Food & Beverage - Event Scheduling - By Joe Dunbar
I observe many catering operations and their sales strategies. There are many schools of thought on booking events. We'll assume our event bookings are less than 100% of capacity. Should we try to book at least one event per day? Or should we try to book lots of events on specific days of the week? The answer depends on your overall operation.
Some caterers operate a full service a la carte restaurant in addition to the event catering business. Since the kitchen is always manned, you should welcome events any day of the week your restaurant is open. On the other hand, off-premise caterers can save on labor and other operating expenses by booking multiple events on the same day and closing on other days.
Rather than bringing in the production team each and every day, concentrating the activity can save labor in batch recipe production and utilities. Let's say we will book 350 events over 50 weeks and close down 2 weeks this year. If we booked 1 event per day, the staff would need to be brought in every day. If we booked all events on one day each week, the kitchen would be all out one to two days each week. This is an exageration to illustrate a point. You will need to open your catering business more than one day a week.
I am not advocating closing when you have a chance to make money. The point is recognizing the cost of opening for business. A skeleton staff is required to open for a single event. If the same event could be catered on a day when there are other parties, you'll save money.
Taking a look at their calendars, some caterers try to fill in blank days at the last minute with any event. They will try hard to get something booked. What happens if they get a small party for 15 people? Should you open the entire operation to serve 15 people? If your capacity is 500 guests, these events can cost you on slow days.
When last minute requests are made, try to book smaller parties on busy days and large parties on blank days. You'll save on labor and utilities by closing on blank days. Restaurants typically open from 6 to 7 days a week despite the number of covers. They have plenty of days each year when the sales (less cost of sales) do not cover the labor. Caterers are not forced to be open every day of the week. Strategic event scheduling can help put a few extra dollars in the bank.
Joe Dunbar
Dunbar Associates
P.O. Box 579
Fairfax, VA 22038-0579
800-949-3295
http://www.joedunbar.com
jdunbar401@aol.com
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