Low-key informal guest catering - new venture....

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Mountain Goat
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Low-key informal guest catering - new venture....

Post by Mountain Goat »

We've got a large number of families using our chalet for ski holidays this winter - our first full season. Most of them are parties of 8-10, mixture of adults and kids, and staying for a week or 10 days.

Although local restaurants are fine and not expensive, one or two families have asked about occasional catering - they want to ski all day, and come back to fresh baked goodies for tea, and then not have to worry about evening meal preparation every night. They seem happy with pre-cooked meals - i.e. fresh lasagne, casseroles, with interesting deserts.

We stuck a bilingual notice up around our village, and had 3-4 replies - one Portuguese, one Scot, a Thai and a Chinese - all keen to offer their services (Scot and Thai also offer cookery classes and massage as additional features - great after a day's skiing). All work in local restaurants.

Our idea was to offer their menus, prices etc. to guests, well in advance, and see what happens. Plenty of questions to answer including food purchase (must be chefs' responsibility), where it's prepared (we're open plan, but could be chaos so off-site might be sensible and flexible for chefs), serving, transport, clearing up etc. We're keen to keep it simple, and not get involved with arrangements other than initial introductions.

Has anyone tried this and be able to offer any pointers?

Thanks.

MountainG
Hells Bells
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Post by Hells Bells »

There's a service already in our resort, but thy will only cater for a minimum of 6 guests, so that's out as an option for us. I was hoping to be able to offer a ready-prepared meal for arrival day.
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debk
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Post by debk »

Has anyone tried this and be able to offer any pointers?
Not yet... but I bet your guests will appreciate the leads. Keep us posted, please.
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Post by Hells Bells »

I'm still looking at a other options though, a meal from the traiteur may be a possibility, charcuterie, cheese, or even a hot dish.
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Post by chrismooney »

don't know if it would be feasible but if you have a decent sized freezer in your chalet couldn't you stock it with suitable 'freezer--defrost--cook--serve'dishes...bolognaise,chillis,lasagne,moussaka stews,casseroles spring to mind which could be available to your guests as an extra? i know i'm talking with my chefs hat on but could be a nice extra earner?

don't want to dampen your plans but wonder what the liability situation of a third party coming to your property, cooking and serving food with food hygiene,health and safety issues to consider? unless you put out a significant disclaimer to that effect worth bearing in mind?

on a slight tangent me and MOH are thinking of working in ski chalets in the alps winter 2007/2008....do you think there would be work for a qualified chef of 25 years experience plus housekeeper/front of house person? not looking for mega bucks,,just board, lodging, etc and perhaps a scoot down the slopes on my '2m12 vokls'!!??
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Hells Bells
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Post by Hells Bells »

We do have a freezer, only small, but again,would hygiene come into it if we had prepared it? What we have done is left jars of cassoulet etc in the cupboards, and they have been eaten. We did suggest in the welcome they may like to replace them if they used them, but this didn't happen, so any suggestions for alternatives would be welcome.I could supply it as a welcome pack at extra cost I suppose. We often arrive late due to the flight times, and it was nice to have them in the cupoard to eat when we arrived, but they had been used and not replaced when we got there last weekend.
There are always openings for experienced chefs and hotel staff, someone will be glad of your experience, but I'd ditch those skis or you'll be laughed off the slopes. :lol: :lol: :cry:
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Ju
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Post by Ju »

We offer a catering service, and it is very well used, all but one party out of about 30 parties took up the offer.

I think you problem could be one of cost. We charge 9€ per head, which is about double the cost of the food. If you were paying someone from outside they would need to make enough profit to make the time spent (and fuel costs etc) worthwhile. As we do it as a sideline for our own guests we aren't too bothered about how much money we make on it. Our main concern is keeping the guests happy.

I saw a website once (it might even have been on a link from here) offering a similar service in a ski resort, and they were talking about 25 - 30€ per head for similar food to that which we do.

In terms of regulation, France is not as stringent as the UK on regulations for catering from home, we have spoken to the authorities who basically told us to get on with it as there is no specific ruling which covers what we do (Table d'hôte for instance does not require any special health regulations to be followed). No doubt the law will change in time though.

Ju
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Giddy Goat
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Re: Low-key informal guest catering - new venture....

Post by Giddy Goat »

Mountain Goat wrote: (we're open plan, but could be chaos so off-site might be sensible and flexible for chefs)
A friend who knows I offer this type of service in France has just pointed out that it's actually illegal to transport prepared food for commercial purposes in France if one isn't registered. It might be worth checking out what the regs are in Switzerland, Mountie, if this option proves to be the most practicable?
chrismooney wrote: don't want to dampen your plans but wonder what the liability situation of a third party coming to your property, cooking and serving food with food hygiene,health and safety issues to consider? unless you put out a significant disclaimer to that effect worth bearing in mind?
She also added that disclaimers for this purpose won't wash. :(
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Mountain Goat
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Post by Mountain Goat »

Many thanks for all the advice; food for thought. At the moment we're bouncing ideas from the chefs off the punters, and sampling the food next week.

Switzerland is surprisingly laid-back on fire regs., planning issues, taxing rental income, and electricians have been baffled by our imported smoke and CO detectors, so not optimistic about digging out catering rules, but will try.

Will report back as the scheme develops.

MGoat

(chrismooney - will PM about ski catering possibilities)
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