So you screwed up... but I might get the blame

HBMTN · 07-29-2012, 08:42 PM

I had a situation at a pretty fancy wedding rehearsal dinner that we did this weekend. We catered 3 meats and 5 sides. Rented all the china, silverware, water goblet, champagne and wine glasses. Set everything up and everything went great.

I am writing this for your thoughts on what happened though. The family came in from out of town and brought friends who run a bakery to do the dessert which was key lime pie. We were pretty much finished with dinner and standing back watching everything with a smile on when the two dessert guys came up and said "We screwed up, we don't have enough pie to feed everyone here" I asked what are you going to do and he said "We are just going to start at the front when when we run out we're out" Now at this point I thought you dumb SOB's you knew the head count I'm sure because I knew it for months. We watched them squirm as they passed out dessert. Then it dawned on me, there were 105 guests there and they don't know the family brought these guys in for the dessert. As far as they know our company is catering it and our trailer with logo's is parked outside. So when these guys run out of pie these guests are going to think that we ran out of pie and it will look bad on us. Keep this in mind if you let another caterer do desserts or something like this.

As it turned out they asked guests if they would like a slice of pie instead of giving everyone a slice and enough said no that it worked out and they did not run out. I even had a slice and it was great, I will give them that.

txschutte · 07-29-2012, 09:36 PM

What a farking fiasco!!

How does a guy protect his well run company from a pitfall like that? Demand that you provide any and all food being served at the event?

Glad it worked out for you in the end.

FLAQUE · 07-30-2012, 01:14 AM

wow. I've never heard of anything like that. That's really sad that someone would say that they would leave as soon as they ran out of food. Glad it worked out though.

armor · 07-30-2012, 07:05 AM

That is a great point to consider. Glad it worked out for you. Just curious...what 3 meats did you serve?

PorkQPine · 07-30-2012, 09:59 AM

When a client insists on providing some sides or dessert I make sure those items are on another table and we don't serve them. We tell the guests coming through the line that there is food on the other table and that it came from the host and/or their friends.

HBMTN · 07-30-2012, 08:40 PM

Armor we did brisket, pork and chicken.

PorkQPine That is what we did also, our food was in the rear on a buffet but at the end of the meal the two guys who were bar-tending went to the kitchen and
plated the desserts and went to each table passing out desserts. It would be hard pressed for people to not think the other caterer was not part of the same crew in a case like I went through his weekend. Nothing short of an announcement or something.

One other thing that happened that I forgot about. The client rented water picture for each table. We were not contracted to serve guests, just serve our food on the buffet. When the pictures of water ran out that she got people started asking us to refill them. We did it the best we could but was not staffed for this. Again people could think we were not doing our job refilling the pictures that we had nothing to do with.

big brother smoke · 07-30-2012, 09:00 PM

On the water thing, if they have pitchers on the table, I make sure to have staff to fill them (charge client accordingly). However, I can see if these were not rented through you where the problem ensued.

07-29-2012, 08:42 PM	#1
HBMTN is One Chatty Farker Join Date: 10-16-08 Location: Fairfield, Virginia Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	So you screwed up... but I might get the blame I had a situation at a pretty fancy wedding rehearsal dinner that we did this weekend. We catered 3 meats and 5 sides. Rented all the china, silverware, water goblet, champagne and wine glasses. Set everything up and everything went great. I am writing this for your thoughts on what happened though. The family came in from out of town and brought friends who run a bakery to do the dessert which was key lime pie. We were pretty much finished with dinner and standing back watching everything with a smile on when the two dessert guys came up and said "We screwed up, we don't have enough pie to feed everyone here" I asked what are you going to do and he said "We are just going to start at the front when when we run out we're out" Now at this point I thought you dumb SOB's you knew the head count I'm sure because I knew it for months. We watched them squirm as they passed out dessert. Then it dawned on me, there were 105 guests there and they don't know the family brought these guys in for the dessert. As far as they know our company is catering it and our trailer with logo's is parked outside. So when these guys run out of pie these guests are going to think that we ran out of pie and it will look bad on us. Keep this in mind if you let another caterer do desserts or something like this. As it turned out they asked guests if they would like a slice of pie instead of giving everyone a slice and enough said no that it worked out and they did not run out. I even had a slice and it was great, I will give them that.

07-29-2012, 09:36 PM	#2
txschutte Quintessential Chatty Farker Join Date: 08-02-07 Location: Cozad, NE USA Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	What a farking fiasco!! How does a guy protect his well run company from a pitfall like that? Demand that you provide any and all food being served at the event? Glad it worked out for you in the end. __________________ "Bring it on, you bananna thong wearing killer of brisket!"-Chambers If you really care about this place, you'll show some respect for it. I'm such a ZERO. Team Whosoever Q If a man looks lustfully at eggs and bacon, he has already committed breakfast in his heart.

07-30-2012, 01:14 AM	#3
FLAQUE On the road to being a farker Join Date: 06-09-12 Location: dallas, texas Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	wow. I've never heard of anything like that. That's really sad that someone would say that they would leave as soon as they ran out of food. Glad it worked out though. __________________ 18.5" WSM, 22.5" Weber Kettle, Weber Smokey Joe

07-30-2012, 07:05 AM	#4
armor is one Smokin' Farker Join Date: 03-26-08 Location: Virginia Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	That is a great point to consider. Glad it worked out for you. Just curious...what 3 meats did you serve? __________________ Medium Spice, Gatorpit Entertainer, UDS, MC BBQ42, Weber Kettle, Terracotta Pig Texas Longhorn BYC Risk is the price you pay for opportunity.

07-30-2012, 09:59 AM	#5
PorkQPine Full Fledged Farker Join Date: 12-10-07 Location: Roseville, CA Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	When a client insists on providing some sides or dessert I make sure those items are on another table and we don't serve them. We tell the guests coming through the line that there is food on the other table and that it came from the host and/or their friends. __________________ PorkQPine

07-30-2012, 08:40 PM	#6
HBMTN is One Chatty Farker Join Date: 10-16-08 Location: Fairfield, Virginia Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	Armor we did brisket, pork and chicken. PorkQPine That is what we did also, our food was in the rear on a buffet but at the end of the meal the two guys who were bar-tending went to the kitchen and plated the desserts and went to each table passing out desserts. It would be hard pressed for people to not think the other caterer was not part of the same crew in a case like I went through his weekend. Nothing short of an announcement or something. One other thing that happened that I forgot about. The client rented water picture for each table. We were not contracted to serve guests, just serve our food on the buffet. When the pictures of water ran out that she got people started asking us to refill them. We did it the best we could but was not staffed for this. Again people could think we were not doing our job refilling the pictures that we had nothing to do with.

07-30-2012, 09:00 PM	#7
big brother smoke somebody shut me the fark up. Join Date: 05-03-06 Location: Ventura, CA Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	On the water thing, if they have pitchers on the table, I make sure to have staff to fill them (charge client accordingly). However, I can see if these were not rented through you where the problem ensued. __________________ Peace and Smoke, BBS https://www.bigpoppasmokers.com/stor...nufacturer=314 My Weapons: Custom rig - Kandi, UDS; Bubba Keg; 22.5 WSM x 2; 18.5 WSM; BWS extended party; BWS Gator and an Onyx Oven; 29' ft Coachmen Leprechaun (Lola); Avatar by Grillman. Dan Chambers get well soon, so we can tell you to "Shut up Chambers"