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But then you have to deal with a bunch of people looking confused and asking for silverware holding up the line.

Even more so, drinks.

Put silverware at the seats...

^ this

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There is no start or end or order when the masses come in...

Stick 'em in your pocket if they're first!

In my experience, the guests will presume to start the buffet where the silverware is.

Former caterer sez: It goes plates, salad, bread/ butter, carbs then protein. Silverware rollups at the end. If you put silverware on the table, you may run short. People never gather where you planned at a party.

Yes! This exactly

I have tried the other way as it is more logical

But you just end up having 100 people askin where the cutlery is or telling you that you ran out of cutlery

Some time the logical approach and humans don’t mix well

Put a sign that says silverware at end?

Good logic

But people don’t read signs

Yesterday at a function a man leaned over the bar to speak to me he pushed a water jug to the left and a sign saying “self serve water”to the right

Leaned between them and asked me “ where can I get some water?”

I’ve given up assuming people know how to read at this point

Just put some at each end to catch both types of people.

If people see silverware at the beginning, they will most likely take it as they will automatically assume it is only at the beginning.

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i disagree silverware first cause not everyone wants to take the whole buffet line

theres nothing more annoying than having to wait in line just for a fork when you already have the food you want

Plates and napkins at the beginning so that if someone gets something on their hand they're not smearing it all over the rest of the serving utensils.

More napkins at the end with the silverware.

Always

Just put them in your pocket and go down the buffet. Solves all the problems in the OP and the comments. Dumb LPT.

I put the bread at the end of the food because it can be placed on top of a full plate. And yes, Rollups at the end.

You have pockets for a reason

Nah, rookie mistake. You want the cheap bread earlier in the buffet. So there's less room on their plates for the expensive proteins

That doesn't happen. We do lots of events for groups at my work that get buffets.

Our standard is rollups at the end of the buffet. It's never causes a problem.

I have never seen that before. They always start where the plates are at.

This really depends on the location I guess? At my work, when we set up buffers for groups... If for some weird reason they forget their silverware rollup, they can just come back and grab one and it won't interfere with the line going through....

Of course there's a lot of space in the foyers outside of the event rooms where we set up the buffet tables.

Good ol' capitalism!!

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Sounds like the lineup for a company trying to make money. I put the premium stuff first and the filler later. I worked hard on that protein so please enjoy lots!

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Used to work at chipotle. One day we ran out chicken for whatever reason. We put signs with large text on every door and the glass right in front of people's faces where they order (you know, the one they constantly try to reach over because fuck food safety). I bet you can guess how many people still tried to order chicken and were shocked and upset to learn we didn't have any.

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Ladies' dressy clothes rarely have functional pockets, certainly not big enough for a cutlery roll-up.

Your meat goes in your right pocket, sides in your left pocket. Who needs plates?

Just walk to the end of the buffet and grab the silverware....why do people make this so complicated?

sometimes it's too crowded to

This.

Then there’s me, eyeing the buffet, already Tetris-ing my plate in my mind before I get to the front of the line.

I still always forget napkins until I sit down (if I'm lucky) or more often make mess

I mean, I agree but this isn't really a LPT. It's more restaurant advice.

There are few things worse than dealing with awkward, sometimes sliding around silverware for the duration of the buffet loadup.

Yeah to load up with rolls for later. Right?

Carbs before protein because you can stack the protein on top of the carbs. The other way around and your chicken cordon bleu is now lost under a plate full of rigatoni

As someone who works in the industry, I always have my staff put rollups at the end of the buffet.

The number one reason that _I_ do this is because I've seen many times folks trying to carry a plate, their rollup and try to use the spoons/tongs on the buffet and sometimes they drop their plate on the floor and we have to clean it up.

Also, place plates at the end, so that guests must carry food in their hands from each station.

No no no. Meat in the back pockets. Left and right are sides...

More or less proves my thesis that beginning and end is a good strategy, since for some people it won't matter. :)

I’m sure the two buffet owners who read this will be very appreciative!

Get your own tots!

But serious question: if you've already planned/prepared serving the expensive stuff, why does it matter where it's placed?

In my store people stand willy nilly and make up their own waiting spaces including not anywhere close to a cash register and get offended when you point out the giant fucking hanging sign that says "Line Starts Here".

We've joked that we need to get blinking lights around it.

It’s a balance, If there are 200 guests at an event I’ll place my order for about 225-230 piece of protein. Assuming that some jackass is gonna take three pieces, someone’s gonna drop something, and people will grab seconds I should have enough. If everyone grabs proteins first they’re more likely to grab multiple pieces because your brain wants to fill the empty space on the plate. Protein is expensive so the less of that I can order the better for the company.

Agreed. How often are you serving buffets, for this to be a LPT??

Plus if it's a long buffet, you don't want your protein getting cold(er) by the time you sit down, so makes sense to grab it last. Assuming it's being kept warm on the buffet.

Say, "excuse me, I just need to grab a fork real quick." If they don't move, say it louder, and then just push your way through if they're ignoring you. The alternative is making everyone have to juggle way too many things through the whole line to make things easier for you and maybe a handful of others.

One of those worse things being when you have to also carry your full beverage cup because all the drinks were also at the start of the buffet line. And even worse being when you have to juggle two plates because your partner is in the wedding party and someone decided to do all the group photos before letting any of them get their plates and the food is running out very fast.

One of the best LPTs I’ve seen!

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I think the intent was for family gathering types of buffets, like thanksgiving.

More a potluck than a buffet, but the tip still works with any self serve line of food

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Only issue then is people can panic that there isn't any and go looking before they have taken any food. At the start and the end can work.

That's what two hands are for, two plates. One for bread one for everything else

In other people's defense, my local subway has had a sign on the door for almost a year now saying they are out of wheat bread, and they have had it back in stock since like the third day that sign was up. I think a lot of people are so used to seeing signs everywhere about so many irrelevant things that eventually they become blind to them.

Definitely depends on the event. I hold a lot of casual catering events, and more often than not people do not tend to immediately go back to the seats you planned for them.

And me. Just skipping the bread and cheap salads because they're always the worst thing on the table.

NO! I always forget it and have to get back up a second time when people do that.

Yeah sure I’ll get right on that..

And then there's my mother and sisters, that strategically took the table about 2 meters away from the hotzone (about the end of the buffet line)

Help me out, what is a wet nap?

And napkins at the table!

I like the idea of putting plenty of cutlery at the end, but I’ll one up ya. Place a basket containing enough plus extra sets at each table. So if a spoon or knife drops to the ground, you don’t need to get up and leave your food. Maybe extra napkins too.

I wholeheartedly endorse this tip.

Real baller move is to put your bun in your pocket to leave room on the plate .

Than no silverware for them. Simple.

I’ll keep this in mind if I ever open a buffet

Then every Todd in the group fills their plate with the first thing, the protein for you, and there’s not enough. People will make room for protein, but they’ll overfill their plate with the first couple things.

Tell that to the Delta lounge at LaGuardia. Silverware first- then if you miss it you have to excuse yourself through a mess of a line of people to get it.

Just eat straight out of the bain marie. No middle men, no wasted time.

This is the way

Plus I might not need every utensil. Why waste or dirty things I don’t need?

Ok so who recently made you grab your silverware at the start? This seems like a small detail to fret over.

Did you read the first six words of the post?

Dude: you must be the guy who goes to everyone else’s house to enjoy eating for the holidays but never entertains for anyone else

I start at the end so I can get my fork and I eat straight out of the protein tray.

talk about making things over complicated

its not that hard to "juggle" a fork lmfao

if its the first thing on the plate it gets weighed down with food in the next step

One of my many pet peeves is the slow food takers / picky eaters at buffets, its the people that try to get just the two pieces of lettuce, and not three or four. Then keep trying until they get the exact amount.

Get your food and go people. People are stacking up behind you.

You can save lots of money by forgetting to give them plates. Just a thought.

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god you sound like a real piece of work.

all of a sudden i am selfish and insufferable because I think forks should be at the front of the line for the sake of peoples convenience?

i feel like you need to both google the words selfish and insufferable to confirm you actually know their definitions, but you also likely need therapy.

go drink some tea and calm the fuck down

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for the sake of your convenience at the expense of most others; that's selfish

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This right here

It's really not that hard to carry a napkin and a fork
if it's a fork, put it on the plate first, and the first thing you scoop onto the plate will hold it in place. If it's a napkin it goes under the plate and you hold it with the plate. literally neither of these require any effort or any agility etc.

I'd rather have the moral quandary of "oh what ever shall I do with this fork" than have to wade through a sea of people to grab a fork after I get all the food I need.

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You do realize that it's extremely common for buffet lines to have silverware at the beginning right?

You guys are acting like it's the craziest most selfish thing on the planet to want your fork before your food and it's hilarious.

At what expense?
You are being dramatic as fuck tbh

It's literally no inconvenience to anyone to have a fork on their plate

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Could be just a fork, could be multiple pieces of silverware, could be a whole roll of silverware, whatever. Plenty of caterers have already chimed in with how often it can lead to dropped plates, which they then have to clean up. That's an inconvenience to the person who dropped it, the caterers, and everyone around them, is it not? Surely a greater inconvenience than having to wait to get your fork or whatever or just say excuse me

Jesse what the fuck are you talking about

The real move is to pack your cheeks chipmunk style as you go through the line

That's on you. How could it be more forgettable one way or the other if it's a part of the same line?

You can do the exact same thing if it's at the end. Far easier actually, if there is a line

At the very end? No it isn't

Put two plates down for guests to serve themselves from and congratulations, you now have a buffet.

It's not like it's some specialized piece of furniture or equipment

Yes it is astounding how oblivious some people can be! Stop chit chatting Doris EVERYONE is waiting for you.

Life is about perfecting every small detail

i find that often the silverware at the end is also grouped with desserts and it creates its own crowd

or even if its not, a busy enough buffet line will just have natural crowding near the end, and to me at least it feels rude to reach past people, or it looks like I am trying to cut in line etc.

regardless its by no way an inconvenience to have you fork before your food.

saying that people have to juggle things is the most dramatic thing I have heard in my life

if you can juggle food on your plate I guarantee you that you can juggle a fork on your plate too

sometimes (i.e. not all the time)

yes. yes it is. sometimes.

You might have to make more if more of it is taken

That is too much. Did he at least have the decency to feel like a moron when you answered him?

It absolutely DOES happen, quit calling me a liar.

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Small enough thing to make a lengthy post on. Yes, I’m familiar with reading. I see you aren’t a fan of hood natured ribbing. So sorry to make light of your issue.

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Also, if they’re separate, I don’t know which utensils I’ll need until the end. Sometimes need all 3 but usually just need a fork.

Nah, if y’all are going to cheap out with buffet instead of serving a plated meal, I’m going to fix my plate how I’d like. I encourage everyone else to do the same.

Just hold your utensils and napkin under your plate with your plate hand

It also amounts to less waste if they’re disposable or less washing for the host. People will take one of each piece if it’s at the front of the line; they’ll only choose what they need for the food they have on their plate if it’s at the end of the line.

Don't talk to me about the food safety of people reaching over the counter to point to things (not to touch them) IF you and all the other employees aren't wearing masks.

Far more likely that the employees will spew germs via their mouths and noses on the food than the hand of the customer that's at least 2 feet away

And you pick the food up off the serving line with... your mouth?

And that is literally the story of the one mismatched fork we have in our silverware drawer. My dad went to a wedding with a dinner buffet and a separate dessert buffet, grabbed a fork at the start of the line and put it in his pocket, got stuck in the line for a while and forgot about it, just used his leftover fork from dinner and found the first when he got back home. We call it the illicit desert fork.

Did I stutter?

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Ah yes the 3 employees are a much greater danger than 3 employees and 20+ customers. Never mind that it's a lot easier to trace any issues with contamination back to a handful of employees rather than one of dozens of customers who were there for 10 minutes and left no identifying information behind other than their payment (assuming they didn't use cash).

Lmao it’s a joke… I don’t have a buffet folks

No. But he did say thank you which is better than most so I didn’t hold it against him

Caterers put less expensive food first. So, by the time you get to the protein, you are space limited on how much you can take. It's cost saving to fill you up on carbs.

Look at this fancy person with usable pockets! I’ll be over here laugh/crying in my pocket-less female clothing.

Meat goes in the front for me. Dessert is the back because brownies.

LPT if you’re the one hungry in the line and the caterer didn’t do this:

Put the silverware in a napkin (or 3) and put them in your pocket so you don’t have to hold onto them while going through the line.

Where do you put the fruit roll-ups?

3 employees, 1 of whom has an illness, YES is at greater risk of spreading an illness to the dozens of customers than a customer with an illness reaching across the top of the glass counter.

We are agreed, right that the customer isn't actually coming into contact with the food? Do you think there is a huge risk of germs dropping from their dry hands to the food 2 ft below? More of risk than the employees? And how well are your fellow employees practicing the health dept rules for food safety? Are they frequently washing their hands and putting on a new pair of gloves whenever they come in contact with something else (like touching the register?)?

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full offense but this is a really stupid argument to have lol

If you possibly can, put the table pulled out from the wall so people can take food from both sides.

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