BANQUET
Service That Goes the
EXTRA MILE It’s all hands on deck for full- and part-time staff managing events of all sizes. By Pamela Brill, Contributing Editor
AT THE HEIGHT OF wedding season, clubs are accented by the colorful dresses and suits of wedding parties and guests against a backdrop of black-and-white-clad personnel. With servers and waitstaff busily scurrying to and fro as they replenish bread baskets, clear away empty plates and make room for the next course, they signify a carefully orchestrated dance that assures efficiency and premiere service. As they make up the past two years of limited gatherings imposed by pandemic restrictions, clubs have resumed full banquet operations, which requires staffing. While banquet managers fine-tune game plans for special events, they must create a service culture that attracts reliable employees and affirms a club’s stellar reputation.
LIKE FAMILY
Guided by Banquet Manager Paul Williams, Atlantic City CC staff have developed an eye for detail and perfect timing. Rather than use staffing agencies, he employs extra part-time employees to work weddings and other large events.
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Club + Resort Chef
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July 2022
Banquet Manager Paul Williams prides himself on knowing his staff so well that when it comes to servicing an upcoming event at the Atlantic City Country Club (Northfield, N.J.), he is 100 percent confident his crew will get the job done. “I try to train my staff to take my job because you are only as good as your team,” he says. While he’s spent the past six years at the club, Williams got his start just down the road at Harrah’s Hotel and Casino, filling in when the banquet manager was on vacation. Before heading up banquets at ACCC, he began as restaurant manager and learned the business from the bottom up. While Williams’ banquet staff is separate from the club’s restaurant, he relies on a core group of employees who have outside jobs, including two teachers, a fireman and a pharmacy technician. Rather than use staffing agencies, he employs extra part-time staffers to work weddings and other larger events. Like his permanent crew, these workers juggle their shifts with other work and school commitments. To ensure that his banquet team maintains specific standards www.clubandresortchef.com
