The experience.
When you go to a restaurant, even a greasy-spoon, typically what happens is you get seated, someone takes drink orders, and should introduce your waitron. You get menues at this point, you're left alone for about 5 to 10 minutes, and then someone comes back and takes your order.
You wait for your food, then it shows up. You start, and within a couple minutes of your starting to eat, your waitron/service staff should come back and make sure you're happy. If you're happy, then you should be left alone until you notify the staff that you're ready to talk to them, either to get the check, or to see about dessert.
When you come to an SCA event, you should know when the meals will be served, and where. You should know where to put your stuff, so it's not in the way. You should know if you will be able to drink your own alcohol, or not.
Your seats are up to you folks, sometimes there's a seating chart to write down where folks will be sitting, so there's the opportunity to dine as a household, or dine with folks you don't get to see that often. I need to remember to add this to how I'm preparing, because it will allow me to see where our special projects will be seated.
Once seated, service will begin. This is where I think I need to spend some time. I need a group of servers from Anglespur, I think, at some point. I need a front person, which will probably be me, and a group of people who are willing to serve the meals to the guests, more than be the guests. Because we have a 2+ hour break, it would be easier on them, than if we were pushing courses out, as we get them done. This practice *should* speed the dining experience, but I don't know. I need to look at other events as a guest and see what happens.
My goal is to get people the food, and then move them on to the next step, which, in Anglespur, is dancing, and Commedia, depending on the evening. The food should be an accent to, a part of, the rest of the evening, not the focal point. But at the same time, people have driven to your event, sometimes up to about 3 hours, or longer, depending. The premise is that they should not be disappointed because the food doesn't match their expectations. Fortunately the SCA members I know, most of them are not food-snobs. HOWEVER, just because they're not food snobs, doesn't mean that I can put out crappy food.
More to come.
--Hawk
When you go to a restaurant, even a greasy-spoon, typically what happens is you get seated, someone takes drink orders, and should introduce your waitron. You get menues at this point, you're left alone for about 5 to 10 minutes, and then someone comes back and takes your order.
You wait for your food, then it shows up. You start, and within a couple minutes of your starting to eat, your waitron/service staff should come back and make sure you're happy. If you're happy, then you should be left alone until you notify the staff that you're ready to talk to them, either to get the check, or to see about dessert.
When you come to an SCA event, you should know when the meals will be served, and where. You should know where to put your stuff, so it's not in the way. You should know if you will be able to drink your own alcohol, or not.
Your seats are up to you folks, sometimes there's a seating chart to write down where folks will be sitting, so there's the opportunity to dine as a household, or dine with folks you don't get to see that often. I need to remember to add this to how I'm preparing, because it will allow me to see where our special projects will be seated.
Once seated, service will begin. This is where I think I need to spend some time. I need a group of servers from Anglespur, I think, at some point. I need a front person, which will probably be me, and a group of people who are willing to serve the meals to the guests, more than be the guests. Because we have a 2+ hour break, it would be easier on them, than if we were pushing courses out, as we get them done. This practice *should* speed the dining experience, but I don't know. I need to look at other events as a guest and see what happens.
My goal is to get people the food, and then move them on to the next step, which, in Anglespur, is dancing, and Commedia, depending on the evening. The food should be an accent to, a part of, the rest of the evening, not the focal point. But at the same time, people have driven to your event, sometimes up to about 3 hours, or longer, depending. The premise is that they should not be disappointed because the food doesn't match their expectations. Fortunately the SCA members I know, most of them are not food-snobs. HOWEVER, just because they're not food snobs, doesn't mean that I can put out crappy food.
More to come.
--Hawk
