When facing the challenge of providing event catering for your school, opting for in-house catering can initially seem like an appealing prospect with an easier mobilisation. What isn’t immediately apparent is the depth of unexpected issues and hidden costs that will arise when attempting to scale up your own in-house catering solutions, and a quagmire of surprise expenses can lead to your budget solution costing your administration more for a service that can’t meet the needs of your students.
The Risks of the “Budget” Solution
If you are attempting to scale up your in-house catering for an event, the first and ongoing issue you will inevitably face is dealing with staffing. When the event is large enough that you will require additional staffing to ensure quality service, how does your school administration plan to meet demand on short notice? Recruitment of additional staff poses several key issues. If you plan to hire additional staff, you will need to begin the hiring process well in advance of your planned event to accommodate interview and training time, and then determine if you wish to retain the additional staff after the fact. Contracting out additional labour through a labour-hire service is a valid option worth considering, but requiring a large number of staff on short notice for an indeterminate period of time will inevitably become a costly endeavour (Pranoto, 2011).
While school administrations may be well versed in the logistics of an intra-school environment, the logistics of setting up an education catering department and rapidly expanding it to handle school events are another beast altogether. There are several logistical issues your administration would need to concern itself with:
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- Acquiring additional goods outside of your standard operating contracts.
- Administrative staff will need to take on additional responsibilities to handle communications
- You may require additional staff to handle the increased number of guests, which could involve bringing on board and training workers from labour hire companies.
These issues can be expensive and time-consuming, especially if completed on short notice – to say nothing of the stress and additional workload they add to your current staff.
Saved by the Staff
Outsourced catering conveniently saves your school administration from the stresses of ensuring you have adequate staff on hand. gather’s pools of both dedicated and reserve staff ensure that your school community will always be cared for even if the catering needs to be dramatically scaled up on short notice, and your school is safely insulated from the headaches of staff turnover and retention. gather also provides its staff with a uniquely thorough training regime that ensures each and every team member who arrives at your school is prepared to give your students the best dining experience they can.
Dinner to Your Doorstep
Acquiring additional stock, kitchenware, and other consumables for your events doesn’t need to be an expensive and difficult process. With gather, you need only advise your Site Manager of your upcoming event and the kind of guest numbers you expect, and our flexible and diverse supply chain will ensure that your school receives everything you need with ease.
Resilience & Support
When opting for an in-house solution, doing everything off your own back fundamentally means that your school is offered no operational support – the kind of situation that’s never a problem until a major issue comes up. Partnering with gather guarantees your school the undivided attention of your personal Site Manager, backed by the full resources of Cater Care to help rectify anything that might go wrong in the course of your catering. If disaster strikes and you find yourself with a hundred hungry students and no plan to feed them, one phone call to your gather team can set the wheels in motion to save the day.
When you’re planning your school’s calendar of events, carefully consider the student catering solution you currently have and whether or not it’s honestly up to the task of event catering. In-house catering options are rarely able to effectively scale up to large events as required, and if you’re struggling to feed your student’s families, it’s time to call in the professionals. gather by Cater Care has the flexibility, support, and supply backing to truly give you and your students the home away from home experience.
