People and Scale – Managing 10 People or 10,000 People, the Principles Stay the Same.
People and Scale – Managing 10 People or 10,000 People, the Principles Stay the Same.
Build the right support, stay calm and run the event the same way you always have.
Once you understand that 100 people or 1,000 people is just “add a zero” the size of the event stops being intimidating and you can simply focus on that particular catering event for what it is….an individual event with certain parameters.
Scale Is Just Math. People Are the Actual Job.
Most people get this backwards. They think bigger events are harder because of logistics — more food, more tables, more trucks. That’s the easy part. That’s just multiplication. The hard part, at any size, has always been the people: the ones you’re serving and the ones standing next to you making it happen.
One truth that has held up over decades is simple: relationships matter. You have in order to develop genuine relationships with every person you encounter. Don’t be fake. Right-minded people feel it immediately and pull away. It could be the person making popcorn for the event. Don’t look at job titles — look at who can help you. And be honest. If someone wants to make things difficult, all they have to do is say “I don’t know.” Then you’re standing there with no direction.
What I Tell All The New Hires
When I speak with new hires or groups, I make one promise: I will never ask you to do something I haven’t already done or am not willing to do myself. If it’s the day, we deep clean the kitchen, I’ll be next to you with a toothbrush cleaning the grout.
And please understand this with complete honesty: if you don’t like the job and plan on complaining, I’d rather you come to me directly and resign. Some of the people here have worked together for more than 15 years. Why? Because they truly love what they do. They do the job well, they enjoy it and it doesn’t feel like work to them. We don’t want negative energy affecting the people who care.
The People Everyone Else Overlooks
Treat every person with kindness and honesty. Respect their position. The person sweeping the floor is often the one who gets ignored — and is frequently the most aware of what’s happening in the venue. They know who can help and what can be done to make the situation easier.
Maybe that’s beyond your scope, but don’t ignore all the people working in any space. They may have years of knowledge that can help make your next event run smoothly.
Frontline and support staff — the ones sweeping floors, running deliveries, working coat check — make up much of the hospitality workforce. They are consistently the least asked, least thanked and most overlooked people in any venue. That’s exactly why they’re such a valuable resource. Nobody else is talking to them, which means nobody else has the information they’re sitting on that can make a huge difference in the overall success of your event.
A Quick Example
I’ve walked into venues I’d never worked before, with an event starting in an hour, and the single most useful person in the building wasn’t the coordinator with the clipboard. It was the guy restocking ice who happened to know the walk-in cooler had a broken latch or which outlet in the ballroom worked. Nobody asks that person anything. I always do. It’s saved me more than once.
Why This Scales
The math changes with size. The relationships don’t. Whether you’re running a party of ten or a gala of ten thousand, the job is still built on the same handful of relationships repeated at scale: the vendor, the staff, the venue crew, the client and everyone in between who touches the event. Respect one of them and you’ve built a resource. Ignore one of them and you’ve built a blind spot — and blind spots are exactly what turn a big event into a hard one.
This principle connects directly to the standards we talk about on the Standards page and the reliability we cover on the Consistency page. When the people side is solid, the rest becomes manageable — no matter how large the number on the guest list.
For more specific details on this topic and dozens of others related to catering, event planning and wedding organizing, visit My YouTube Channel. I’ll share 40+ years of successes and close calls from working as a high-level catering event manager — practical tips, systems and money-saving approaches that work.
While you’re here, look at the practical templates I actually use for real weddings and events.
You can download them and start using them today.
Download Free & Premium Wedding & Event Planning Tools
Practical templates used for real weddings and events. Download and start using them today.
Click any image to Enlarge
Guest List + Seating Planner
Organize Guests, Track RSVPs & Assign Tables in One Sheet.
FREE
Wedding/Event Budget Tracker
Excel with Automatic Calculations or Printable Word Version
FREE
Invitation & RSVP Checklist
Printable Timing Guide Checklist to Keep Everything on Track.
FREE
Event Master Timeline Template
13-Sheet Professional Excel System Used by Catering Teams & Planners.
$24 USD
Stay in touch
If you would like occasional updates on new event guides, upcoming art releases or notes from us in Mérida, please send us a message and we’ll add you to our Contact List.
In the meantime, Enjoy!
