Fables catering planning
Agree the handover between venue, caterer and waiting staff
Several suppliers can contribute to one meal without sharing the same responsibilities. The caterer may provide food, the venue may control the room and a waiting team may cover agreed guest-facing duties. Prepare one handover record that shows where those services meet. The aim is to ask clear questions before booking, not to assume that the presence of one supplier covers another supplier’s work.
Name the provider for each part of service
Write down who supplies food, drinks, equipment and staff. Include the venue’s own team and any organiser-led tasks. Give each provider a named contact and a short description of their part in the event. If a service has not been chosen, mark it as undecided. A list of company names alone does not explain who receives food, sets equipment out or clears the room.
Describe the food handover
Ask the food provider how the agreed food reaches the service team and which information must accompany it. Identify the handover location and time, and make any preparation or guest-service request explicit. Waiting staff should not be expected to infer the food provider’s instructions from a menu photograph or an organiser’s memory. Keep the confirmed menu and service arrangements with the people responsible for delivering them.
Keep food requirements with the agreed contact
Identify who answers ingredient or food-requirement questions and how the team reaches that person. Do not rely on an unagreed substitution being arranged during service. Fables caters for expressly agreed food intolerances only and does not cater for food allergies. The staffing brief should carry confirmed arrangements and portion information where relevant, without guests’ names or medical histories or assumptions about suitability.
Allocate room and equipment preparation
List who supplies tables, place settings, serving pieces and any other agreed equipment. Then distinguish supply from laying, positioning and preparing those items for service. The venue may do some jobs and the waiting team may be asked to do others. Confirm each duty in the appropriate agreement. Do not treat delivery, tableware hire and preparation work as interchangeable descriptions of a single service.
Write down the return handover
Explain where used items go, who clears them and how hired equipment must be left for collection. Guest waste, bins and wider venue cleaning need their own named responsibility. Ask the venue about access at the end of the event and whether an organiser must remain. Make the handover realistic for the staff finish time rather than assigning work after the booked team has left.
Share the final version with every provider
Keep a dated task-and-contact sheet with the event programme. When the menu, room layout or service time changes, update the relevant providers and ask for the effect on their scope to be confirmed. One supplier’s acceptance does not amend another supplier’s booking. Give the event contact a copy of the agreed handovers so questions on the day can be directed to the correct person.
Bring the details together
Send a provider-and-task sheet with your date, venue, guest numbers and programme. Ask Fables to confirm the requested roles, duties and hours in the quote. Keep food instructions, equipment returns and venue responsibilities alongside that staffing scope.