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Pre-shift meeting template for banquet line-ups
Written by a hotel banquet operations manager ·
A banquet pre-shift meeting, or line-up, covers one event in five short steps: what the event is, what is being served and who has which section, which tables have special meals or allergies, anything unusual in the timeline, and who to come to. The printable below holds all five on one Letter page.
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Event
Counts
| What | Time |
|---|---|
| Call | |
| Doors | |
| First course or buffet open | |
| Speeches or toasts | |
| Last service | |
| Strike | |
| Section | Name | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Table | Guest or count | What | Who serves |
|---|---|---|---|
Anything unusual
Early cake, first dance, a speech that runs long, a late guarantee
Who to come to
Briefed
Practice sheet, adjust to your hotel. From hotelwright.com.
The five-minute line-up, in order
A line-up works when everyone hears the same five things in the same order. This is one order that works. Treat it as a starting point and change it for your hotel.
- The event. Name, client, room, guest count and door time. Say the count that matters: the guarantee if it is in, the expected count if it is not.
- The menu and the sections. Service style, number of courses, and who has which section, bar or station. Say who is running the buffet line.
- Special meals and allergies. Read them out by table and by name, and point to the table. This is the part of a line-up nobody should skip.
- Anything unusual. Speeches, a first dance, cake coming early, a VIP table, a change since the BEO was printed.
- Who to come to. Say where you will be standing and who to ask if the captain is busy.
Then tick the sheet: who briefed, and when.
An example script
A fictional plated dinner at the Harborview Hotel, about 120 words, said standing up:
"Good evening. Tonight is the Alvarez-Bennett anniversary dinner in the Garden Room. One hundred and forty guaranteed, set for one hundred and fifty, doors at six thirty. Three courses, plated, poured wine with the main. Marta and Dev have tables one to seven, Priya and Sam eight to fourteen, Luis is on the bar. Table four has one guest with a peanut allergy, seat three. The kitchen knows. Table nine has two vegetarian plates. The toast is at seven fifteen, before the salad is cleared, so hold the clear until the toast is done. Cake comes out with coffee, not before. I will be at the head table side of the room. Questions go to me, or to chef at the pass."
All names, the hotel and the event are invented.
Topics to rotate in on quiet days
When the line-up is short because the event is simple, add one topic. These are practice, not rules:
- Sidework standards for the room you are in
- Wine service: presenting, pouring, what to do with an empty bottle
- Guest recovery: what to say, who to tell, when to get the captain
- A reminder of where the allergen legend and the buffet labels live
Keep it to what the people in front of you need for tonight.
Line-up cards in Hotelwright
Each event can print its own line-up card. It carries the event summary (client, EO number, date, room, service style, setup style), the counts and the one that drives staffing, a timeline of the event times and each role's call time, the crew, the event's task list, special meals, VIP tables, bars and notes. Built to fit one page; a larger event continues overleaf. When something changes after a print, the reprint marks the changed cells.
The card can print with a second language, so each label prints as "hotel language / other language". The default task list includes a Pre-shift line-up task for captains, set 45 minutes before the start time. On the event screen a manager can tick "Briefed", and the time is saved.
Line-up cards are on the Team plan. The Daily Event Sheet is the one-page version of the whole day for the same meeting.
FAQ
What banquet managers ask.
How long should a pre-shift meeting be?
Short enough to finish while people are standing in front of you. The five-minute script above is a guide for a single event, not a rule. A simple coffee break needs less, and a wedding with many special meals needs more.
What should be covered in a banquet line-up?
The event and its counts, the menu and who has which section, special meals and allergies by table, anything unusual in the timeline, and who to come to with a question.
Should allergens be read out at line-up?
Yes. Read them by table and by name, point to the table, and make sure the person who serves it heard. Do not guess at what is in a dish; send the question to the captain and the kitchen.
Can the line-up card be in Spanish?
Yes. Print it with the second-language option and each label shows in both languages. On the Team plan, each person on the phone views can also pick English or Spanish.
Is a pre-shift meeting the same as a line-up?
Yes, they are two names for the same meeting. Restaurants say pre-shift or pre-service; banquet teams often say line-up. The difference is that a banquet line-up is built around one event and its event order.