STAFF
Staff, they’re worth their weight in gold, the good ones, and we have some gems, although I couldn’t name names in public. When you have a strong team, you really can take on the world, well take on some seriously challenging events you wouldn’t even contemplate without the team behind you.
In the kitchen, we’ve just recruited a head chef to take over from me, so I couldn’t be happier. She starts in July, although has been working with and running jobs for us for the last couple of months. The rest of the kitchen brigade love working with her so it’s a positive shoe in, leaving me to focus on new dishes and menus and looking at how we could accommodate smaller gigs over the winter period. I wouldn’t hesitate to say a couple of our chefs are much better than me, but that’s the way I like it, surrounding myself with people who are better than me, then I’m always learning something.
Also, we are regularly required to cater two weddings on the same day throughout the season, so it’s vital we have not only two, highly competent lead chefs, but also an additional one in reserve, just in case covid, or a runaway bus strikes.
Our front of house team comprises a dynamic bunch of professional individuals, we seem to have accumulated at least five event managers. They are appointed to couples as soon as they pay their deposit, and they then work with that couple over the following months, fine tuning their requirements, answering all their questions, making them feel supported along every inch of the sometimes arduous journey which is wedding planning.
Alongside them, we have the team leaders, diligent young souls who support the managers and help direct the junior members of the waiting team. They’ve done a few seasons, so know the ropes and are comfortable dealing with the occasional challenges that being out front can bring. And then there are the foot soldiers, the youngsters who we recruit every March, through a series of out of season training sessions. These little chickens, keen as mustard, are the ones who deliver your plate of food from the pass to that little empty spot in front of you at your table. The one you’re longing to be filled as quickly as possible.
They’re like guided missiles, controlled from space by satellite. They know exactly which dishes to put in front of individual guests and they can find the gluten free guests amongst a throng of 150, delivering specially made canapes to accommodate their sensitivities. They can carry a tray of champagne flutes across a ploughed field without spilling a drop. I have no idea how they do it and I have complete admiration for each and every one of them. I couldn’t even begin to take on that responsibility, it’s way out of my comfort zone.
And then of course there’s Bee, the captain of the ship, holding it all together. She is, single handily, the entire sales and marketing department, social media expert, client liaison officer and the earth wire that grounds everything. Oops I mentioned a name there, but she is my wife and deserves a Big Up from time to time. As do the entire crew, so thank you very much Team Bread and Flowers, the ones that are with us now, the ones that have helped pave our way over the last 12 years, and the ones to come.