1. What duties have you performed in a banquet manager role previously?
As a banquet manager, I have been actively involved in creating food sales budgets, controlling banquet setups, scheduling reservations, and managing food and beverage teams. Another tangent of working as a banquet manager includes maintaining constant contact with clients to ensure that they are properly serviced and handling any banquet-related complaints.
2. What set of skills does one require if one wants to work as a banquet manager?
The ability to handle a variety of things in a hospitable manner is foremost. One needs to possess exceptional knowledge of the food and beverage industry, and excellent communication skills so that he or she can work well with both clients and workers.
3. As far as supervision is concerned, how do you manage to oversee large banquet events?
The ability to coordinate different aspects of a banquet in a manner that allow you to oversee each event easily is what makes things stress-free. I make sure that all aspects of a banquet are managed appropriately and that each aspect is looked over several times until the event ends.
4. Have you ever come across a difficult-to-please customer? Recount what happened.
We come across a lot of demanding customers. There was once a client who insisted that food and beverage items must not be served by waiters from a certain ethnic background. This was quite an unpleasant request and I had to politely but firmly decline his business.
5. As far as the nitty-gritty of banquet management is concerned, how do you intervene?
I try not to intervene too much in the work of the people I am supervising. At least, not visibly. However, I do get into the nitty-gritty of things silently by inspecting table place settings such as linen, china, glass, silverware, and condiments to ensure that each element is clean, undamaged and looks attractive the way they are placed.
6. How do you make sure that your workforce is productive and customer service-oriented?
While this is the most challenging part of my work, I do have to make sure that the team stays on the right path. I conduct quarterly reviews of their performances and provide them to the council as required.