Front of House: Embracing the Opportunity

31 January 2011

By Wendy Gay, CHE

Hosting meetings where food and beverages are the stars can provide great learning opportunities for students.

An important group will be meeting at your facility. While there, they will need breakfasts, lunches, snacks, a dinner and even a “happy hour” mixer along the way. What to do? Simple buffet service would be easiest for each of these, so that is suggested. But this visit can provide great opportunity to expand the skills of your students. What other choices might you have?

Breakfast
A breakfast buffet is an effective way to present a variety of foods. You can increase the learning opportunities by adding a few specialized “stations.” Bring a learning laboratory to your breakfast buffet by adding an omelet station. This interactive element allows students to talk with your guests and to individually customize each order to their requests. Here you can help them blend their kitchen skills with those of the front of the house.

Another station you might add is a yogurt bar. Students could prepare yogurt parfaits or add a variety of toppings to the guests’ specifications. You might also incorporate, and help students learn about, “super foods” such as pomegranate, almonds, blueberries and cinnamon. Another station might be a “fresh squeezed” juice bar.

Lunch
If you use a buffet-style lunch, you might use a carving station, whether carving traditional meats or carving pastrami for deli sandwiches. Another approach to lunch service might be “family style.” Platters and serving bowls would be placed on the table and passed by the guests like members of a family.

Another idea for lunch service is to have a “street vendor” set-up. You might have a hot-dog cart with gourmet toppings or a Vietnamese sandwich stand. Burgers are another option. There are many varieties, and it can be especially fun to have stations or vendors who serve specialties of your locale.

Snacks
A fun addition to snack set-up is to have made-to-order smoothies and/or milkshakes. Add to afternoon energy by including “power foods” such as pomegranates, dark chocolate, dates and almonds.

Cocktail Party
The mixer is an opportunity to practice butler service, in which your staff passes hors d’oeuvres to the guests. Another twist for the cocktail party is to have interactive hors d’oeuvres stations for sushi or tapas. You may also involve your beverage-management students in providing their expertise in beer and/or wine service, and even in creating your own signature drink.

Dinner
If you serve a buffet dinner, food stations are a must. Examples might include a pasta station, a carving station and an Asian station. Family style is an option, as is Russian service, a seated service with one course served from a platter brought by a waitperson to each guest. If more-traditional seated service is chosen, take the opportunity to practice tableside cooking or preparation. Examples range from Caesar salad to lobster bisque to desserts like bananas Foster.

Meetings at your place can provide great learning experiences. Embrace the opportunity. What do you think? Let me hear your ideas.

At your service,

Wendy

Wendy Gay, CHE, is an instructor in the culinary department at The Art Institute of Atlanta.

Photo: Making salads tableside adds interest to service, such as with these “tacos” featuring Mexican-seasoned ground turkey, avocado, black beans, salsa and shredded cheese plated with Garden Hearts^® Iceberg Babies^®.