Life as a freelance

I have been working for many years in hotels, starting when I was a young boy, working slowly but surely my way into management as I grew up and accumulated more experience.
Life in hotels can be very fullfilling and rewarding, but at the same time very draining, with wages that at least at the beginning won't afford you a lot of comfort and buying power. Not to talk about the time requirments, split shifts, early mornings start and late night finishes. This can put a strain on your family life as well as on your social life.
A valid alternative to this is to work as a hospitality freelance, working for one or more catering staff agency. I have been doing it myself for quite a while and although it's hard work and you need to travel all around the place (and have good map reading skills!) it can be very rewarding both financially and in terms of being able to manage your own time. You just need to work for agencies that share your own philosophy (for example agencies that offer a very high level of service and the best waiting staff for hire in london). Because the relation with the agency is based on trust, on the agency offering you good and frequent work and on you performing well for the agency, I found that usually one ends up working with professionals, with catering staff that have got a lot of experience and because of various happenings in their life have taken the decision to work as a freelance, either for just a limited period or (very few) as a choice of life.
Before setting up my own event staffing agency (Salt&Pepper Events) I had the fortune of working for two very distinguished london agencies where I learnt a lot about outside catering and about being a hospitality freelance. I met some wonderful people and struck some good friendship. Since taking this route life has been very sweet to me and I would never go back. The time I can now spend with my family and my beloved dog is priceless.

Acknoledging our customers

A few days ago I organized some interviews and decided to hold them in a bar in Victoria Station, which I thought would be convenient both for me and the candidates, plus they had free wi-fi which is very handy when you are waiting in between interviews or when candidates just don’t show up!

At any rate on the day I walk into the bar as positive as I can be and go straight to the bar counter, where I am the only customer waiting. I see a waiter behind the counter, at the far end of the bar. He is chatting with a colleague, he notices me, moves a few steps towards me without acknowledging me and then...oh wait... he forgot to say something very exciting to his colleague, so he goes back and starts chatting again!! Thanks God there is another waitress comes out from the back and finally I get some service.

In my opinion there is no excuse for this and I consider this the equivalent of verbally abusing me. It takes a second to acknowledge your customer and let them know that you have noticed them, a quick glance and a smile are enough to tell them that you will be with them as soon as you can.

I remember many occasions where I left a place because I felt ignored, most likely to never go back. In this example I couldn’t as I told 9 people I would meet them there, but as a good friend of mine used to say “I have already been here twice: the first and the last time”.

Body Language

Last year I attended a corporate training on "suggestive up selling" and then rolled it over to my team at the hotel I was working for. One of the topic that struck me the most was "body language". According to Dr. Mehrabian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Mehrabian) in our communication process words account for 8%, tone of voice for 37% and body language for 55%. Just imagine saying "oh I can't wait" with a big final sigh, while rolling your eyes.


This is the main reason why I have decided to hand my team a brief guide on topics such as posture, smiling, first impressions and more, that are linked to body language. The problem with body language is that many times we don't realise what we are communicating, because we do it unconsciouly. For instance the most noticeable negative body language signs  are waiting for guests with your arms crossed on your chest, leaning on a wall or table or just slouching around, this obviously means that we are very bored!


So let's pay attention to what we "say" when we are not speaking!

Your Colleagues are your Customers too

Many a times while working in hotels I heard the phrase “your colleagues are your guests too” often used to promote cooperation between departments. The importance of establishing good work relations within and without your department, in my opinion is only truly appreciated once we leave the place and we are then in need of contacts and recommendations to find another job or source clients.

A good professional (in all fields but especially in hospitality) will always be in demand. Gaining the respect of both you subordinates and superiors can be invaluable. Many a times in my career I saw examples of workers becoming their manager’s manager (it did happen to me as well). One never really knows what life will bring and your today’s colleague could well open his/her own company in the future and look for somebody to fill some key positions, and who do you think it will turn to first? Their previous colleagues that impressed him/her with their work, work ethic and attitude, of course!

I can easily give you a real life example: myself! Before setting up Salt&Pepper Events, I had been working for a while as a freelance, getting to know, mostly, some amazing and hardworking people. Of course along the way I met some less inspiring workers too. Some would sit down at every occasion and browse their mobiles, others claimed they never washed their black shirt so it wouldn’t wear out and others again that said to me they hated hospitality. You can easily guess that the latter group is not working for me! On the other side of the medal (I don’t mean to brag) in the past week I received one call and one email, respectively, from an ex-supplier and an ex-colleague (both unsolicited) offering to help me find some clients through people they knew (this was by the way one of those time where you are glad you actually have a profile on Linkedin). In this case the professionalism I showed in my past job came in handy.

You and your work are your best marketing and advertising tools.

How much to hire a waiter?

Often I see people googling this keyword and sometimes I must admit I try to find out myself how much it costs to hire someone offering a service.

I have been considering adding the prices to my website, but then again it’s not as easy as that. Different clients get different prices depending on the service they require, the number of hours the book, if they are private or corporate clients and above all depending on the business they can generate.

Here is a guideline based on my competition checks:

Most London catering staff agencies will charge anything between £9.50 and £15.00/h per staff, plus VAT. No need to say that you have to make sure whether the prices are inclusive of VAT. Most agencies charge around £12.50/h.

As mentioned in my other blog post “6 tips to choose the right staffing agency”, in most cases what you pay is what you get and you should inform yourself as to what experience the waiting staff have.

Besides it’s always preferable to use smaller agencies for smaller jobs like house parties and larger agencies for big events, like product launches or sporting events.

When shall I ask for payment?

Sometimes freelance feel uncomfortable with this stage of the negotiations and don’t want to look stubborn or put pressure on the potential client for fear of losing the job.

Just yesterday I was talking to a make-up artist freelance and she was telling me she is still chasing some payments. This can really affect your cash flow and it can be very difficult to retrieve a payment from a private client or even a company as very often the time and hassle are not worth the money you are after.

In my opinion and experience all jobs should be paid for in advance. For larger bookings or far in advance bookings you can ask for a %50 deposit with the balance being paid before you start or complete the job.

Once I received a last minute enquiry for a large job, the day before the event. I gave them my quote and told them they should pay straightaway via BACS, the person on the phone almost fainted and said “do you want us to pay £xxxx now?”, to which I conceded and asked them to pay only %50 in advance and the remainder after the event. This was the worst decision in my life, as it then took me a lot of phone calls, emails and more than one month to retrieve the money, including phone calls, emails.

I think it’s always useful to check out the company you are dealing with and their directors, for this you can use those two websites: www.duedil.com and www.companycheck.co.uk.

This is what I tell my team

Arriving on time: I am afraid as catering agency staff  (or casuals) we can’t afford to arrive late for an assignment. We all know that transport in London is sometimes unpredictable, but you have to take this into account. You will be asked to be at the venue 15 minutes before your shift commence. This is to give a good first impression (more below) and guarantee that even if you have to go through security, or sign in or go to the last floor, you will still be on time.

First impressions count (and last for a long time): when you go to an assignment, even if you need to get changed into your work gear, you need to make sure you are already presentable. By definition you only have once chance to make a first impression and studies demonstrate that for every negative signal you give when meeting someone for the first time, you then need to give 7 positive signals to change this someone’s mind.

Appearance: As I have been working many years now, too many times I take things for granted, or maybe I just expect more than other companies do. At any rate please be reminded that your shirt and trousers must be pristine and well ironed, your shoes polished and your hair tied at the back or styled.

The standard uniform is: long sleeved plain black shirt, ballerina (for ladies) with no frocks and smart trousers (no jeans, hot pants or whatever else). Please keep jewellery to a minimum.

Once you are there: your first thought should be “how can I impress this client?”. So you introduce yourself and then ask “what can I do?”, you do it and then ask again “what next?”. This will surely show the client that you mean business and hopefully impress them.

Possessions: sometimes when you go on assignments you will be asked to leave your possessions in a communal room, kitchen etc. Normally I just take with me mobile, oyster card and a debit card. I have seen people taking their iPad with them and I really think it is a bad idea! If there is a secure place you will be asked to leave your mobile behind while working. Although it’s pretty obvious that you can’t take calls, text or write emails while working, you can’t take a peek at your mobile to check the time either, as guests and clients can’t really tell the difference.

Body language: If I am on an assignment with you I will most likely remind you to smile any way, but there are other little signals that sometimes we give away without realising it: crossing your arms, leaning on a table or else, slouching, looking around.

Decision Making: for every assignment, even if the client has not requested one, I will appoint a team leader whom you can refer to if you have any doubts and who can communicate with the client. This is to avoid more than one person asking the client the same question and wasting time when a decision has to be made. This is a real life example: 3 team members discussing for 10 minutes the way paper napkins should be folded! If you stall on something ask the team leader and they will make a decision. Another thing I find really annoying is when team members keep asking the client or the event manager if things should be done in a different way. For some people this is very disturbing, so unless you have a very valid point, please stick to the brief.

Fair guy:

I am sorry if in some parts I sounded a bit harsh. If you are lucky enough to work with people I have already worked with in the past and that were under my supervision or reporting to me, they will tell you that I am a fun guy to work with and very receptive to team needs and requests. I believe in giving people opportunities and as Salt&Pepper is a young company there is a lot of potential for growth. Let’s not forget though that work is work and clients are paying us to perform.