Banquet Service: 180 Guests, 40 Minutes, One Server Down
Your team is serving a 180-guest wedding banquet with a six-course menu and nine wines. You have one captain, four servers and one barback; a fifth server has just called out sick. Doors open in 40 minutes. The reds - 12 bottles of 2015 Cru Bourgeois and 10 bottles of 2016 Barolo - have been stored at 22 C and should be served at 16-17 C. Both ice bins are full of white wine and Champagne, and you have only 6 decanters when the plan calls for 14. You have 900 stems but only 120 Champagne flutes against a need of 180. Table 7 includes a guest with a severe shellfish allergy, and the second course is a seafood platter. The Barolo was decanted 10 minutes ago and is still closed; the first red pour is due in 55 minutes.
1. Give a sequenced plan for the next 40 minutes with one captain, four servers and one barback. State which trade-offs you are accepting.
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Minute 0-5: safety and information. The captain confirms the shellfish allergy at table 7 with the guest directly, briefs the chef and the runner, marks the seating chart and assigns one named person to that table. The barback starts polishing stems and pulls the flutes out of the count.
Minute 5-25: temperature. Two servers set up two bus tubs of 50/50 ice and water away from the service bins and load the Barolo and Cru Bourgeois; rotate every five minutes; target 16-17 C by first pour. One server stands the reds not being decanted upright and decants six Barolo into the six vessels we have.
Minute 25-35: glassware and stations. We have 120 flutes for 180 guests, so Champagne is served in white wine stems - aromatically better anyway - and the flutes are reserved for the toast. Set a wine station with the first white pre-poured so the first course does not bottleneck on the floor.
Minute 35-40: briefing and doors. Confirm the decanted Barolo is showing, confirm table 7's modified platter, and place the captain at the pass rather than on the floor.
Trade-offs accepted: no server gets a comfortable section; the captain is not on the floor; the second red goes out later than planned; guests wanting a specific glass shape may be disappointed. Those are acceptable. A missed allergy or a warm red is not.
2. How exactly do you chill 22 bottles of red from 22 C to 16-17 C when both ice bins are occupied, and which wines get priority?
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Method: an ice-water bath, not ice alone and not the freezer. Water conducts far better than air, and agitation matters more than the total mass of ice. A 750 mL bottle at 22 C drops roughly 6 C in 15-20 minutes in a 50/50 ice-water tub if rotated every five minutes - fast enough for the window, whereas a refrigerator would take one to two hours and a freezer risks a frozen, pushed cork and a ruined label. No salt: it lowers the bath below 0 C and risks over-chilling and freezing wine against the glass.
Priority: Barolo first, because it has the longest lead time - decanted, still closed, and needed at about 17 C by the first red pour - and because decanting warms it slightly. Cru Bourgeois second: 2015 Bordeaux at 16-17 C is forgiving and can be served a degree cool.
Capacity: with both service bins full of white and Champagne, do not pull them out - that trades a warm red for a warm white across 180 guests. Use back-of-house bus tubs, and if ice is short, use the coldest available water and refresh it. Two tubs of six bottles, rotated in batches, will clear 22 bottles inside the window. Accept that the last four bottles go out slightly cool rather than late; a cool red is a smaller fault than a delayed course.
3. What is your protocol for table 7 given the seafood platter and the staff shortage?
Read the worked answer
The captain, not a floor server, owns that table for the evening. Confirm with the guest, at the table and away from the group, the severity and the trigger: ingestion only, or contact and aerosol? That determines whether the platter can be served at that table at all. Brief the chef in person and on the ticket; the seafood platter for table 7 is rebuilt without oysters and without shared utensils, boards or fryer oil. A dedicated runner carries it; the captain confirms the plate before it leaves the pass and identifies the guest by name when setting it down. Mark the seating chart and flag the reservation for future visits.
Staffing: with five on the floor the temptation is to fold table 7 into a server's section - do not. The captain can absorb wine service at the head table and still be the single point of contact for table 7, with the barback covering water and bread in the captain's section.
After service, debrief with one question: what would have happened if the captain had been the person who called out? The answer should change next week's roster, not just tonight's plan.