Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Understands concepts like being anticipatory, friendly not familiar, privacy and confidentiality, invisible and available.
Answers residence phone, receives guests at the door and supervises the reception of visitors.
Assists with staff training and organizes the duties and schedule of domestic staff.
May assist or be charged with keeping the household budgets and inventory supplies.
Assists with planning and organizing parties and events in the home.
Serves meals and drinks and performs wait services related thereto.
Knowledgeable about wines and spirits and oversees the wine cellar and liqueur inventory.
May also serve as personal valet to the household and/or gentleman of the house.
Coordinates with other staff as needed as well as with other parts of the employers organization.
Works closely with the Estate Manager or Major Domo or House Manager and Personal Assistants
Prepares all menus for approval by the employer. Works closely with the Butler or Personal Secretary to plan /coordinate for upcoming
activities such as guests and parties, birthdays, seasonal themes and such. Also, pays attention to any requests, keeps track of likes and
dislikes, "hit" or "missed the mark" menus.
Does the marketing personally or by delegation in some organizations. As possible develops relationships and strategies to insure that only the
best ingredients are purchased and used.
Performs or coordinates ( if not there), all the cooking in the residence, yacht, aircraft including baking, parties, buffets. Is sensitive to
considerations such as strong odors, noise in the kitchen at meal times, and last minute requests. Understands the importance of beautiful
presentation, but not at the expense of great taste. Exhibits attitudes and behaviors that are supportive of other staff and the combined effort of
all to provide great service to the employer.
Responsible for the cleaning of the kitchen and related facilities such as coolers and freezers, usually with assistance in the form of a helper or
another staff person such as a housekeeper who pitches in at a proscribed time on a regular basis.
Serving, depending on the specific employment situation.(with assistance when over 6-8 people) and also depending on the style of service
and level of formality involved. It must be recognized that calm and relaxed dining is not enhanced by a professional who must rush in order
to cover both the dining room and the kitchen.
Cook
"Our kitchen is staffed by cooks and not chefs" is how one employer explained the kitchen at his country estate. The local talent in the kitchen would
put many a chef to shame. The basic difference is that a cook is home schooled and typically very talented in the local cuisine. Talk of Spa menus is
likely to elicit a groan. The cook often does not create the menu.This task is done by the Butler / House Manager or even verbally by the employer.
Prepared meals are often house favorites which grow in number over the years. Marketing may also be done by the driver or some one else on the
staff. Cooking, cleanup and serving guidelines are similar to those of the Personal Chef.
Couples
Couples are committed to working together to provide a package of services to their employer. There is a great variety of skills and combinations of
talent in different couples. Everyone should be aware that the common statement about couples is that they are often not a balanced team, with one
partner being a stronger player. Maybe so, but there is a niche for them too. Two broad categories of Couples are:
Domestic Couples
Domestic Couple teams are generally inside / outside teams. One does cooking and cleaning and the other the outside work. Usually the employer is
close at hand for purposes of direction. Each employment situation is different so this category can require very basic skills or be more sophisticated
where the couple supervise other staff in their areas of responsibility. The tasks that are involved would incorporate aspects of the Maid, Housekeeper
and Houseman and House Manager and Gardener descriptions.
House Manager Couples
House Manager couples are less hands on than the Domestic Couples and more managerial. While they may handle the cooking or the service (or
both) they are expect to take charge and manage the service delivery to the employer according to the standards of the house.Often, one person will
perform personal assistant duties while the other handles Butler or House Manager tasks. The major difference between the two types of couples is
educational and private service experience along with the sophistication of their employment situations and salary history.
Estate Manager or Executive Estate Manager
An true Estate Manager is typically responsible in a major way for a substantial property (s) and aircraft, yachts and other employer personal
interests.Management authority over both inside and outside staffs and operations is held at varying degrees depending on the employer.The
Executive Estate Manager refers to the highest level in this category and in complex situations it is similar to the chief executive officer in the
corporate world.
Typically, the Estate Manager will be concerned with these duties:
Translating owners requirements into personnel and financial management plans for approval. Develop written position descriptions,
standards of quality and operating manuals.
Providing overall leadership to professional private service staff in general operations, job performance, standards of quality expected on the
estate.
Assuming responsibility for organization, planning and evaluation of all estate job activities.
Coordinating and monitoring from employer's perspective all building, development and maintenance on the properties.
Coordinating and monitoring from employer's perspective all contracted services including security, outside cleaning services, etc.
Gentleman's Gentleman
The Gentleman's Gentleman is a job that is similar to the broad array of duties that constitute the description of a Butler. The position is strictly
focused on service to the gentleman employer. The role of the Gentleman's Gentleman involves an element of companionship. Duties may include
attending functions with the employer along with insuring that all his needs are met.
Governess
In general the duties are to develop a safe, educational and nurturing relationship with the child. An understanding of and the ability to teach the
importance of character, manners, protocols and general learning is important. Every day brings different situations and requires flexibility in
organizing the time with the child. The Governess is expected to develop with family input, an overall program with goals for the day, week and
month. These plans will complement the child's interests and the things that are going on in the child's life.
Household Manager
The Household Manager is another term for a Butler with few subtle differences. A Butler tends to be the preferred term in a formal residence. While
a Butler manages to the same degree as the House Manager, he or she may be expected to be more knowledgeable and sophisticated in the finer
details of privilege and wealth than the House Manager, particularly in the area of wines and food.
The Household Manager typically
Understands concepts like being anticipatory, friendly not familiar, privacy and confidentiality, invisible and available.
Answers residence phone, receives guests at the door and supervises the reception of visitors.
Assists with staff training and organizes the duties and schedule of domestic staff.
May assist or be charged with keeping the household budgets and inventory supplies.
Assists with planning and organizing parties and events in the home.
Serves meals and drinks and performs wait services related thereto.
Knowledgeable about wines and spirits and oversees the wine cellar and liqueur inventory.
May also serve as personal valet to the household and/or gentleman of the house.
Coordinates with other staff as needed as well as with other parts of the employers organization
Works closely with the Estate Manager or Major Domo or House Manager and Personal Assistants.
Personal Assistant
The Personal Assistant is a key position in the private life of an important person. Honesty, discretion, confidentiality and above all a meeting of the
minds makes for a great relationship between the employer and the Personal Assistant. The Personal Assistant is a very broad category of private
service employment. In a general sense this employment is focused on handling the details for a busy person in the areas of private life involved with
communications-phone, letter, email, coordination with other staff, travel planning, errands, odd jobs and whatever comes along. It does not involve
much involvement with domestic themes such as cleaning, cooking, driving and so forth.
BUFFET
The food is placed on a side board with the plates. The guests serve themselves and take their plate to the table.
PLATE
The meal is plated in the kitchen and then served.
BUTLER
The most time consuming. When seated, warm plates are placed before the guests. The meal is presented to the guest. This service has limited use
today. If you are the only one serving, the number of diners has to be kept small.
Six is the largest that one person can serve and keep the food hot. Many people are not accustomed to serving themselves from a platter and the delay
just lets the food get cold.
SERVICE TECHNIQUES
The service techniques that you use will depend on the country you are in, the family that you work for and your training. The ones that are generally
used in the US are:
BREAKFAST
LUNCH
FAMILY DINNER
FORMAL DINNER
Every place setting should be exactly the same, to the millimeter. An inexperienced Butler might use some measuring device.
You might be surprised that there are placemats used and no tablecloth, but this is absolutely correct. Covering up a beautiful antique table for
instance would be a shame.
NEVER FORGET ... You are not "just" setting the table ... You are also setting the mood!
TABLECLOTH
Pull the chairs away so go can walk around the table freely.
Lay the silence pad down and cover with the tablecloth. Make sure that all the sides are hanging true.
Align the needed chairs so they are spaced evenly down the side of the table. Now sight the chairs that are across the table from each other.
PLACE MATS
Use last step from above.
Center the place mat on its chair.
The edge of the mat should be 1/2 inch from the table's edge. If you have the large mats the flatware goes on the mat. If you have the small English
type the flatware goes on the table.
THEN
Pull the chairs away so you can walk around the table freely.
Roll the runner down the table and make sure that the ends hang even. The edge of the runner should be 1/2 inch from the table's edge.
Align the chairs so they are spaced evenly down the side of table. Now sight the chairs that are across the table from each other.
Place a cover plate in front of a chair. The edge of the plate should be 1 inch from the edge of the table.
The basic rules for laying the cutlery are: The handles will be one inch from the edge of the table.
The two outer most pieces are used first. (See our illustrations for the correct piece of flatware for a course).
The butter knife on the bread plate has the blade face into the center of the plate.
Only the soup course has one piece of flatware all others have two. A salad should be torn into bite size pieces but a knife may be used to
push the food onto the fork.
If you have individual salt and pepper shakers they go above the main course fork or above the dessert flatware. If people have to share the
shakers they go between the covers.
The bread plate can either go to the left of the forks or above the forks to the of the salt and pepper shakers.
The wine glass for the main course is above the knife for that course. The water glass goes inside the red wine glass and a little above it. The
white wine glass goes on the outside of the red wine glass and a little closer to the flatware. If there are other wine glasses used they can lined
up behind the first two glasses.
WHEN NECESSARY (this is restaurant style!): The flatware for dessert goes directly above the plate. The fork goes closest to the plate with
the tines pointing to the right. The spoon goes above the fork with the bowl pointing to the right.
The flower arrangements should not be above eye level. Set the candelabras so that everybody can make eye contact.
SEATING GUESTS
This is a guessing game at best. You will place people at the table according to social rules and your boss will come along and rearrange the lot. I
have spent an hour getting the place cards set and then my employer would come along and shift the whole table around. To avoid this game of
musical place cards I put out the head and foot place cards and the guest of honor and wife cards and give the rest to the lady of the house to do as
she sees fit. (Then the husband will come along and the whole process starts over). The basic rules for the table are:
Your employer will decide which is the head and foot of the table.
The guest of honor will sit to the right of the lady of the house. There are two schools of thought as to the seating of the hostess. One is that
she sits at the foot of the table but this may mess up the man woman man setting order. The other way is for the guest of honor to sit at the
foot and the hostess to sit to his right. The wife of the guest of honor will sit to the right of the host. This is subject to change according to the
wishes of your employer.
Serve the guest of honor first. If you are the only server finish that side of the table. Then serve the wife of the guest honor and her side of the
table. The man of the house is next and the lady of the house is last.
NAPKIN FOLDING:
PEACE LILY
1. Fold bottom point 3" above
center
ROSEBUD