‘Tis the season to be busy…
IN THE naiveté of youth, I dreamt that outside event catering would provide me with a chance to work through the glorious summer weather and allow the luxury of declining business if it didn't fit with my personal plans.
Ho, bloody ho, as Santa Claus (the ultimate seasonal worker) is believed to say.
Dragging lorries out of sodden sites in the height of summer hardly fits with the preconceived ideal. And there seems to be little time to oneself. This is the time when we are quoting like crazy for the rest of the year.
Because much of our work is placed through agencies, we are often asked for quotes for events many months in advance, and are under some pressure to come up with accurate figures and novel ideas or themed menus in as short a time as possible.
With this in mind, we have created a formula that enables us to quote quickly and efficiently, which is gradually winning more and more clients, proving that our investment in mobile phones, modems and laptops was worthwhile.
The ability to work from temporary surroundings proved invaluable last week when we moved office and found that it took four days for BT to connect our phone lines correctly. To be fair, we were given only two days' notice of the impending completion date, one of which was taken up with a visit to Hospitality Week, so time for organising a smooth move was limited.
We managed to survive the transition with the help of our message-forwarding service, text messages to the mobile and a little understanding from clients and suppliers.
I wondered whether I should miss Hospitality Week in the light of time pressures, but I was concerned about missing potential ideas and suppliers if I opted out. As it turned out, I found a number of good ideas and made contact with some excellent suppliers. This was of particular importance as we are tendering for a contract due to start in April which will require substantial amounts of kitchen equipment, and the contacts made at the show could be very useful.
As most people are constantly looking towards the millennium and wondering what, why and who, I shall conclude by saying that we anticipate being involved with a couple of large bars - 2,000 or so guests at each event - and are declining other offers. Does anyone want to set up a clearing house to deal with unfulfilled enquiries? n
ROBERT ALVAREZ is proprietor of Phoenix Catering event caterers in Towcester, Northamptonshire.
Next diary from Robert Alvarez: 18 March
