2. 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
3. Reasons for preference for buffet meals
•Waiting-on-the-table duties
are reduced for the host
•Larger no. of guests can be
accomodated
4. 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
5. • 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
6. Details of the service are as follows (cont..)
•The menu for a buffet meal
must be planned.
•There must be plenty of
table space
7. 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.
8. 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
9. Plan for Dining
• Three Patterns for dining
• Table service
• Tray service
• Plate service
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. Setting the Buffet Table
It must be covered with a cloth.
Provide 18 inch or larger napkins
Floral 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.
13. 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.
14. 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.
15. 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.
16. 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.
