Gearing up for the holidays

The holiday season is coming. In Private Dining, the early bird gets the worm. Our intern, Hilary has been helping with daily follow-up calls to potential clients to see if they are going to be booking events with us this holiday season. We are fortunate at Ruth's Chris Steak House-Bellevue, that we have 3 private dining rooms and 2 semi-private rooms to book. We had an early booking incentive, that gave some lucky groups a gift certificate to use next year.

Anyway the deadline has come and gone. Now we have a zillion calls a day inquiring about holiday parties. We love it!!!

When Hilary finds time between school and the internship, and a little socializing, she'll give you a better update.

Later...

Start of a BUSY week...Monday Meeting & Cocktail Reception

I got to sample the different appetizers we were serving the banquet in the St. Charles room. New Zealand Lamb Lollipops, Sweet Potato with Pecan Crust (which is actually more like a dessert), Teriyaki Beef Skewers, and Mushrooms Stuffed with Crabmeat, everything was amazing! I also was able to watch Marco prepare and plate everything except the desserts, which to me, sounded the most delicious. I was also able to sit in on the pre-shift meeting, where Gracie explained about the night's parties. Between nibbles, Gracie and I prepared for Tuesday, the busiest night since I have been here. Confirming and preparing the packets for six parties was time-consuming, but it needed to be done. We put together the menus as well as the necessary paperwork for the servers.

Tiny Footprints and Sales Calls

Thursday was a busy night, with a silent auction and charity dinner held in the St. Charles and North Rampart rooms downstairs. It was for an organization called “The Tiny Footprints Guild”, an organization raising awareness and funds that support the Children’s Hospital. After calling a few clients to confirm reservations and helping them set-up the event, I was able to watch Marco prepare shrimp for the night, and Sean prepare the tomatoes and salads for the silent auction. After that, I helped Simone at the host stand and became familiar with how they manage the host stand and seating customers.
Friday was dedicated to cookie wrapping (still baking the pink cookies in support of Breast Cancer Awareness month) and sales calls to the local hotels and condos. We handed out the flyers for Thanksgiving dinner, Gracie’s business card, and the appetizer card I designed as well as a couple cookies for each business. Handing out flyers for Thanksgiving Dinner is a great way to have the concierge services at the hotels let their guests know where to go fir Thanksgiving Dinner. We drove around Downtown Bellevue for about an hour, stopping in to promote Thanksgiving Dinner and Ruth's Catering .

~Hilary

Lunch at Hotel Bellevue and Setting up for Events

Tuesday was BEO day and I created the folders for the different events we would be having at the restaurant over the next couple weeks. The Bellevue Collection cards also arrived on Monday, so I was finally able to show them to Gracie and Darrell. They look amazing and everyone was happy on how they turned out. We gave 250 to Amy Sherlock, the marketing coordinator at Kemper Development, the company that owns Bellevue Square, Bellevue Place, and Lincoln Square. The cards will be handed out mainly to the people attending the different conferences and conventions being held in Bellevue. We also had a tour and lunch with Kaarin and Heather from Hotel Bellevue at the Bellevue Club. I had been there previously for the Project Greenlight Fall Fashion Show and this time we got a tour of the different rooms the hotel has to offer and the event spaces they can provide. They have just remodeled the ballroom and put up amazing display screens and light schemes for the different events that take place in that room. We had lunch at Polaris, the restaurant inside the club. As Gracie and I had never been there, Heather and Carin started off by ordering the crispy salmon sushi roll. I am not a big fan of fish in general, but this was probably the best sushi I have ever had. Kaarin and I both got the Gorgonzola and caramelized pear pizette, and Heather got the halibut tacos. For dessert, the ladies from Hotel Bellevue “forced” me to get the dessert trio, which was absolutely amazing. Espresso brûlée, chocolate soufflé cake, and white chocolate and brie cheesecake, could not ask for anything better!

Yesterday, Wednesday was a late day for me, finally getting to see the restaurant at dinnertime. I hung the BEOs for the next week in the kitchen so Chef can be prepared for the coming parties. Then, I got to shadow Neil, one of the servers while he set up for a party in the St. Charles room. Setting for 42, there were 7 round tables with 6 people each. The party had a podium so we had to situate the room accordingly. It was great to be able to help Neil and Justin set-up for the party, as I have been mostly working in the office upstairs with Gracie and Darrell. They were great to work with, very encouraging and willing to let me help. The guests arrived slowly, mostly mingling around the entrance and started filtering in and out, ordering drinks and talking. I also helped Justin serve the salads, which adds to my limited experience in serving.

Thursday’s plans:
Ruth’s Chris at 4pm

TGIF!

Friday was a late start and when I got to Ruth’s Chris, there were freshly baked “Breast Cancer Awareness” cookies to be wrapped and handed out to the neighboring condos and concierge services around Bellevue. Along with the cookies was a flyer promoting our “Thanksgiving Dinner”, which sounds delicious with sweet potato casserole and RC’s sausage and herb stuffing!

Late in the afternoon, we headed over to Oh! Chocolate, a specialty chocolate store in Bellevue Square. We had seen the owner, Nick Masaoka at the Merchant Breakfast and he invited us to the chocolate making class they have at the store. We brought over more flyers for our “Thanksgiving Dinner”, cookies for “Breast Cancer Awareness Month” and a gift card for a drawing to be held in the store after the class.

Five other women and Nick’s brother Chris were there and started off the class with a history of their family’s business and chocolate in general. We got to try a variety of different chocolate, in different stages from nibs, the nutty beginning of chocolate (I think) to delicious chunks of milk and white chocolate. We also spoke with Chris about giving samples of chocolates to different stores and apartment buildings in the Bellevue area. They set two giant cups of melted milk and dark chocolate and array of goodies, pretzels, marshmallows, and oddly enough potato chips, in front of us. Pouring a large puddle of chocolate in front of him, Nick showed us that the chocolate should be cool before dipping.

Heading back to the restaurant, Gracie and I stopped at the Ann Taylor store, to introduce ourselves and follow up with their store re-opening. We had delivered hors d’oeuvres for the re-opening event and wanted to know if she had any other events that needed catering. I love how all the stores in the mall work together when doing anything special to promote each other’s companies.

Meeting with Hotel Bellevue

I'm sad to say, I am starting with dessert because, Hilary had to leave early for class, so she missed dessert. Our guests enjoyed the Caramelized Banana Cream Pie and the Chocolate Sin Cake. As for me, I had our signature Creme Brule...YUM

Here's Hilary with Kaarin, the Social Director at the Bellevue Club, and Heather, the Sales & Marketing Director for The Hotel Bellevue.
Kinda going backwards, but we started with BBQ Shrimp. The BBQ butter that these juicy shrimp swim in, is beyond GOOD!

Thursday: Merchant Breakfast

That's right, BREAKFAST. I don't know if our intern, Hilary, knew the internship included 7:15am meetings. Well, at least they serve breakfast. The managers ath the Bellevue Collection meet monthly to review, "What's New", "What's coming", and other cool stuff.