Organizing the arrival and departure of staff at your event or function: a case study

Some tips on how to stagger staff arrivals and departures efficiently so your role is covered effectively and your budget doesn’t balloon or leave staff members hanging around with little to do (always avoid!).

Take for example an event of 100-120 people with a variety of drinks and canapés or snacks and taking place from, say, 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm Imagine, for example, that it is a product launch or opening a store.

The number of staff we need for this event will depend primarily on whether guests are expected to arrive all at once or arrive over time. Examples of an event where everyone arrives at the same time would be where there is a speaker or if the guests are already at a conference or seminar and come directly to the area where the function will take place; in this case, 6 staff members will be called. However, if the event is a simple launch or gallery type event without a “main event”, then 5 employees will be adequate.

So assuming 5 staff members and a guest arrival time of 6:00 pm Two staff members will arrive first at approximately 5:00 pm These two will bring the tubs, ice the drinks and set up the bars, etc. . They prepare the alcohol and glasses (backup) which can be heavier if the demand is higher than expected and will make sure they have time worked out with the caterers to get the food to the floor after everyone is served. have served a drink. .

The next two employees are scheduled for 5:30 pm They will be in charge of polishing the glassware, final presentation of the bars (we have 2 in mind), and serving areas. The last staff member will arrive just before the guests at 6:00 pm This person will go directly to food service. The first two to arrive will operate the bars. The reasoning for this is that they are the ones who have set them up and therefore know where all the drinks are and can more effectively get their hands on whatever the guests require. For most quality bartender providers, this will be a team of two people who are used to working together, as this fosters a high degree of teamwork and professionalism.

As guests arrive, staff from 3 floors will move around the floor with their trays offering and distributing drinks to new arrivals. The moment all the guests have a drink, these 3 will return to the kitchen and start putting out the food. The two behind the bar or bars will serve customers who go directly to the bars or prepare drinks for orders that will be taken directly on the floor by the rest of the staff.

If the event has gone according to plan, around 8:50 pm, the supervisor will approach the client (event or function headline) to see if they want to let the first two staff members go. Since all staff work a minimum of 4 hours, it makes sense for early comers to leave at the end of their shift and let latecomers finish the job.

Provided this is authorized, the first two leave and the remaining 3 now handle the reduced number of guests. Going forward we will have one staff member on the floor, one in the kitchen/food service and one at the bar. If there were 2 bars, the first two members of staff will have closed one before leaving and reduce the bar facilities to one.

Before leaving, the first two staff members sort and remove trash, bag and rinse glasses, and rinse and drain dishes ready for the vendor to pick up and remove any items that will not be needed from the floor. In addition, they will remove the beverage bottles that are going to exceed the requirements, clean them and repackage them in the boxes (which ones were kept?).

At 9:30, the event may be effectively over. If that is the case, the two who arrive at 5:30 may leave after all excess items not handled by the first two staff members to leave have been packed. The last remaining staff member will man the bar during this phase and then, just before 10:00 pm, will begin wrapping and transporting the items provided by the bartending company to the van ready to go.

Reading this, you’ll realize that at all stages overnight, the way the staff was staggered allows for extra hands on deck if the event changes course; for example, if more guests arrive earlier or stay later, the flexibility is there to handle the change without it being generally noticeable to the guests or the customer. The goal is to be noticed only for the professionalism with which the event has been handled; Other than that, the hospitality staff will integrate seamlessly with the function.