For more than 20 years, Jordan & I have had to plan the Christmas party for our staff. Obviously, we can’t choose a popular catering night, and it is even more important to select a night preceding a relatively slow day, when having a few staff not show up or show up a little under- the- weather won’t seriously affect our business. A Sunday early in December usually does the trick.

We have tried several different approaches, from holding the party in our own restaurant to going out to someone else’s restaurant or bar. The in-house parties were always a blast, but of course, it entailed our own staff doing the cooking. Not much of a break for the staff, and cleanup the next day was always brutal.

Going out has been variously wonderful or not. Jordan and I often found ourselves sitting alone at a table for 30, withstanding the dirty looks of impatient staff who could think of better (and more lucrative) places that they’d rather be. Restaurant staff are notorious for lateness and don’t like commitment. The head count was always a wild guess on our part and letting waiters loose on a free bar can be very expensive. That doesn’t even include the cost of the trays of shooters that Jordan always starts buying as the evening wears on. Receiving the bill the next morning was always a bit of a heart-stopper.

Last year, Jord and I put our heads together to come up with a different route to go. I refused to sit alone holding tables again and I had had it with brow beating our staff into saying “yea” or “nay” about attending. We decided to do something we had never dared to try before; invite everyone to our house. We weren’t sure how our staff would take this news. Their average age is under 30, and they are a late-night partying crowd. They would also have to drink only what we provided and there would definitely be no dancing on tables.

Now, you have to understand that we live in a tiny, narrow house. Our staff, with spouses or significant others could total up to 50 guests. But there would be no more worrying about staff not showing up or arriving late or ordering fifteen-dollar snifters of cognac. The added bonus was that we would hire a caterer. I had never hired a caterer before this. Even when we got married, Jord and I held our reception in our own restaurant. I was going to feel like a real grownup.

For us, finding the right caterer is really about doing market research: it is always important to check out the competition. Our rationale was to select a competitor, someone new and innovative, with a menu that we might learn something from. We quickly found out which caterers did not return calls promptly and this reinforced Jordan’s own business philosophy. We also had to be careful not to offend any of the caterers who we are friendly with. We finally selected a small new company  which had been receiving great reviews.

Our evening was such a success last year, that we knew we would do it again.

The two best things about using a caterer are: you can stay upstairs and get ready for the party in a relaxed way until the first doorbell ring and at the end of the evening, you can fall into bed knowing that the next morning you aren’t going to be confronted with mounds of dirty dishes, half-finished glasses of Bailey’s over-turned in the strangest places and bags of smelly garbage.

The server we had this year was delightful and extremely efficient. She handled our motley crew quite well and I don’t think that any of our staff embarrassed themselves by trying to “ hit” on her.

As an added bonus, the food, although plentiful, wasn’t presented as nicely, nor did it taste half as good as our fare. This probably seems like a backhanded bonus to you, but the reality is that it gave our staff a better sense of how well we do by comparison. This not only gave them a sense of pride, but the conversation next day helped them keep their minds off their hangovers.

As “Mom and Dad” of Sorrenti’s, Jordan and I presented our usual cheery faces early the next day to set a fine example for all. It must have been a good party because everyone was chatting about it for the next few days and we even got “shssss-ed” by our next-door neighbour. Some people are so intolerant! It made us thankful that we will soon be living on Gabriola with lots of space between our house and the next-door neighbour. And no one on Gabriola ever complains about loud parties, do they?