered, not on a tray with others
  • C) The planner assesses the severity of any reaction
  • D) Someone confirms with the guest at the table
Answer **C).** **A planner is not qualified to assess allergy severity or manage a reaction.** The fourth part is knowing where the auto-injector is and whether the guest is accompanied. If something happens, **emergency services are called immediately** (Chapter 28). *Reference:* §14.3

11. Of the four errors usually found on a BEO, the one that costs the evening rather than money is:

  • A) The guest count
  • B) The dietary meals
  • C) The staffing reduction
  • D) The equipment assumption
Answer **C) The staffing reduction.** *Why C:* A count error is caught at invoicing, a dietary error at the table, an equipment error at load-in. **A staffing reduction is caught at 7:40 p.m., when dinner is still going out, and by then there is nothing to be done.** Read the staffing line first, every time. *Reference:* §14.4

12. A guarantee should be set at:

  • A) The invitation count
  • B) The forecast attendance
  • C) Confirmed yes + 2–3%
  • D) The venue's capacity
Answer **C).** *Why C:* A floor, not a ceiling — you pay for it whether or not they come. Over-guaranteeing wastes money quietly; under-guaranteeing produces either a premium charge or **a guest without a meal, which everyone in the room can see.** *Reference:* §14.5

Section 2: True/False with Justification (1 point each)

13. A tasting shows you what your wedding food will be like.

Answer **False.** A tasting is four plates cooked to order in the caterer's own kitchen. Your wedding is a hundred plates held and finished in a field. **A good caterer will say so** — and the planner's job at a tasting is to ask, of each dish, *"how does this change at a hundred, in a field?"* A tasting is for confirming quality, agreeing seasoning and doneness, and seeing plating and portion. It is not a rehearsal.

14. A BEO error is the caterer's carelessness.

Answer **Usually false.** A BEO is written by an operations person two to four weeks out, from a sales file created eight months earlier, synthesising information that arrived through four channels at four different times — while they handle eleven other events. **The fix is upstream:** send a consolidated update at −5 weeks with the guarantee, the dietary matrix, the equipment split, and the timeline. A BEO written from good information is usually right. And raise corrections **as questions** — roughly one time in six, the operations person knows something you do not.

15. Heavy passed hors d'oeuvres is a cost-effective alternative to dinner.

Answer **Frequently false in practice.** It photographs well and suits a mingling event, and **guests reliably report being hungry.** If chosen, the volume must be far higher than instinct suggests — typically 12–16 pieces per guest across the evening — and there must be somewhere to sit. Done properly it is not notably cheaper than a served meal.

16. A non-responder at the guarantee deadline should be counted as attending, to be safe.

Answer **Mostly false — count silence as absence, with one exception.** Chased twice with no reply: count as not attending, and the couple must have been told this is the policy in advance. **The exception: where the person's absence would be more costly than their meal** — a local, close family member who is unreachable. $120 against a grandmother without a chair. And the 2–3% added on top is precisely the cushion for the two or three who arrive anyway.

17. Each event should use one service style.

Answer **False. Most good weddings use two.** Passed canapés plus family style is the most common good answer at a raw site — the canapés handle the hungriest hour, family style handles dinner in 18 minutes instead of 60. A plated starter with a family-style main gets most of plated's presentation at half its duration. **Each style is chosen for a moment, not for the event.** The combination to avoid is buffet plus plated dessert, because staff sized for a buffet (1:40) cannot suddenly perform plated service.

Section 3: Short Answer (2 points each)

18. Write the catering brief for a raw site, in the open-question form.

Sample Answer > "Here's what we've got: a field kitchen, no commercial gas, propane holding, a 32-inch doorway, a hundred guests, mid-September, family style, and a budget of $11,800 all-in. > > Here's what the couple care about: food is their first priority, they want it to feel like a very good dinner party, and they've said 'nothing that looks like wedding food.' > > Here's what they don't eat: [list]. And here are the dietary requirements: [matrix]. > > **What would you cook?**" **Why it works:** a caterer given constraints and priorities proposes something they are good at, in season, that works in their kitchen, at the price. A caterer given a list of dishes will cost the list. **The difference is routinely $8–$15 a head and a better dinner.** *Rubric:* Must include the kitchen constraints, the season, the count, the budget, the ranking, and the vision language — and must end with the open question rather than a specification.

19. A BEO shows 5 service staff for 156 guests where the proposal was 1:20. What do you say?

Sample Answer 156 at 1:20 is 8 servers; the BEO shows 5, which is 1:31. That changes per-course service from roughly 15 minutes to roughly 25 — **thirty minutes across three courses, taken from the dancing.** > "Staffing shows 5 service; the proposal was 8 at 1:20. I've built the timeline on eight — dinner at about fifteen minutes a course. Can we hold eight, or should I move the timeline to allow for twenty-five?" **Why phrased that way:** it is a question about the *timeline*, not a complaint about staffing, which gives the caterer a choice between restoring the servers and telling you dinner will take longer. **Either answer is useful and neither is a fight.** *Rubric:* Must compute both ratios and the duration difference; must phrase the correction as a timeline question rather than an accusation; full credit notes that either answer is usable.

20. Describe the allergen protocol for a guest with a severe nut allergy.

Sample Answer **1. The chef knows by name and table.** Not "there's a nut allergy at table six" but *"Rachel Okafor, table six, seat four, severe tree nut, anaphylactic."* **2. The plate is marked and hand-delivered.** A coloured pick, a different plate, or a designated server who delivers it personally. **It does not travel on a tray with others.** **3. Someone confirms with the guest at the table.** *"Ms. Okafor? This is your meal — it's been prepared nut-free."* Ten seconds, and it catches the plate reaching the wrong seat. **4. The couple and the planner know where the auto-injector is**, and whether the guest is accompanied by someone who knows how to use it. **What the planner does not do:** assess severity or manage a reaction. If something happens, emergency services are called immediately. *Rubric:* All four parts; must specify name-and-table rather than table-only; must include the table-side confirmation; full credit states the limit of the planner's role.

Section 4: Applied Scenario (5 points)

21. A wedding for 170 guests at a country house with a full commercial kitchen. Ceremony 3:30 p.m., cocktail hour 4:00–5:30, hard curfew midnight. The couple's ranking: 1. Food · 2. Design · 3. Photography. Most relaxed about: music.

The caterer proposes: plated, three courses, 1 server per 28, a four-item passed canapé selection, a plated dessert, and a wedding cake. $118/head menu price, 21% service charge (not distributed), 8% tax on food and service charge, 18% gratuity expected.

Produce: (a) the loaded rate and total; (b) the service duration and the resulting first-dance time; (c) three changes you would propose, with reasoning tied to the ranking; (d) what you say to the caterer.

Sample Answer **(a) Loaded rate.** | | | |---|---:| | Menu | $118.00 | | Service charge, 21% | $24.78 | | Taxable subtotal | $142.78 | | Tax, 8% | $11.42 | | Subtotal | $154.20 | | Gratuity, 18% of food | $21.24 | | **Loaded rate** | **$175.44** | | **× 170 guests** | **$29,825** | Plus plated dessert, cake, vendor meals, and any cake-cutting fee. **(b) Service duration and first dance.** 170 guests ÷ 28 = **6 servers.** At 8 per table, 170 guests is **22 tables.** Theoretical: 22 ÷ 6 × 4 min = **15 min per course.** Realistic at 1.5–2×: **22–30 minutes per course.** Three courses with clearing between: **75–100 minutes of service**, plus eating. | | | |---|---| | 5:30 | Guests move to dinner | | 5:30–5:48 | **Transition, 170 guests** (Ch.11) — 18 min | | 5:48 | Seated, welcome | | 5:52–6:20 | Starter service (28 min) | | 6:20–6:40 | Eating, clear | | 6:40–7:08 | Main service (28 min) | | 7:08–7:45 | Eating, clear | | 7:45–8:10 | Toasts | | 8:10–8:35 | Dessert service | | 8:35–8:55 | Dessert, coffee, cake cut | | **9:00** | **First dance** | **Three hours of dancing to a midnight curfew** — which is actually adequate. **The problem is not the curfew; it is that dinner ran from 5:30 to 9:00.** **(c) Three changes.** **1. Staffing to 1:20 — 9 servers instead of 6.** Cost: roughly $780. Per-course service falls to 15–20 minutes; **the first dance moves to around 8:15.** Forty-five minutes returned. *Reasoning:* the ranking has food first and music last, so this looks like the wrong trade. **It is not** — this change does not reduce the food at all. It reduces the *waiting*, which is the part of a plated dinner guests actually dislike. Food ranked first argues *for* more servers, not fewer. **2. Cut the plated dessert; serve the cake.** Saves roughly $8–$10 a head loaded — **$1,400–$1,700** — and removes a 25-minute service block. *Reasoning:* they are buying dessert twice. This funds change 1 twice over and removes the last service block before dancing. **3. Increase the canapés from four items to six.** Cost: roughly $900. *Reasoning:* cocktail hour is 90 minutes here, not 60. At four items over 90 minutes, guests will be hungry when they sit at 5:48 — and with food ranked first, **the hour they are hungriest is the hour to spend on.** **Net: −$1,400 to −$1,700 on dessert, +$780 on staff, +$900 on canapés. Roughly break-even, and the first dance moves 45 minutes earlier.** **(d) What I say:** > "Three things, and none of them are about the price — the total's about right. > > **Staffing.** You've got six servers on 170. That's about 28 minutes a course, so dinner runs 5:30 to nearly 9. They've ranked food first and I don't want to squeeze the food — but I do want to squeeze the waiting. Can we go to nine and get it to about fifteen a course? > > **Dessert.** They're having a cake and a plated dessert. Most people eat one. If we drop the plated, that's fourteen hundred or so, which more than covers the extra servers — and it takes twenty-five minutes out of the service block. > > **Canapés.** Cocktail hour is ninety minutes, not sixty. Four items over ninety minutes with a full bar and they'll be hungry by the time they sit. Can we go to six? > > Roughly break-even overall, and it moves the first dance from nine to quarter past eight. What do you think?" *Rubric:* | Criterion | 0 | 1 | 2 | |---|---|---|---| | Loaded rate (a) | Menu price only | Applies SC and tax | Full stack incl. gratuity, correct base, and a total | | Duration (b) | States a duration | Computes per course | Computes theoretical and realistic, builds the block, **and identifies that the problem is dinner's length rather than the curfew** | | Changes (c) | Generic suggestions | Three changes | Three, each tied to the ranking, **including the insight that food-ranked-first argues for more servers not fewer**, and netting roughly break-even | | The conversation (d) | Lists demands | Raises the three | Leads by disclaiming price, frames staffing as a timeline question, funds the staff from the dessert, and ends with a question | *Scoring: (a)=1, (b)=1.5, (c)=1.5, (d)=1.*

Scoring and Next Steps

Score Assessment What to do
Under 50% Needs review Re-read §14.1, §14.3, §14.4. Redo Part A and B.1.
50–70% Partial Do B.1 and B.7 by hand. The duration arithmetic is the chapter.
70–85% Solid Proceed to Chapter 15. Build the duration calculator (C.1) first.
Over 85% Strong Proceed. Deep Dive: case-study-02.md and exercises E.1, E.3.

Regardless of score: build C.1. Every chapter from here to Chapter 25 assumes you can convert a staffing ratio into minutes without thinking about it.