A Career in Catering: No More Waiting Tables

By Austin Brentley

If you've worked in the restaurant circuit and are tired of turning tables night after night, you might consider a career in catering. With a job in catering, you don't usually have to deal with fussy children, offensive customers, low tippers, or any of the other horror stories commonly associated with waiting or busing tables. Working in a restaurant has provided you with some of the training you'll need, and you already know how the service industry works. Culinary classes can fill in your training with valuable knowledge that will help you embark on a career in catering.

What a Career in Catering Entails

Catering is pretty straightforward. Usually, you work with a particular outfit that will provide you with some fairly basic training. You and a group of other caterers will go to a location and set everything up. This might include tables, decorations, hot plates, chairs, and bars. Once the guests arrive, you must make sure that everyone has a full plate and glass.

Why a Career in Catering

When you cater a function, you are taking care of people who are there to have a good time. In a restaurant, you get all kinds of high-maintenance customers who can become angry, belligerent, or needy over the course of a meal.
Your salary is not wholly dependent on tips, so there is more consistency in your pay--although you can still make tips on the side.
You can potentially rub elbows with some pretty interesting, famous, or powerful people. You never know where this can lead.
Every venue and party is different, so you never suffer from boredom.
You often get to eat what the other guests are eating, either before or after.
Even though you're working, technically speaking, you are at a party.

Waiting tables can be lucrative, but it can also be very taxing. For the same amount of pay, you could get a job in catering. It's much easier, more enjoyable, and provides greater variety.

About the Author
A freelance writer and researcher, Austin Brentley currently lives and works in Bangkok, Thailand. His previous experience includes working for a lobbying firm in his native Washington, DC, teaching English in Japan, and working for various record and television studios in New York.