Dressing the table is an art

By Richha Bhatnagar

The world is moving at a faster pace from Dhabas to fine dining restaurants to hotels. Some consequential changes came in cuisine, services, and most importantly in the table settings. Preparing or dressing a table for best dining experience holds maximum importance these days.

Good food, soothing music, perfect ambience, and excellent service seem dull if the table is not properly dressed. One never wants to pay more for a plain dressed dining table. If you are going out for dinner or lunch, you must look for a best place in the town to have your meals. Nowadays, dressing the table is the most important factor to give the best dining experience to guest.

What kind of tablecloth you use? Does the wineglass go on the left or right? How to dress a table for adults and kids, every minute detail is important when you dress a table.

Table setting basically refers to the way one sets the table for dinner with tableware such as crockery, placing the serving spoons, serving dishes, and so on. The total arrangement of the dinner table is called as a table setting.

Dressing a table is not a tough task nor do you need classy tableware to set the table in a proper way. Just a bit of imagination and you can make your food look your food look interesting.

At hospitality institutes, students are being trained as what to place where. Some of the institutes offer specialised certificate level programs as part of customer service whereas some offer it as an integrated hotel management program. Dressing a table is an added value for those who want to make their career in the catering technology.

Must have skills:

• Good Imagination
• Creativity
• Out of the thinking
• Aesthetic sense
• Proper knowledge about placing the utensils
• Basic understanding about the material of the tablecloth
• Understanding of Color combination

Basic rules to dress the table:

• Proper arrangement of Table linens
• Placing the dinner plates properly
• Tissue papers should be folded elegantly
• Silverware is to be placed in order of use
• Place knives, spoons, and forks in the right direction
• Glasses should be placed above the plate to the right in order of use

Eligibility criteria:
To be a successful table designer, one must have completed 10+2. As mentioned earlier that some of the institutes offer it as a full-fledged certificate program while some may offer it as a part of Bachelors in Hotel management and catering technology (BHMCT).

Career options and Remuneration:

This program is part of catering technology, the career options are immense. At the initial stage, one can earn 10,000 to 15,000 per month. Gradually, as you top up the ladder and gain some experience in the field, you can earn more than 15, 000.

Questions you might face at the time of interview:

• Why meals are part of the interviews?
• Which fork is for what?
• How to design tissue paper?
• How to place salad plate, bread and butter plate, and where?
• What will you do if your host/hostess uses the wrong utensils?

So, before you hop on to a career in catering, make sure that you know all the tricks and tactics to impress the employer.

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