We get the question often….  “Do you have catering staff?”   The short answer is “yes we do.”  Many of our staff have been with us for years.  But there are things you need to know about Catering Staff as you plan your event.

 

At Twelve 31… ALL of our staff that work our events are employees of our company. What does that really mean? Simply… it means… They collect an actual paycheck for working. 

 

We do not use 3rd party staffing firms.  Mainly because your event… whether catering your wedding, a company party or a celebration of life demands the best we can offer. Continuity and people schooled in the “ways of Twelve 31” are a must at events.  Of course, we bring on new people if we can see they’ll be a good fit. We always pair new catering staff with those who have been with us for years.  Many of our event catering staff are part-time.  Several also work full-time in the food/beverage industry or have previous experience in our industry.   

 

Our catering staff earn great wages thanks to our awesome clients and compensation structure. 

 

For your event… the fact that our staff are W-2 employees of our company means they are covered by our workers’ comp insurance.   It is a serious topic and people sometimes forget about it when planning memorable occasions…  But… Every event creates some sort of liability.  

 

You want to deal with vendors who are “fully insured” of course… That means comp, liability, auto and bar insurance.   You will want to be careful when a vendor is bringing people on as “independent contractors” to work under their (the vendor’s) direction at your event.   Many small businesses mistakenly classify their help as“independent” to get around payroll services and payroll taxes.  This is a big mistake. This practice doesn’t only create a liability for the small business (taxes and penalties for misclassification mostly), but it also creates a liability for you. Yes. You.

 

As you plan your important event it is a good idea to deal with vendors who have their “house in order” when it comes to this stuff. 

 

We are so thankful for our amazing catering team.  For example… The weekend before writing this post we were able to serve 365 at an event in Concord and another 80 at an event in a different region of New Hampshire.  We also had some things going on earlier in the day too!   You can’t pull that off without a great team.