# Keeping food hot from the kitchen



## David DeRose (Dec 17, 2018)

I just catered a wedding for 90 transporting food from my commercial kitchen. Food was hot at the back if the venue, but i am now hearing everything was cold by the time it got to the tables. I had 3 servers. I usually so buffet style and this was my first serve style. What can I do in the future to keep food hot?


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## cheflayne (Aug 21, 2004)

Did you have warm/hot plates? Did you do plate up out of lit chafers?


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## David DeRose (Dec 17, 2018)

cheflayne said:


> Did you have warm/hot plates? Did you do plate up out of lit chafers?


No to both. I had the fiod in aluminum pans in a blogget oven and a portable food warmer. I misjudged my prep time and did not have time to get the chafers going.


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## cheflayne (Aug 21, 2004)

What I do is when food comes out of the oven, off the grill, out of the saute pan, or whatever; it goes straight into a stainless hotel pan and into a cambro for holding and transport. When ready to plate, the hotel pans come out of the cambro straight into lit chafers. When the hotel pan in the chafer empties, pull it out of the chafer and replace it with another hotel pan out of the cambro. I also use heated plates that have been held in another cambro and pull as necessary while plating.


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## David DeRose (Dec 17, 2018)

Thanks for the tips!


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## chefbillyb (Feb 8, 2009)

Hi David, Welcome to CT. I always used chaffers or stand-up plug in warmers. The key is sending people ahead to get the chaffers hot so when you get there they are hot. Hot, as in watch out when you pick up the lid hot/steam. The success of any catering is logistics. I've had catering's where the plates were cold as heck. The reason why this happened was the hall was closed up all week with no heat. Not good for the plate to be held at 50 degrees all week and me trying to put hot food and serving my customers. In my case I always checked things the day before so I was able to correct the problem. 

There are also some entrees that shouldn't be offered for off premiss catering. Always offer the menus that are easy to be successful in. I always liked Prime Rib because it traveled and held well. I can't stress enough on the importance of having key people setting up the party and hopefully catching any problems before you get there. It's also a good idea to visit the site to get a feel of how things will go when you pull up to the function with the food. 

I also stress to my clients now critical it is that everything go as plan. If something gets out of wack and food service is late that could be a major factor in the quality of the food. I always put the stress on them to get on the ball. I give them the stress then I give them the credit. They are a critical tool to my success in insuring I do what I was hired to do.....

There are many conditions an off-site caterer has to take into account. I always tell my crew, we had a few months to figure things out and correct any problems. If in your case the plates are cold you could send someone over in the morning and pile the plates on a table. Then cover with a table cloth and put an electric blanket over the top. I've seen my meat/smoke guy/butcher stack all the hams and turkeys in ice chests and then cover with a real heavy leaded blanket to travel to my site. It doesn't matter what the method is as long as its done.........Good luck.........ChefBillyB

P.S. Most caterer's fail because of logistics not because they aren't good cooks.


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