Catering Coordinator Interview Questions

Choose someone with prior experience working in the restaurant industry.

Efficient catering coordinators make clients feel satisfied and attended to, and as a result they bring back business. Look for a coordinator who has organization and multitasking skills and has prior experience working in the food industry whether as a bartender or waiter. Someone who is passionate about food and is proud of the work they do will give customers higher levels of attention.

Priorities

Hire a coordinator who knows how to organize priorities. Ask questions such as: "How would you organize your typical workday in this position?" He should respond that he would organize his week in a calendar ahead of time. Also ask, "What do you think are the main priorities when initiating a conversation with clients?" Attentive listening, understanding the need, giving ideas or options for additional food and services, then negotiating a price are all answers to look for.

Emergency Readiness

Food services sometimes run into problems such as a client requesting food for the next day, time constraints with delivery, and last-minute changes to orders. A confident and independent person is needed to make reliable decisions. Give the potential candidate a scenario where he has to decide how to respond to an emergency, a separate client calling, all right before their scheduled lunch time.

Hospitality

The Better Business Bureau states, "Trust has become a point of difference in the marketplace, now more than ever before." Clients need to trust the caterer and feel attended to and important. A positive relationship will pay off with referrals to colleagues and company loyalty. Ask the candidate how he perceives the relationship should be with customers. Catering coordinators need to be confident, outgoing and professional to attract and keep customers.

Preparation

Organizing in advance is necessary for any event. Ask the candidate how he would organize upcoming events, keep track of invoices and follow up on payments. He should create spreadsheets for monthly events, monthly invoices and reconcile when payments were received. Include some marketing questions to ask how he could promote the company to potential clients. Taking free samples of food with a menu and several business cards is an option.

References

• The Better Busines Bureau

Resources

• "The Essential Guide to Business Etiquette"; Lillian Chaney; 2007