A BUTLER USES HIS SKILLS AND ATTITUDE TO PROVIDE SERVICE TO HIS
OR HER EMPLOYERAttitude is defined as energy, commitment, attention
to detail while striving for perfection.A Butler typically Oversees
the household staff usually of one residence. 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. May schedule and
oversee vendors of contracted services. May assist with household
and family security measures. Oversees family packing and travel
preparations. Understands social etiquette and formal service.
Assists with planning and organizing parties and events in the
home. Oversees and participates in proper table settings and
entertainment prep. 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.
Performs light housekeeping duties. 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
Private / Personal Chef
A Personal Chef is keenly focused on meeting the palate
requirements of his or her employer. Professionally trained and
seasoned in the various cuisines, these chefs combine technical
expertise with dedication to understanding and catering to the
preferences, tastes and cookbooks of their employers.A Personal
Chef typically 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.CouplesCouples 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 CouplesDomestic 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 CouplesHouse 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 ManagerAn 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. Providing primary human resource function
for estate employees. 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. Communicating effectively with employer.Gentleman's
GentlemanThe 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.GovernessIn
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 ManagerThe 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 Oversees the household staff usually of one residence.
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. May schedule and oversee vendors of contracted services
May assist with household and family security measures. Oversees
family packing and travel preparations. Understands social
etiquette and formal service. Assists with planning and organizing
parties and events in the home. Oversees and participates in proper
table settings and entertainment prep. 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. Performs light housekeeping duties. 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 AssistantThe
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.
TODAY THERE ARE MANY WELL-ORGANIZED HOUSEHOLDS LIKE THE ONE
BELOWHouseholds organized in this way are not as rare as you may
think. You would be surprised to learn how many private families
employ vast numbers of private staff. Often the Chef reports to the
Butler on administrative matters and in regard to house standards
only. Food issues are between the Chef and the Employer.The
salaries of the 20-25 people belowwill amount to more than US$
1.000.000 a year.
EXCELLENT TABLE SERVICE IS STILL ONE OF THE MOST CRUCIAL ASPECTS
OF BUTLINGDifferent Service StylesFAMILYThe meal is placed in bowls
and platters. The diners serve themselves and then pass the dish to
the next person.BUFFETThe food is placed on a side board with the
plates. The guests serve themselves and take their plate to the
table.PLATEThe meal is plated in the kitchen and then
served.BUTLERThe 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 TECHNIQUESThe 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: Serve from the left and remove from the right.
Beverages are served from the right.To serve from a platter or bowl
use the following techniques.Hold the serving fork and spoon in
your right hand. The tines of the fork and the bowl of the spoon
should be pointing up. The fork will be on top of the spoon. The
spoon should go between the index finger and the middle finger. The
fork will go between the thumb and index finger.Gently scoop the
food into the spoon. Push the fork down to hold the food in place.
Hold the serving plate over the edge of the diner's plate and put
the food on the plate. Tip the spoon and fork slightly and release
the pressure on the fork.If a left handed person moves their glass
to the left of the cover you may pour from the left. Some people
may hold the glass up for you to pour: watch out for this because
an accident may occur.Some people may want to drink the same
beverage through the entire meal or not at all. Keep an eye on
their water glass. European service is different.From the left you
present platters, serve from platters, serve salad as a side dish,
clean the cover. From the right you set and remove plates, change
flatware and pour beverages. Do the same thing all the way around
the table.
BREAKFAST
BASICALLY A SELF SERVICE AFFAIRThe food is usually on a
sideboard or a serving table in the dining room. This is a very
practical serving formula when there are houseguests, or when not
everybody wishes to eat at the same time.On the sideboard there can
be any choice of food and drink, kept hot as appropriate. There
will be cups, plates, extra silver and maybe a toaster and bread,
so everybody can make their own toast.The Butler will serve the
coffee or tea and any food that is made to order in the kitchen. He
might also bring in the mail or a newspaper. During breakfast he
will occasionally come into the dining room with a pot of fresh
coffee, to remove used glasses and dishes or to re-set the table
for latecomers.Many people are not at their best early in the
morning and the Butler should respect this by leaving them alone as
much as possible! Also, the picture shows a tablecloth that is much
to short, but we all know that we sometimes have to do with what we
have!
LUNCH
AS BREAKFAST, A LUNCH IS A QUIET AFFAIRThe cold courses can
already be on the table (such as a salad and cheese with crackers).
Note that there should be pepper and salt set for every person. The
basket contains the bread.From a setting you can tell that that is
all the food that will be served. There is a knife and fork to use
with the salad and a knife to use with the cheese.The water glasses
will already be filled, the wine glasses will be filled by the
Butler at the start of the meal. After the salad course, he will
clear the table and bring in new plates for the cheese.
FAMILY DINNER
MANY FAMILIES HAVE ONLY ONE OR TWO COURSESMany families just
have one or two courses when they are not entertaining but the
standard of service should still be high as usual. After a while
the evening meal will be a breeze. Some dinners start with three
people and by dessert there are ten. Just go with the flow.
FORMAL DINNER
THE PRIDE OF EVERY BUTLER - THE FORMAL DINNER TABLEThe first
thing that you need to discuss with your employer is the menu. Have
your Party Book handy so you won't serve the same meal to the same
guests twice and to see who hasn't been invited to dinner for a
while. After the menu is set and the guests chosen, you can decide
on the service style and the wine. If the meal is for more than 12
it should be catered, or use buffet service.Who is going to serve
coffee and after dinner drinks is something to plan now also. Some
people have coffee at the table and other serve it in the living
room. If it's a casual or small dinner, the lady of the house may
do the serving.Somewhere in the kitchen have a spare cover set up
so you can replace anything that might get knocked to the floor in
the dining room. Have a bottle of club soda and some towels ready
for spills. Another facet of the meal is the number of courses that
you are going to have. The classic French meal is 13 courses but
today three or four is the norm. The more courses that you have the
smaller the portion of food goes on the plate and less wine in the
glass.The white card above the placemat is a place card, which
tells who sits where. Many times the cutlery follows the shape of
the table. It might take a professional Butler about 15 minutes per
place setting to create a dinner table that lives up to his
standards. So setting a table for 12 persons keeps him busy for
hours.
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 MATSUse 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.
THENPull 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). A soupspoon may go between knives if there is an appetizer
before the soup. 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
GUESTSThis 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 LILY1.Fold bottom point 3" above center
2.Fold top point down to meet bottom edge
3.Turn napkin over
4.Fold napkin in half horizontally, bringing top to bottom
5.Fold napkin in half horizontally again, bringing bottom to
top
6.Turn napkin over
7.With fingers 5" apart, roll top toward you
8.Fold sides down toward center (right over left), then bring
both under and up to form back petal
9.Insert into glass, leaving front petal out or tucked into
glass
ICE CREAM CONE
1.Start with flat napkin.
2.Fold in quarters with loose points at top.
3.Fold the first layer back to the center and tuck inside so it
lays flat and forms a pouch.
4.Fold next layer back and inside, leaving about an inch
exposed.
5.Fold next layer back and inside - again leaving about an inch
exposed.
6.Turn the whole thing over.
7.Fold right and left points together so that they overlap
forming the "cone".
8.Flip back over.
ROSEBUD
1.Fold napkin in half diagonally
2.Fold corners to meet at top point
3.Turn napkin over and fold bottom 2/3 way up
4.Turn napkin around and bring corners together, tucking one
into the other
5.Turn napkin around and stand on base
