bar and waiting staff hire

kamperkat

Hiya

Does anyone have experience of hiring staff to run the bar / wait tables etc at a wedding...?

We're hiring our local village hall for our reception & we have 200 guests.
We are having a cash bar for which we will be purchasing the alcohol
I am doing the majority of the catering myself (no pressure then!)

• canapes
• one dish cold starter (TBC)
• main is a hog roast and salads (i'm not doing the hog roast bit myself, just the salads )
• then a nice simple mousse for dessert...
• & in the evening a giant cheese board, chutney and chunks of bread...

We were thinking that we would need 2 bar staff plus probably 4 waitresses to serve canapes at the start of the reception, serve the starters, plate up the main and then serve the desserts....and general tidying up of the tables etc...i don;t knwo if that is too few? i was also thinking we shoudl probably have one person who is actually managing them as i might be a bit busy :rotfl:

Does anyone have any advice for me or any recommendations of where to get staff from - i don't really know where to start looking! I am in Somerset.

Cheers
Kkx

Dizzie77

hi KK
I would think you would need more than 2 bar staff for 200 guests personally.
4 waitresses for the canapes shouldn't be too bad - but remember that the bar staff will need breaks etc

If you speak to a catering agency, they will tell you what they recommend (you can usually take one or two off, as they will over quote!!) and then you can probably advertise locally and get the staff cheaper!!!

And actually....I might just know someone that can help......back in a bit..!!

Alyssa_C_2

Kamperkat,

4 waitresses will not be enough for 200 covers. Always get one 'head waiter/ess' as you will need someone to coordinate the rest and if you do have any requests/issues that can be the person you speak to to organise it. But Dizzie seems to have the right idea!

Dizzie77

KK - I have sent you a PM.

Lexxi

I would suggest an agency as if you advertised on say gumtree these people wouldn't be checked and if anything were to go wrong then you wouldn't have any comeback. You also may need to be insured if you're paying them. I couldn't say for definate as it's for 1 day, might be worth speaking with ACAS?
Unless you have it all sorted now

gremlin

Do you have a local catering college nearby? Have you thought about hiring hospitality students?

When I was studying hotel management we used to get loads of notices up offering work for this type of function.

We all worked in the college restaurant/bar anyway as part of the course so we knew what we were doing and we all had the matching uniforms etc.

Just something that maybe worth considering.