# Giving them what they want



## staceface (Sep 26, 2013)

Hello Professional Caterers and alike.
I've been working at a local country club for several months now, putting on 100 people + dinners, twice a month. Everything has been smooth and the member are delighted to have me here.
I have a dinner set for tomorrow. The board decided to step in and tell me how to do my job. They want a pasta buffet. Simple enough. Then they requested it was all broken down, seperated. I tried objecting to their wants, explaining not only the loss in profit, due to overstocking, unknowing to what they'll choose to eat, but also quality in food. Keeping pasta seperate from sauce for 3 hours is a nightmare. They chose Fetticini. Double bummer.
I was going to cook the Fetticini al dente, keep it overnight in olive oil. Then I had planned to drop it into a "Bang Marie"  with a colander. Due to my lack of supplies around here, I don't have a colander that will fit. I do, however, have a 6in hotel with an insert. I suppose I've just answered my own question. Sigh. Any other suggestions on keeping plain pasta hot and to keep it from gumming?
I've thought about changing the noodle, I'm sure there wouldn't be any complaints.
I've usually had three course dinners. Choice between two apps, two proteins, set starch and veg, and choice between two desserts. Res was required, including their choices. This made inventory and the amount of food very simple and profitable. I still made the dinner to order, but I never had leftovers. Everyone was delighted with food. I've never had one complaint.
All of a sudden, the board wants to change it because they "members" say there's too much of a choice. I didn't know A or B was too much. I've also never heard of anyone not wanting a choice. All BS.
They will lose money this way and I hope they leave the dinners up to me from now on.
Vent vent vent! Thanks for stopping by!
Chef Stacey


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## chefbuba (Feb 17, 2010)

Welcome to the CC world. There will always be pesky board members trying t tell you how to do your job. You will also have club members giving their .02 worth. I had one try to tell me how I should have the kitchen dry storage organized.


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## meezenplaz (Jan 31, 2012)

Hi Stace, welcome to the madness..er, I mean to Chef talk.
Your situation as ChefBuba indicated, is hardly uncommon--
board members are notorious for meddling in things they have no training for.
The real question is when they do lose money over it, are they gonna
blame themselves...or someone else?
Regarding your pasta question, we had a couple lengthy discussions in here about
5 or 6 months ago regarding ways to cook and hold pasta for events, separate
sauce vs combined, etc. Hard to search with my tablet, but I think if you
searched "pasta" or "holding pasta" it'd probably bring em up.
--mEEz--


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## staceface (Sep 26, 2013)

I ended up throwing the pasta into boiling water, then dumping it all into another stock pot topped with a colander. This was the water was always boiling. I transferred the hot pasta to a chafer fitted with a colander hotel pan. Everything worked out pretty well.
They still made a profit and they food was beyond expectations. I guess there won't be any "I told you so" conversations. Oh well!
Haha ChefBuba, I'm waiting for the day. Ladies-Day is the worst, but they usually take their complaints to the bartender. I make them a dessert every ladies day, so they are pretty happy most of the time. The janitor is my biggest complaint. I wont go there, for now.


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