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Operational and Financial Analysis

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For the fairest of them all

TEAM MADISON: SPRING 2014

Keri Cunnane, Taylor DiBenedetto, Toia Giggetts, Stephanie Hall, Katie Hoer,
Nicole Knudsen & Shelby Lemmon

Table of Contents
Op & Fin Analysis
1.0
Executive Summary....1
2.0
Financials.....2
3.0
Profit & Loss Statement.....2
4.0
Receipts.......3
5.0
Budgeted and Actual..3
5.1 Reception...3
5.2 Dining..4
5.3 BOH....7
6.0
Feedback......9
6.1 Staff.....9
6.2 Guest..9
6.3 Staff Work Performance....13
7.0 Production Sheet.....14
8.0
Centerpiece Design..15
9.0
Table Setup....18
10.0 Registration Instructions......22
11.0
Training..27
11.1 Dining.....27
11.2 Reception...34
12.0 Service Style..36
13.0 Coffee Service...40
14.0 Entertainment Correspondence..43
15.0 Flip Chart Materials...44
15.1 Morning..44
15.2 Afternoon...45
16.0 Dining Room Timeline......46
16.1 Morning..46
16.2 Afternoon...46
17.0 Clean-Up Lists...48
17.1 Reception...48
17.2 Dining.49
17.3 BOH....50

1.0 Executive Summary

The Queens cordial ball was attended by 112 guests, all either coworkers,
friends, family, or faculty of the managers. Total revenue was $3,920 with the
three top expenses being $697.85 for overhead (about 17% of our costs),
$1,267.12 for food and beverage including employee and food testing (about
32% of our costs), and $693.00 for decor (both dining and reception- about 17%
of our costs).
We had a total of 74 employees (not including the 3 people who helped
prepare back of house). This number can be further divided by the 17 staff
members for dining set up, 17 staff members for reception set up, 21 staff
members for reception service, 32 staff members for dining room service, and 8
staff members in the back of house.
Food and beverage was a fusion between rustic and elegant, and was
served hot. Service was formal, positive, and attentive. Decor can be
characterized as elaborate, hand crafted and extravagant. Our guest enjoyed
luxurious bathroom amenities and a fun, season-appropriate take-away that will
remind them of our theme. The event was consistently branded with the same
crown and calligraphy-like design from the deliverable, to the invitations, to the
menus, to the name cards, to the sashes worn by staff. Our actor was the first
and last person our guests saw, and the plot carried throughout the event with a
definite climax. Entertainment was described Emeka Anaza as one of the best
entertainments she had seen during her years attending themed events. The

Queens Cordial Ball was not without its faults or learning experiences, but
overall, the quality of this event was excellent.

2.0 Financials
Please see attached Excel File.

3.0 Profit & Loss Statement

4.0 Receipts
Please see supplemental binder.

5.0 Budgeted and Actual

5.1 Reception
During the initial planning process, reception projected spending to be
$616.22 while our actual costs totaled to be approximately $1,100. Our actual
cost almost doubles our budgeted cost due to a gross miscalculation of craft
expenses and other unforeseen expenses.
While budgeting we were very ambitious about how many items we would
make and how many resources we could get for free via exploitation of
connections. During construction supplies such as cardboard, paint, and wood,
some of which we had expected to get for free, ended up accumulating costs.
Overtime, these costs shifted the scales. We also needed way more command
strips then we initially expected.
Furthermore, some additional costs we did not anticipate. Pipe and drape
was $65, photo booth props cost another $30, and dry cleaning for the barrowed
costumes cost $45.
Some costs we accumulated yielded no benefit at all and additional
purchases needed to be made. For example, we ordered lanterns for the
reception space, but they did not come in time so we had to pay a return fee.
Another sunk cost was the apple making kit. We had originally planned to do
candied apple take-away gifts, but then we were concerned that the fruit would
brown and would not be appealing if not made and consumed in the same 24
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hours. We changed our take-away gift, and back of house decided to use the
packaging from the candied apple kit to wrap up the new take-away.
Unfortunately, this method did not work and we had to purchase new wrapping
supplies. We also could not return the apple kit once it had been open and
supplies had been used.
In general, money was spent very loosely on supplies for take away gifts
by dinning and back of house managers even though it was credited to
receptions account. Money was also wasted money on take-away gifts and
bathroom amenities. We purchased more than the necessary amount of
supplies.
If we had the opportunity to do it all again, we would have made our
purchases earlier and more intentionally, and we would have outsourced more of
our decorations and party favors. We would have also reserved a larger amount
of money for supplies needed. In short, now that we have experienced it, were
we to go back and do it again we would have a much more realistic idea of the
costs of supplies and the value of our time.

5.2 Dining
During the initial planning process dining room projected spending 800.74
dollars. The bulk of our budget was being allocated to linen, different components
to create centerpieces, and red felt. Originally we planned on purchasing our
linen from an online shop Table Cloth Supply paying 9.49 per table cloth. Since
our dining room layout required 17 tables that would bring our total linen cost to

161.33, which is over 20% of the dining room budget. Due to the generosity of a
local catering manager, our linen was completely free and donated by the
company. After having significantly more in the budget to spend we decided to
shift the focus to adding more dcor. We will address how the budget fit these
new additions a little later on.
The next major portion of our budget was spent to finance elaborate
centerpieces. The originally idea was to have green Styrofoam flower blocks be
the base of the centerpiece then weave together a combination of branches, fake
baby breaths, fake flowers, and mini red carnations. After adding together all
these expenses and dividing by 16 (the number of centerpieces needed) the total
cost to make one centerpiece would be: 22.81. Using trial and error we realized
we could make the same centerpieces with a fraction of the cost. We did some
research and found that if you find the right type of branches you can weave
them and they will be able to support each other and create a free standing
structure. So without using the green Styrofoam blocks it brought down our cost
per centerpiece to 17.81. We also decided to get rid of the babies breath
completely because we felt it was unnecessary and made the centerpieces look
messy. We also found that Costco had very good deal on flowers so we bought
red roses instead of carnations and saved 50%. After all the adjustments to our
centerpieces, we ended up spending a grand total of $5.37 on each centerpiece,
which means we cut our costs by over 400%.
In order to stay in sync with our theme we decided to stray from the
typical chair sash. Instead we created chair pendants with red felt that enriched

our medieval take on the dining room. We estimated the chair sashes would cost
roughly $75, which was estimated correctly. However we decided it would be
best to allocate the money we saved on linen to making red triangle strings to
hang from the ceiling and large red pendants to hang on the back wall. We felt
these were important to add because the ballroom is such a large space to fill
and can feel very empty with limited dcor. With the addition of these items in our
budget the amount spent on felt was $113.34; we felt the money was well
utilized.
Lastly, the place were a decent amount of money was saved was on the
entertainment. Nicole and I reached out to friends in an organization we are both
involved in and we had multiple offers to be our entertainers. Since they were
close friends that offered to do it for free as long as we recognized the club for
support. With all our entertainment for free, we only had to pay for the throne,
the huntsmen costume, and the queens costume.
Although we feel we ran as little of a budget as possible in the dining
room, the area we could have cut cost was in the hanging of dcor and day-ofexpenses. The hanging of all the dcor we made really added up. Due to the
restriction of only using pricy command hooks and strips our budget suffered. We
also had some issues with the backdrop that went behind the Queen the night
before. So the day of it was a bit of a panic to get the structure up. We spent
carelessly in this area because it was a crucial part of the dcor that had to be
hung regardless of the cost. All in all these amounted to a little under $75

unbudgeted dollars. Luckily we could rely on having the contingency to cover

these pricey miscalculations.

5.3 BOH
BOH was originally budgeted $1,580.00. Due to a dramatic change in our
meat, our final budget was $1,250.00 to provide food, beverage, employee,
entertainment, SPEV, and other meals for the event. This budget encompasses
practicing recipes, food preparation, and any food costs lost through theft,
spoilage, and waste, employee meals and snacks, and beverages also.
To start, Money was wasted on a bag of haricot verts that froze in the
fridge, one cake was undercooked during preparation, and there were some
spills of heavy whipping cream and flour that resulted in BOH having to purchase
more. These corresponding prices equate to $2.48, $6.50, $3.58, and $1.18. In
retrospect, we changed the menu so many times that preparation began to use
more money than expected.
Furthermore, it was frustrating seeing our group pay money for plates,
silverware, napkins, etc. for employees and seeing other groups use them freely
from the kitchen. All employees seemed to enjoy the food, so there was no
money wasted there (the pizza was provided by Taylors mother). We had some
left over spices and other items that were gone after our event and could not be
re-used. For staff, our costs may seems expensive but we made pancakes, eggs,
and sausage because we wanted to treat our staff to a nice meal because they
were key to our event running smoothly. We also made fresh baked cookies for

lunch and hot pizza with salad for lunch. These small details, we feel, are costs
that were critical and should not be cut.
If we could do it over, we would spend less money on potatoes because
we had a large amount left over and we would purchase more bacon for a hors
deouvres. The incidents mentioned above plus the fluctuation and estimation of
taxes and prices is the difference in our predicted Actual Cost from the picture
below and our Actual Cost from our final Operation and Financial Analysis
Profit/Loss Statement of $1,009.42. We were successful in meeting our budget
goal and our left over money was allocated accordingly to dining and reception.
Below is our updated Standard and Actual Food Costs.

6.0 Feedback
6.1 Staff
Please see the attached file.

6.2 Guests
After all of the time and effort weve put into this event, it was amazing to
hear the comments and observations from all of our friends and family. In order
to get feedback from our guests, other than asking them how they enjoyed their
nights, we sent out an 8 question survey. The questions each asked if the guest
strongly disagreed, disagreed, neutral, agreed or strongly agreed with statements
provided to them. From this survey and from discussions weve had with our
guests, weve received extremely positive feedback on our themed event.
The first statement provided to our guests in the survey was The dcor in
reception was detailed and complimented the overall theme of the event. To this
question, 15% of guests who responded agree with the statement and 85%
strongly agree. Seeing as though the reception was the first portion of our event
to grab the guests attention, it is great that the guests responded well to the
dcor and the introduction of our theme. The second statement provided on the
survey said The layout of reception allowed me to experience each station,
entertainer and hors doeuvre. The flow of our reception was a major factor while
planning the layout. From the survey, 85% of our guests strongly agreed with this
statement, while the other 15% agreed. This feedback assured our group that we
were successful when creating our layout. One of the anonymous comments
from this statement was I thought the reception center allowed for a great flow of

the event. Overall, our feedback from our reception was amazing. It assured us
that it was all planned thoroughly and correctly to ensure the satisfaction and
enjoyment for all who attended.
For our event, our entertainment and story line were vital aspects to our
reception and dining room and truly brought our event to the next level. On the
survey, the next statement provided was The storyline and entertainment
throughout the event were clear, engaging and tied in well with the overall
theme. Out of the guests who responded, 92% strongly agreed and the
remaining 8% agreed. Throughout the planning of our entertainment, we were
conscious of making sure the storyline was clear and easy to follow, while not
overdoing it on the dialogue. From the guests feedback, through the survey and
from conversations, the entertainment really grabbed the guests attention and
was captivating from the reception to the very end. The entertainment was
amazing, one of our guests commented, you made me really, really hate the
queen the entire time! From our guests feedback, we are able to see how
crucial our well executed entertainment played in the overall success of our
event.
Next, guests were given the statement Centerpieces and dcor in the
dining room showed great attention to detail and went along well with the theme.
Out of the guests who responded, 92% strongly agreed with that statement. The
centerpieces were extremely time consuming and also took a lot of time to plan
and decide on. Due to the hassle and time they took to complete, it is a great
feeling that the guests took so positively to them, along with the entirety of the
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dining room. One comment that was left by a guest said, The table centerpieces
were very creative, unusual and beautiful. Another said, It was my favorite part,
I loved the attention to detail and the cute name tags. After hearing the
feedback, it shows that all that extra time and effort that was devoted to the
details of our event truly paid off in the satisfaction and enjoyment of our guests.
One of our major responsibilities when putting on this event was
forwarding our visions onto our staff and motivating them to work as hard as they
could for the success of the event. In order to receive feedback on our staff, the
next survey statement provided was Servers and service style were organized,
professional and friendly throughout the event. 85% of our guests strongly
agreed with this, and the other 15% agreed. Having a properly trained staff who
are motivated and energized was an extremely important ingredient to our event.
When it came to our staff during reception, one guest commented saying, All of
the wait staff was pleasant and courteous when passing the hors doeuvres.
While another said, The service was perfect and all servers were well aligned in
their activity which made it more interesting. From this feedback, we are able to
conclude that our staff training was extremely accomplished, and our staff was
extremely successful in portraying our vision while working our event.
The survey continues by asking the guests about their experience with the
various dishes provided. The following statement was, Overall experience of the
food served was considered excellent. (Was everything the correct temperature?
Enjoyable? Dietary restrictions met?) To this statement, 77% of guests strongly
agreed, 16% agreed and 7% neither agreed nor disagreed. While looking at this
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statistic, its difficult to figure out what the 7% may be thinking. Did they have an
issue with their meal? Was it not hot enough? Did they just not like the food that
was offered? It would be easier to assess this portion with specific feedback from
each dish. But overall, the comments that have been made on the food have
been very positive. Many of the guests have gotten the recipes and made some
of the dishes for themselves. Hearing the positive feedback about the food and
the menu in general is extremely reassuring due to the fact that we spent so
much time adjusting and working on it over the past few months.
The final statement provided on the survey states, Overall experience of
the dining room, including entertainment and dcor, were considered excellent.
For this, 92% of guests strongly agreed and the other 8% agreed. Comments
from this question also go along with the previous question about centerpieces
and dcor, where guests were extremely impressed with the attention to detail
and the ability transform an ordinary open space into a beautifully decorated
castle. The feel when you walked into the dining room was amazing. I felt like I
actually was in the Evil Queens castle. These pieces of feedback give us
confidence that we were able to fulfill all of our ideas, and that we were able to
execute them the way we wanted to while providing an extraordinary experience
for our friends and family.
Other than the agree-disagree portion of the survey, guests were also
provided a space to give any additional feedback. One guest commented, It was
quite enjoyable and, quite honestly, was way over what had been expected I
think the group did exceptionally well in its presentation and entertainment. The
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food was well chosen and equally delicious. It was beyond our expectations.
Good job all around. Very pleasant evening! Another said, Having done
Restaurant and Catering in the DC area for many years including the White
House, I was 100% impressed in how well the dcor and everything involved with
this event came off. Everyone at my table was most impressed with how the wait
staff, in such large numbers, came out to serve the meal. After hearing these
comments along with so many others, it gives us all a sense of accomplishment.
While looking at all of the feedback from the guests, there is definitely a trend in
the fact that everyone seemed to have thoroughly enjoyed their evening. From
the entertainment, to the dcor, to the food, we have not heard one complaint or
negative comment. After working on this project for so long, it is such a fulfilling
feeling that our family and friends had such an amazing time and our vision for
our event was depicted perfectly.

6.3 Staff Work Performance

Please see the attached Excel File.

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7.0 Production Sheet

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8.0 Centerpiece Design

1. Find Sticks

2. Clean and cut Sticks

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3. Hot Glue sticks together

4. Reinforce the glue by using floral wire to tie sticks together

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5. Spray Paint Flowers Black

6. Hot glue flowers throughout centerpiece specifically hiding the green wire

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7. Place centerpieces on table and add real flowers!

9.0 Table Setup

1. Place Black Linen

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2. Set Gold Chargers

3. Place Sliverware

4. Place napkin
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5. Set name cards

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6. Final

7. Place drinks

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10.0

Registration Instructions

Our themed event registration was an interactive experience that set the
thematic tone for the reception space. Registration began outside. A theatrically
dressed staff member in knights armor directed guests to the Festival Ballroom
entrance. As guests entered the doors were swept back by another smiling staff
member, and guests were ushered into the circular foyer, which was decorated with
low hanging green gossamer, vines, green mood lighting, and a banner that read
once upon a time.

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The registration trees were to the guests left. A gregarious staff member
welcomed the guests to the enchanted forest and inquired the guests last name.
The staff member then informed the guests that the name cards hanging from the
trees are sorted in alphabetical columns by last names and showed the guests in
which column their name card hang. The guests then went apple picking and
selected their card, on which their table number was clearly printed. The guests
could easily slip their hand through the twine loop, or hook the name card to their
belt so they need not awkwardly carry the reception card in their hands or try to
balance it with plates while eating.

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Opposite to the reception trees, two friendly staff members at coat check
offered to take any extra belongings for the guests convenience. We decided to
enhance the guest experience by minimizing the guests responsibility to carry extra
paper around. Therefore, the guests registration apple was also the guests coat
check ticket. Staff members simply wrote the coat check number on the back of the
apple and the guests belongings were neatly filed away.
Entertainment also began at reception. Directly in front of guests upon
entering, a hooded figure ominously loomed. After registering and checking
belongings, our actor repeated the same cryptic message to all guests: there was a
surprise in store and justice would be served. We decided it was imperative to have
Skip, our actor, in the front for the majority of reception so that every guest would get
the opportunity to interact with him and no guest would be blind-sighted when he
began his skit as the transition into the dining-room. He also worked in harmony with
the decor and the interactive reception trees to set the tone and strongly establish
the theme for our event.

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All registration staff, but primarily our greeter at the reception trees and our
actor, worked together to inform guests about all of the treats in store during
reception and answer any guest questions. We did not want any guests to miss out
on our photo-booth, interactive wishing well, fiery action station, or any of our three
hors d'oeuvres/ two specialty beverages.

Critical Examination of Registration:

The theatrically dressed staff member, the registration trees, and the central
location of our actor were registrations biggest assets. The staff member drew
people to the proper location and worked in conjunction with the outdoor decor (lit
tree branches and stumps) to help reassure the guests that they were in the right
location for the event. The trees immediately set the tone for the event and actively
engaged the guests with the decor, involving them in the adventure. The guests
enjoyed registration and it was a unique feature that sets us aside from other events.
The central location of our mysterious hooded prince allowed us to set the tone of
the event and immediately begin the plot of the night. Furthermore, we were able to
use him as a means to educate guests about reception features and as a tool to
build interest and excitement for the events to come.
Registration was not without fault, however. Two of the problems were
partially attributed to the layout of our venue. The third problem was our
shortcoming. The guests entered, registered to their left but then checked their
belongings to their right. This caused a confusing shift in traffic that did not lead
guests seamlessly into the reception hallway. Ideally, we would have had registration
first then coat check second since our coat check utilized our reception name cards
as coat check tickets; however, the architecture of the foyer did not enable us to do
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this because we needed the immediate hallway to the right to store guest belongings
out of sight. Luckily, weather was fairly nice the evening of our event so few guests
experienced this backtracking. In the hindsight, we should have anticipated the flow
and considered making pre-made tickets with holes punched out so guests could
grab a ticket then move on to registration where they could easily put the ticket on
the twine loop secured to their registration card; thus eliminating the flow problems
while maintaining our goal to minimize the amount of paper guests must carry.
The second structural problem was the entrance itself. The entrance was up
a short flight of stairs. One of our guests has stage-four emphysema and climbing
stairs can be somewhat of a struggle. Although he climbed the stairs with no
complaints, eager to be at the event, a stair-less entrance would have been far more
accessible. We originally chose this entrance because flow-wise we wanted the
guest to travel through the entire reception space to get to the ballroom so the guest
would not miss anything. In retrospect, we should have made both entrances
optional and known so guests could have the opportunity to enter without stairs if
he/she chooses.
Lastly, although our actor and greeters did a spectacular job of verbally
informing guests what was in the reception space, we should have had an econcierge staff member to visually demonstrate what and where things were. We
had no dining room seating chart and heavily relied on personal service and guest
interactions more so than visual images. Visuals much more clearly communicate
what we had in store for the guest, and as much as we would love to believe that all
guests have checked out the website and menu ahead of time, we know this is not
always the case.

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In summary, our event registration immediately engaged the guest in the tone
and the theme of reception and the event at large; however, our registration process
could have improved in terms of accessibility, flow, and visual information.

11.0
Training
11.1
Reception
Training Overview:
Training was a fast, bumpy, but beneficial process. First we did a walk
through and described what was going to be where, and how that would look
from a guest perspective. Then we split into smaller training groups based on
area or type of service. We entrusted our supervisors with a lot of autonomy,
having met with them several times before and knowing that we were on the
same page. Katie Hoer was in charge of training servers, bussers and food
runners (to action station); Shelby Lemmon instructed registration, coat check,
and general runners (beverage); Katie Schwartz was in charge of drink station;
and Kelly Donald was entrusted with action station. As a cohesive team, we
valued knowing employees names and saying thank you. We assigned specific
tasks to reception personnel and held them accountable for their jobs.
Training was abbreviated due to an unforeseen time conflict with dinings
training. Dining took much longer than we initially anticipated and more than half
of reception staff had been drafted to be servers. The result of this was that
reception training was running late, and we did not get to do the comprehensive

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dress rehearsal we envisioned. Fortunately, because we had divided the training

with our supervisors, we were able to be ready by the time the first guest arrived.

Training Materials Used:

Food and Drink:

Show every food item/drink to staff in reception and go over ingredients for
each.

Let hors d'oeuvre passers, drink station staff and action station staff
sample each one. Then ask them to list back the name of items and
ingredients at least once. Suitable vocabulary:
May I offer you..
This ____ is her majestys favorite..
Please enjoy
It is my pleasure
Have you had a chance to try her majestys ____

Passers:

Each passer should have an hors doeuvres tray as well as beverage

napkins on them.

When your tray has about 5 items left, return to the satellite kitchen and
grab some more.

Be careful when walking to ensure you dont bump into guest or drop
items.

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Be familiar with the main ingredients in the hors doeuvres and if a guest
asks about a certain ingredient, do not guess, find a supervisor or refer to
the ingredient charts in the satellite kitchen

Make sure you are getting to every guest

Bussers

Walk around with serving trays to collect trash from guests

Only offer to take a guests trash if it is obvious that they are finished with
their hors doeuvres or drinks, or if you see a guest looking around for a
trash can. We dont want to rush them in any way though.

Try not to let your tray overflow and return to the satellite kitchen and
dump trash as often as needed, be careful not to disturb guests or bump
into anyone

Beverage Station:

Drink station staff do not fill drinks all the way up

Make sure to have cups stocked and ready to be filled

Let a supervisor know if you are low on drinks, ice, napkins or cups

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POISONED MAPLE BACON BARK

A thick slice of bacon covered in a mixture of maple syrup, brown sugar,

dijon mustard, and a touch of cayenne pepper

FORAGED MUSHROOM STUFFED WITH SPINACH AND MOZZARELLA

A mushroom stuffed with a mixture of spinach, mozzarella cheese, and

Italian bread crumbs. Special trays will hold vegan portions of the stuffed
mushrooms, without the mozzarella.

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BRIE & APPLE BAGUETTE

A lightly toasted baguette slice topped with a slice of apple and brie, then
torched**. Next, it is topped with honey toasted walnuts and a drizzle of
balsamic glaze.

Contains Gluten

**There will be special training provided to the staff member using the
torch

SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR NUT ALLERGIES (change gloves)

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WISHING WELL CRAN-RASPBERRY FIZZ

An even mix of cranberry juice and lemon-lime soda with berry ice cubes

SLEEPING DEATH APPLE CIDER

A cup of ice cold apple cider in a sugar & cinnamon rimmed cup.

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Registration
Three important registration staff that all had different roles. The first staff
member was in the parking lot the night costume directing guests in the direction
of the ballroom. The second staff member, wearing a sash with the symbol of the
queen, directed guests in and detoured non guests to other entrances at the
festival doors. The last staff member was inside the reception space. She was
responsible for welcoming guests and directing them to coat check and to the
registration tree (and explain the tree). All three were enthusiastic and prefaced
the delights to come by saying check out both of our photo booths! or make
sure you try all three hors devoures they are exquisite!
Training included explaining the position and making sure the staff is confident
and comforting in their respective roles.
We employed both quizzes and roll play to reinforce staff training. Before guests
arrive, we did a quick walk through during which staff behaved as if we were
guests. We also quizzed staff with such questions as If you run out of napkins,
where do you get more? or What is in these stuffed mushrooms? etc.

Coat Check
After set up, coat check staff met in the coat check area for a brief
demonstration. After explaining duties and the timeline, we conducted a quick
practice coat check round so the staff could gain confidence in their ability.
We will employed both quizzes and roll play to reinforce staff training. We asked
quick questions such as If a guest wishes to check multiple items, what do you

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do? and What will you do when a guest has misplaced their registration name
cars (voucher)? Answers were gone over prior but were be reinforced with
quizzes.
After Dinner Coat Check:

Collect the guests ticket and match it with the corresponding coat number

Make sure the correct coat gets back to the correct guest

11.2 Dining
Dining room training for our staff went on after they had their late
lunch/early dinner. Before we went into the dining room we first presented all of
the food that would be served tonight. We explained what all the ingredients in
each dish was and explained the allergies that each one has. After answering
any questions they had we moved into the dining room for training. We decided
we would make a power-point presentation of everything they needed to know. It
explained the storyline of our theme and event as well with the type of serving we
were doing. We decided to do a modified gold plate style but with a twist.
Because we had 16 guests to a table we needed 8 servers per table. We had a
Head Server, Assistant Server, and then 6 Servers. We decided on this because
since we had rectangular tables not everyone could see the head servers nod as
to when to put down plates and when to pick up plates. So the Head Server and
Assistant Server made sure they nodded their heads at the same time so
everyone could see. We also did it because it made it easier for the Head Server

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to get 7 people in line. Most of the Head and Assistant Servers were in HM
440/441 and in HM 350/351.
Overall training went well. But there were some hiccups. The biggest
hiccup was trying to figure out which direction was the easiest for the servers to
get to the table without it looking weird. We wanted them to enter in a straight line
and file to the seats that they were assigned to and make it look sleek and
together, not messy and sloppy. Another bump we had is the exit of the servers.
Again we wanted them to exit in a single file but be fast and efficient so we can
get the next course out or clear the plates. These were bumps and it was a
stressful time because we were running late on our timeline but luckily the
servers were amazing and they helped me get through these bumps. We figured
out the entrance and exit and as a team we made sure everyone felt comfortable
enough to serve and knowledgeable enough about the night. It wouldve been a
lot more stressful if the servers werent so great and helpful.
I would do a couple of things differently. First off, I would make sure that
training started on time, even when we first presented the dishes to our staff.
There were a couple of hiccups and the dishes were not done in time so we
started training a little bit later than expected. Another thing I would do differently
is actually test out the style of training before training. The biggest problem was
the pathway for the servers to go. I shouldve physically done the direction of
serving rather than thinking about it in my head only.
But in the end, I think training went well. I think that after training the
servers felt more comfortable about serving since it wasnt a way some were

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used to. I also think it went well because when the servers were serving in the
dining room, everything went great!

12.0 Service Style

As a team, we decided to go with a modified gold plate service style but
with a twist. Instead of having teams of 4 with a Head Server and 3 Servers, we
had a Head Server, and Assistant Server and then 6 Servers. We did this
because the tables had 16 people per group but we wanted it to look uniform. So
in regards to our theme, we decided that modified gold plate would be the best
service style than any others.
Each server no matter what type of server they were, they were
responsible for 2 guests for the entire portion of the time in the dining room. They
were responsible for knowing if any of their 2 guests had allergies and making
sure that their guests were always happy. We asked the guests if they could note
on their RSVP if they had any allergies. But just in case we had the head servers
go out and greet their tables and ask again if there were any allergies. If there
were any we did not know about, we made sure we marked it on the master table
assignment poster board and that the staff member who had that guest knew.
Every meal came out the same way no matter what dish the server had.
They were in charge of serving the two guests. Their first guest when serving
was the one to their right, then went in line and went to the next guest to serve.
Our servers were told to look at either the Head Server or the Assistant Server.
These two were looking at each other and when everyone was behind their
guests the Head Server and Assistant Server nodded their heads to motion that it
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was time to put the first plate down at the same time. They lowered left, moved to
the left, nodded again and then lowered left to the second guest. After this they
went in a single file out. They also followed this order when picking up the plates.
They all walked out in a single file and once they were in their position they did
the same as serving. Head nod, then they picked up. But instead their raised
right, switched the plate to the left hand, moved over and then nodded again and
repeated.
The first meal was our soup. We served this in a bowl with a plate
underneath so it was easier for the servers to carry and clear it when the guests
were finished. We were running late at this point but everyone went out with the
soup and came back quickly with no problems. When clearing our servers said it
was a little tricky to balance the cup and the plate when picking it up with one
hand. But no one dropped anything.
The second course was our salad and again, everyone was responsible
for their two guests. Again they came our single file, and made sure that no one
served until they saw the head nod form the Head and Assistant Server. The
same happened when they cleared. We made sure that no matter what they
couldn't serve or pick up without seeing the head nod. We wanted them to look
uniform. Almost like slaves since they were under the reign of the queen but we
didn't want to call them slaves.
Third was the main course. This was the trickiest because we wanted it to
go out quickly to make sure that it wouldn't get cold. But there was a lot of each
of those plates so they were a little bit tougher to carry. But everyone served it

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without dropping any food, which was amazing! As for clean up some staff left
some silverware behind but that was okay. We were still running a little tiny bit
behind and I know they wanted to be quick so we could serve dessert faster.
Finally it was dessert. Dessert was an easier course because the dessert
was one that was stable on the plate. The gluten free and vegan dessert was in a
cup so that was still easy to handle.
Overall, I thought the staff did an amazing job with serving. We were lucky
as managers in regards to having staff who have done modified gold plate style
serving. If there was a staff member on the team who didn't know how, they
learned through training and through their serving team. Everyone was willing out
help out the team, which is a reason why I believe the serving went so well.
Something I would change is making sure no one changes his or her seat! Some
people who changed their seat had the allergy and it almost resulted in our
servers serving the wrong staff. Since we had the staff go out and introduce
themselves and ask again to see if there were any allergies, it really helped the
teams to see if there were any changes. Again, I think we were really lucky to
have a great serving team to help us out with everything!

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39

13.0 Coffee Service

Coffee for our themed event was provided after our main course was
cleared from the tables. After the main course was cleared, we have all of the
staff grab two coffee cups with saucers and then bring those out to each of their
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tables. After they did that for both of the tables they were assigned, serving
coffee to each table was next. We had the Head Server go out with pots of
regular coffee, the Assistant Servers go out with pots of decaffeinated coffee and
then one server per each team was responsible for bringing out creamers to
each table. Sugar caddies were placed on the table before the guests walked
into the room. Once they served one round of coffee to each of their tables, they
were supposed to serve dessert then go out for another round of coffee.
Unfortunately we were short time and our servers could not go out for a second
round.
Coffee service was extremely stressful for us. Normally the coffee cups
and saucers are already placed on the table before the guests walk into the
room. We could not do that because with the centerpieces and all of the other
table setting pieces, we could not make room for it. This wouldnt have been a
problem except for the fact that Keri and I and our supervisors didnt know that
the dishwasher had broken. Because of this we didnt have enough saucers to go
out with the coffee cups. Our supervisors ran all around Festival trying to find
saucers even if they werent the right ones. We ended up having to put Dollies on
the saucers and then the coffee cups on top of it to make sure the coffee cups
didnt slide off the saucers. Although the presentation of the coffee cups with the
dollies underneath added a nice touch, getting it all together so quickly was very
stressful. We were already behind on time so because of the dishwasher
breaking and being behind, we were only able to serve one round of coffee. We

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also had to send out dessert so we made the executive decision to not have
coffee service to happen twice.

Head Server-Brings Regular Coffee (Black Pot) to All Guests!

Assistant Server- Brings Decaf Coffee (White Pot) To All Guests!

Server 2- Brings Creamer to Each Table!

1. Black Pot-Regular Coffee

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2. White Pot-Decaf Coffee:

3. Creamer Bowls:

14.0 Entertainment Correspondence

Our entertainers were all friends from an organization Nicole and I are
members of. We did not have formal contracts with the entertainment, because
they offered their services for free and since we know them personally we knew
they were reliable. The Queen and Prince Charming are both theater majors and
used their past experiences to collaborate with the management team to create a
script. The Huntsmen is a member of the fencing team and she asked her friend
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if she would help with the skit. The management team and the fencing team put
together a fight scene and music to compliment it. We also thanked the JMU
fencing club to get them some publicity per their request.
Lastly, the singers were good friends with our Back of House manager
Stephanie Hall and they offered to sing for our event if they could have two free
tickets. We accommodated their requests and everything worked out fine! We
also feed the entertainment and had makeup artist available for them!

15.0 Flip Chart Materials

15.1 Morning
Dining Menu Poster:
1st Course
Mesmerizing Cheddar Cauliflower Soup
Dietary Resrtictions: Dairy. *We have a Vegan Option if needed
2nd Course
Scavenged Mixed Green Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette
Dietary Restriction: NONE
Entre
Maleficently Roasted Chicken Quarter
Villainous Mashed Potatoes
Wicked Rainbow Carrots & Haricot Verts
Dietary Restrictions: Gluten, Vegetarian, Vegan
Vegetarian Entre
Sorcery Stuffed Acorn Squash with White Beans & Kale
Dietary Restrictions: NONE
Dessert
Sinful Chocolate Mousse Cake with Raspberry Sauce
Dietary Restrictions: Gluten
Infamous Vanilla Chia Pudding
Dietary Restrictions: NONE

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Table Poster:
Polish All Silverware.
Place Chargers on Tables.
Place Polished Silverware on Tables.
Place potpourri and Diamonds on Table next to Centerpieces (Follow
example Table that is Set up).
Place pennants on every chair.
Put electronic candles inside of centerpieces.
Place Napkins (already folded) on top of each charger.
Check Table assignments and place each guests name card on each
seat.
Place Menus on each table. Check Sample table for how they are placed
on table
***Check Seating Assignment for Dietary Restrictions guests have.
There is a different menu for them!
Decoration Poster:
Cut up grey stoned walls. Ask Keri or a Supervisor how to do this.
Place Grey cobblestoned throughout the walls of festival (Use Command
Strips)
Place Shields and Swords on Festivals walls. There is an example of how
they should look already up.
Set up the Queens Table (Keri will be helping you with this)

15.2 Afternoon
Dining Timeline Poster:

Ice Water and Iced Tea Glasses- then put in freezer

**DO NOT FILL WITH WATER OR ICED TEA- JUST WITH ICE
RIGHT NOW
Put sugar caddies on each table
Put Bread (on bread boards) on each table along with the regular butter
and apple butter
Put Salt and Pepper on each table
Put Lemon with lemon bowl and fork on each table
Make sure all electronic candles are lit
At 6:00pm start pouring water and iced tea into glasses and place one of
each at each seat.
Make sure all silverware and plates are orderly and match one another.
Pick up any garbage you see on the floor!
Help with any last minute decorations (if there are any)

Seating Chart Poster

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16.0 Dining Room Timeline

16.1 Morning
Fairest Of Them All Actual Timeline September 6, 2014
9:30 AM: Supervisors arrive.
9:45 AM: Supervisors prepare for staff to arrive.
10:00 AM: Staff begins to arrive and eat breakfast.
10:30 AM: Management team introduces themselves.
10:45 AM: Managers give tours.
10:55 AM: Set up begins in reception, dining, and BOH.
2:00 PM: Staff leaves for break.

16.2 Afternoon
3:15 PM: Staff returns from break, eats employee meal.
4:00 PM: Dining service training.
5:00 PM: Entertainment and A/V training.
5:45PM: First Guests arrive
5:46PM: Hors Doervers passed
5:47PM to 6:05PM: Guests continue to arrive, Hors Doervers continue to be
passed 6:00 PM: Glasses are placed on tables.

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6:07 PM: Drinks begin to be passed on trays to guests

6:30 PM: Prince Charming has skit.
6:34 PM: Guests enter into the castle and locate their table numbers. Reception
flip and clean up begins.
6:36 PM: Guests settle into their seats. Head servers go and greet their table.
They will welcome guests to the Ball and make sure to ask any dietary needs
(allergies, vegetarian or vegan). Head Servers will remove table number from
table.
6:39 PM: Servers leave from the dining room and head to satellite kitchen to
prepare for service of the soup.
6:40 PM: As soon as servers are out of the dining room trumpets will start playing
and the Queen will make her grand entrance. Queen will welcome guests to her
castle and explain that they are gathered to celebrate the death of Snow White
and thus the Queen is now the Fairest of Them All.
6:41 PM: The Queen will finish her speech for by saying Let the feast begin.
and sits down. Music is played.
6:45 PM: Soup is served
6:51 PM: The soup cleared.
6:55 PM: Music Stops and singing or piano performance begins.
7:00 PM: Queen introduces next course. Servers bring out salads.
7:08 PM: Servers starts clearing salad plates.
7:11 PM: When salads are cleared, Queen gets attention of guest by a little
speech. But gets interrupted by fencer
7:12 PM: Fencer that is attempting to kill the Queen appears through one of the
servers entry door. Runs onto the risers and gives an intro speech as to why
he/she is there.
7:13 PM:. Fencing scene begins.
7:16 PM: Huntsman stabs intruder after 1:38 of battle time and lights get dropped
for intruder to exit back into Ballroom B/C. Lights come back up when intruder is
gone.

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7:17 PM: Queen gives small speech on how pathetic that attempt was to get her
out of the castle. Queen announces the entre will be served. Servers bring out
Entree.
7:32 PM: Servers clear entree.
7:37 PM: Prince Charming enters and brings out Queen and Hunts brings out
dessert that is going to kill the Queen. PC will say something in front of guests
before pouring the poisoned sauce onto the dessert.
7:38 PM: The Queen takes one bite, after a couple of seconds she will choke and
realized the server poisoned her, and will die. Red light on stage gets redder and
redder
7:39 PM: Once queen is dead, Server says we are all free! After death, house
lights go brighter and servers are less serious. Dessert shall be served and that
the guests desserts are not poisoned.
7:45 PM: Servers go out for a round of coffee.
7:48 PM: Servers and BOH workers line the back wall.
7:52 PM: Speeches begin.
8:00 PM: Guests begin to depart.
8:10 PM: Cleanup starts.
9:30 PM: Staff checks out.

17.0 Clean Up Duties

17.1 Reception

Once the reception is over, the reception only staff will be responsible for
moving pipe and drape to block off the Festival hallway.

The pipe and drape will be place right beyond the Womens bathroom.

An 8-foot table (the one used for the action station) needs to be placed
right in front of the backdrop for the favors to be placed on. The favors can
be placed on this table in rows.

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Decorations from the action station, drink stationetc. can be

placed under this table also, along with netting from the high
tables. If the tablecloth is not dirty it can stay on the table, but if it
has stains, take the cloth from the registration desk.

After this task is done, the reception only staff can start to break down
everything in the hallway.

Cross bars are the only rented items so staff will need to make sure
they are but in the conference room in a designated area.

The white paper on the wall can be taken down and thrown away

All other items can be folded and/or put away in there designated areas in
the conference room.

After everything is put away, staff can move the furniture back and then go
help dining tear things down.

Once dinner is over, all reception staff is responsible for clearing all
linen, folding up tables and taking apart pipe and drape.

17.2 Dining

Tables/Chairs will be put away in closet behind Ballroom

What to put into the HM closet:
Chair covers
Chair sashes (gold)
Gold chargers
Black table cloths
Gold table runner
Tall centerpiece (without flowers)
O-ring
Centerpieces:
All centerpieces must be emptied and placed in the bin labeled centerpieces
in the Conference room.
Sand can be thrown out
Shells:
Shells must be placed in a bag and then placed in the Conference
room as well.
Chandelier:
Place in Conference Room laying down (make sure none of the
ornaments are tangled)
Flowers:

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All flowers must be dried and placed in the box with labeled
centerpieces
Napkins:
All napkins must be folded and placed in the box labeled napkins

17.3 BOH
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.

Make sure that all dishes are put on carts and taken to the dish room
Sanitize all surfaces
Sweep the SPEV kitchen floor
After sweeping the floor, make sure that the Zamboni is used to sanitize
the floor.
Break down satellite kitchen
1.
Make sure that all plastic plate covers are taken to the dish room
2.
Clean out all hotboxes and return them to their designated areas in
the SPEV kitchen.
Be careful when cleaning knives and return all student knives to
designated student.
Empty all AV units, dry them out and return them to SPEV kitchen.
Clean all utensils separately and put all of the utensils belonging to SPEV
in designated area.
All utensils belonging to HM staff, clean, sanitize and return them to
designated student.
Clean out SPEV utilities that were used (ex: big stoves)
Empty all trashcans and bring trash out to dumpsters.
Do not forget to put trash bags in trashcans.
DO NOT let staff go until the ENTIRE SPEV kitchen is clean and
sanitized!

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