Kate Kroger
Keith Toffling
top left: Sam Netter with True
Cuisine and Sweet Baby Ray’s
Catering plates dishes for a
holiday menu tasting.
bottom: A diner enjoys a
cucumber/salmon hors d’oeuvre
at the UMASS Amherst Faculty
Convocation, September 2011.
Courtney Davidson
culinary, marketing, financials,
event planning, design and
employee relations.
In addition to the skills needed
to work in a restaurant, caterers
must have strong math and
computer skills. “We create
menus, looking at quantities/
size for servings, and also what
percentage of people will eat any
given item,” says Ed Dodds,
executive catering chef with
Accomac Events in Wrightsville,
Pa. “This helps determine the
weight or volume I need to
bring. I can’t eighty-six [get rid
of] an item or not serve a guest
at an event.”
Caterers do not have the luxury
of going into the walk-in and
making more of an item during
an event. “I use spreadsheets for
just about everything, and do my
ordering online, so computer
skills are helpful,” Dodds says.
Accomac Events is the sister
operation of Accomac Inn, York,
Pa. The company has a full-time
catering/sales staff of fewer than
10 people and an on-call/
part-time staff of about 50. “As
executive chef, I work 40 to 70
hours per week, usually around
50 in a five- or six-day week,” says
Dodds. “We cater a variety of
events, from small dinner parties
of 10 to 15 people to events up
to 500 or 600 people. Weddings,
graduations, holiday parties,
business luncheons and bar
mitzvahs are just a few examples
of the types of events we cater.”
Just as there are different stations
in a restaurant’s kitchen, the
same holds true for a catering
operation. Some companies may
have positions in baking and
pastry or delivery, or openings
for chef assistants, event captains
and event bussers. Enchanted
Events Catering in Nashville,
