BUFFET SERVICEPlate Buffet

Tray Buffet

Sit-down buffet

BUFFET

•  A counter or table from which meals or refreshments are served.

•A meal at which guests serve themselves from various dishes displayed on a table or sideboard.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/buffet

Reasons for preference for buffet meals

•Waiting-on-the-table duties are reduced for the host

•Larger no. of guests can be accomodated

Details of the service are as follows

•A buffet is a dining table or other suitable surface, that will accommodate a stack of plates and serving dishes of food.

•Guest are invited to serve themselves at the buffet

•Guests dine according to the arrangements namely:

• Dining may be at the table, which is fully set with all appointments except dinner plate

• The hostess may provide each guest with a tray that holds the plates and beverages which the guests place on their laps

• May sit on chairs and eat from the plate held in hand or placed on the lap

Details of the service are as follows (cont..)

•The menu for a buffet meal must be planned.

•There must be plenty of table space

Specific Suggestions for setting the buffet table

1. It may be covered with a cloth.

2. Flowers or other decorations may be taller and larger in scale.

3. Use dinner plate for the buffet meal.

4. Arrange the dishes in decreasing order of importance in the meal.

5. Invite someone to assist in serving.

6. Do not enclose the flatware in a napkin.

7. Put the glasses of water on a tray or another table. Water should be the last item in the buffet setting.

Steps in the Management of the buffet meal

1. Planning the dining arrangements

2. Planning the menu

3. Setting the buffet table

4. Planning for service

Plan for Dining

•Three Patterns for dining

•Table service•Tray service•Plate service

Planning the Buffet Menu• Special considerations require that dishes be easy to self-serve

and easy to eat.

• When guest are to dine from trays, the hostess may offer almost any meats she chooses. Meats should be fork tender.

• Dishes must be free from sauces and juices that can drip as bites of food are lifted to the mouth.

• Food must be fork cuttable, and all bread should have been buttered for this service.

• Casserole dishes containing meat, potatoes and vegetables are good choices for the buffet menu.

Planning the Buffet Menu

1. Prepare some dishes in advance. Some on the day of the meal.

2. Remember the capacity of your oven.

3. All foods to be eaten from the plate held in the hand, except finger foods, can be cut with fork; have the bread buttered.

4. Avoid dishes with thin sauces or dressings that may spatter during serving or eating.

5. Plan so that most, if not all, hot dishes can be finally heated in casseroles or other heat-holding containers

6. More than enough of everything should be provided.

Setting the Buffet TableIt must be covered with a cloth.Provide 18 inch or larger napkinsFloral or other decorations may be taller and larger in scale on

the buffet than on the conventional dining table.Limit plates, cups and saucers, wine glass, tumblers, flatwares

and napkins on the table at any one time to the number of scale in the table.

Use the ten and one-half to eleven0inch dinnerplate to accommodate all the food of the main course.

Place the salad last on the buffet, bowls beside it.Serving a roast or a bird, it must be carved at the buffet or in

the kitchen.

You may invite someone to assist you.Whenever flatware and napkins are required, place them

beyond the food.Put the glasses of water or other beverages on a tray.Coffee is often served with both courses of the buffet

meal.Set the beverage service very carefully, whenever you

expect a guest to pour for himself. Leave a near area empty so that the filled plate can be set down for those who wish to do so.

Removal of the Main Course

1. Table is cleared, dessert is served.

2. When dining has been at card tables: Covers at card tables can be cleared in the conventional fashion; or the guest may be asked to take his plate and leave it on a designated tray or table-on-wheels as he goes to the dessert buffet.

3. (Plain-in-hand style) hostess or host may take the plates and place them on a table-on-wheels or a tray and remove them to the kitchen.

4. (dining from trays) Use a table-on-wheels to collect the plates. Clear the covers of persons dining at individual tables.

Serving the Dessert Course• Place a single dessert offering on the buffet with serving

tools.• Place the desserts, when more than one is offered, at

intervals on the buffet.• Serve the dessert and the beverage to persons dining

from trays from a table-on-wheels • Serve the beverage to guests dining at your dining table

from the table.• Refill beverage cups.• Set up a beverage service in the dining area and permit

guests to wait on themselves for beverages whenever space for moving about permits.

Final clearance• (At the dining table) clear the table or leave it uncleared,

depending on whether or not it is visible from the living area.

• (At the card tables) clear the table by using table-on-wheels.

• (Individual table) clear as in (2)

• (dined from trays) permit someone to assist you by removing the trays to the kitchen as you stack and so on.

• (from a plate on hand) use a table-on-wheels and remove plates, cups, and saucers and glasses to the kitchen.

Plate Buffet