Glossary Terms -- Catering Personal Descriptions

Each month I would like to share words commonly used by professionals. The words along with their meaning will be from the APEX Industry Glossary.

The Convention Industry Council is the organization of 33 associations coming together to exchange information among the meetings, convention and exhibitions industry. One of the initiatives is APEX, Accepted Practices Exchange to develop practices that reach industry wide. One of the practices is a glossary of terms used in the industry. The goal of the glossary is to standardize the definitions of words used by the meetings industry.

This months definitions are the job descriptions of some of the staff members you will meet when you book an event at a hotel, conference center, or catering hall.


Caterer: 1) A food service vendor, often used to describe a vendor who specializes in banquets and theme parties. 2) An exclusive food & beverage contractor within a facility.

Catering: The provision of food and beverages.

Catering Sales Manager: Staff person responsible for selling and servicing group and local food and beverage functions. The catering sales manager will help you determine the menu and room set up.

Banquet Captain: Person in charge of banquet service at food functions. For small functions, also serves as maitre d. For larger functions, may be responsible for a specific area of the dining room.

Banquet Manager: A person in charge of banquet service.

Banquet Set-Up Manager: In charge of function room set up, over housemen.

Houseman: Service-staff member who handles function-room set up and tear down.

That's the Planner's Pointer for today