Catering & Banquets — The Standards

I · WHAT A STANDARD IS

II · THE FUNCTION FILE

Every use of banquet space — internal or revenue-earning — carries a Banquet Event Order or function prospectus, released at least forty-eight hours before the event. This is an audit requirement, not a courtesy.

Banquet credit is extended only per the approved credit list; non-resident guests are not extended credit unless they appear on it.

Bar stock for a function is issued on a consumption sheet showing opening stock; the bartender records additions; at the event's end the sheet is reconciled against returns, and consumption is verified against a POS bill.

Bottle rates exist only for banquets, are entered in the POS and used from it; any discounting is approved by the General Manager or the Director of F&B alone.

Committed times are kept to the minute — orders delivered within five minutes of the specified time, not before, not after. The discipline that governs a single tray governs a thousand covers.

III · THE POUR

WINES BY THE GLASS: MINIMUM FOUR WHITES, FOUR REDS, TWO CHAMPAGNES ACROSS THE VALUE LADDER · HOUSE WINES AT APPELLATION GRADE (AOC · QbA · DOC · DO) OR VARIETAL · BOTTLE RATES APPLY ONLY AT BANQUETS, ENTERED IN THE POS

IV · THE TABLE BASE

A minimum of nine — three freshly squeezed, two vegetable-based, one blend, three to local preference — squeezed daily, as close to service as possible. Banquets and pool bars may buy fresh-squeezed of US Grade AA quality; nothing from concentrate.

Three carbonated and two still as the floor, local plus the international houses. Carbonated is served chilled with a lime wedge, never over ice — the glass half-filled, the bottle to the right, label to the guest.

The full name-brand range on hand — and an emphasis on the house's own: two lemonades, a fresh ginger ale, five fruit iced teas, milkshakes, seasonal smoothies. The bar earns its margin by making, not opening.

Espresso at 10 grams to 55 millilitres, 95° and nine atmospheres, machines calibrated to the recipe. Bulk brew belongs only to breakfast, in-room dining and banquets — always in thermal insulated pots. A premium French-press library for those who ask.

Regular, skim, and half-and-half; a non-dairy alternative as standard, not on request; held hygienically at 5–7° celsius.

Four meal breads minimum — one hard roll, one soft, one flatbread, one special — fresh and warm. Breakfast carries croissants, pain au chocolat, two danish, muffins with one honest health option, and a cake of the day.

Cloths seamless, without joints; cocktail napkins ten by ten, meal napkins twenty-one by twenty-one, starch under twenty per cent; no paper anywhere a guest can see. Folds simple and uncomplicated — the ironing is the ornament.

V · SERVICE GEOMETRY

From the right, ladies first, always clockwise. The plate arrives presented, never dropped.

Platter to plate from the left, ladies first, always anti-clockwise — the classical geometry kept at banquet scale.

Always from the right, clockwise — and only when everyone at the table has finished the course. No scraping, no stacking in front of guests.

At least thirty per cent vegetarian with a vegan option per course, and a twenty per cent health orientation across every meal period — banquets included, not exempted.

No function opens without one: the day's specifics, the groups in house, the specials, the standards. Lights, air at 21°, music and the nearest washrooms checked by the head of the room before the doors open.

Every area holds its own written sequence of service, known and practised by every member, one hundred per cent of the time.

VI · THE CONTROLS

01 The daily sheet — voids, discounts, house charges, open F&B — signed by the F&B Manager or Executive Chef at close of day, every outlet, every day.

02 Spoilage is reported and authorised, and reaches the financial controller the day it happens. Cooked-food wastage is not spoilage; it is food cost, and it says so.

03 Every item on any menu is recipe-costed before it is sold; new items enter the POS with recipe attached, approved by the chef and the Director of F&B. Price changes carry the Director's approval alone.

04 No beverage is prepared without first passing the POS. Staff meals and NCKs are charged at actual recipe cost — never a potential, never an average.

05 Every revenue centre reconciles daily at close of business; minibars reconcile daily against consumption and pantry stock; soft beverages and waters carry opening and closing counts, locked overnight.

06 A full liquor inventory at minimum monthly, at the start of the month. Shortages are made good at full selling price; overages are withdrawn and registered — both are findings, not favours.

07 Inter-bar transfers move on paper, duly authorised — including the complimentary bottle that rides along on a guest pick-up. Nothing moves without a record; that is the whole religion.