Vocabulary

arise (v) if a problem or a difficult situation arises, it begins

to happen

attend to (v) to deal with business or personal matters, e.g. I may be

late, I have got one or two things to attend to.

flavour the particular taste of a food or drink

peculiar strange, unfamiliar and a little surprising

Unit 12. Additional Services

- catering

- banquet

- business meeting catering

- room service

1. Reading. Read the following text and answer the questions:

No location is so remote or circumstance so special that a catering service cannot provide it with food and drink. Sometimes the food is prepared in one place and served in another; sometimes it is the staff that moves, both preparing and serving in a place apart from the caterer’s headquarters. The events may range from weddings to cookouts, from banquets to birthday parties; the food may range from specialty items to complete meals; the service may range from home delivery to butlers and bartenders.

The simplest kind of catering involves preparation of a specialty food item, perhaps a fancy dessert or a national specialty. The customers are often individuals and restaurants sometimes use specialty caterers, particularly for confectionery items. This kind of catering is often done at home by

people who have a special cooking skill, for example, in baking and decorating cakes.

Another kind of catering involves the preparation of complete meals but

does not provide a service staff, for example , Airline catering which provides a range of food from sandwiches to complete hot meals. The food is prepared in kitchens operated by the caterer, delivered to the airplane prior to its departure, then served by the airplane’s flight service crew. It sometimes arrives frozen or chilled and may be heated in ovens in the galley.

Similar service is offered by caterers in institutions. Many institutions now find it cheaper to buy complete frozen meals from a caterer than to operate a restaurant or cafeteria with their own staff.

Another group of caterers cooks in their own kitchens and serve at the customer’s choice of place, or cook and serve on the customer’s premises

including a picnic or cookout.

Many hotels offer special foodservice to attract conventions and banquets,

they often have a special kitchen and staff to prepare and serve banquets.

Banquet waiters require special skills. They must serve large numbers of

people in a short period of time. In many cases they work on a part-time basis. Their tips are not paid by individual diners but are included as part of the fee negotiated between the hotel and the sponsoring group.

Providing meals and drinks in the guests’ rooms is another service extended by most hotels. Room service is ordered by telephone from a menu in each room. The menu in some cases is the same as the one for the hotel dining room, but more often it is simplified for easier preparation and service. In large hotels the special employees take the telephone orders and

the special staff delivers the food. To minimize calls for room service, hotels now install minibars in the rooms and vending machines in the hallways.