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Caterer (professional)
Does entertainment through food and wine excite you. Then becoming a Professional Caterer is a profession to look at. Although many Caterers work on their own, Hotel and Restaurant kitchens often Cater for functions too.
A caterer requires the ability to maintain good interpersonal relationships at all times and should have good leadership qualities, originality, initiative and practical abilities. Artistic talent is an added asset when it comes to the presentation of food, demonstrations and photographs of the product.
If you enjoy both the physical and social sciences, this is a very interesting profession, which offers a wide variety of career options related to food.
Caterers are key figures in hotel dining rooms and restaurants as well as private functions and they have to ensure unity between the menu, type of service, atmosphere and interior decor of the dining room, private lounge or dining room.
As a caterer, you would be given the task of providing food for large or small groups of people. Your client, with your assistance, would decide on the menu and the budget as well as confirm how many diners would be attending the event. This would allow you to study the budget and decide how much money could be spent per person by calculating the cost of materials; service costs - such as watering and cleaning costs - your fees and the cost of any transport services or extra expenses.
If Catering for a function that involves a specific theme, such as a fancy dress party, for instance, you would also decide on how to decorate the tables and sometimes, the entire room and your stewards and waiters would be dressed in appropriate costumes.
In most cases, the caterer brings the prepared food to the venue slightly ahead of time in order to warm certain dishes or store perishables or beverages in the refrigerator. The client might provide the beverages or you might be asked to do so.
Some large industries use caterers to provide daily meals for their staff members and this involves various options such as menus, prices per meal, times of breakfast, lunch and tea, dining and kitchen facilities and so on.
Useful Information
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Career Snapshot Caterer (professional) |
In Demand
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Qualification Required |
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Work Outdoors |
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Maths Required |
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Science Required |
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This is a general guide - it is important to check admission requirements with the various training institutions first because entry requirements may vary.
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