Hello, I’m George, a member of the Tandem team. I’ve worked with Tandem for about 3 years now, during which I’ve worked across all aspects of the company and over the next couple of blog posts I’m hoping to provide you an insight into what it’s like to work in a family-run Surrey catering company! To kick things off, we have an insight into Front of House work for Tandem:
We start the day by unloading the van and setting up the kitchen to prepare for the day ahead. To seamlessly feed up to 140 guests requires stellar kitchen organisation.
A front of House role is massively varied. I would never describe us purely as waiters/waitresses as we do so much more! The first job is to decorate the dining space. Laying the tables to fit the personalised theme chosen by couples takes care and attention but provides such a satisfying outcome. I try to sneak a minute to step back and admire my handywork when fully completed, with rustic table settings being my personal favourite.
Whilst some of my Front of House colleagues complete the dining room, others are doing the rounds with freshly made canapes, including Emma (see below) with our handmade gyozas. In my experience, you tend to be a very popular member of staff among guests when you’re the source of food! Recently our selection of vegan canapes has been requested loads, there’s a massive buzz surrounding them at the moment.
Once we’ve emptied the kitchen of canapes, all focus is directed towards the dinner service. The role becomes slightly undefined at this point as we all muck in towards whatever needs doing. The best part of the job is that no day is the same as the last! When the guests are seated, we begin the process of serving then clearing, until all 3 courses have been devoured and the dining hall looks as beautiful as it did pre-service. This sounds very easy but with 100 guests we end up moving 500 pieces of cutlery and 300 glasses, and that’s without everything else on the table!
Having completed the meal, our last job is to clean and clear the kitchen, then re-loading our van ready for another wedding. After double checking we’ve completed everything it’s home time, and a bit of rest until the next event!
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