Guide · Event orders
Who writes the BEO, and who gets a copy?
Written by a hotel banquet operations manager ·
The banquet event order (BEO) is usually written by sales or catering in the hotel's booking system, and then sent to everyone who has to act on it: the kitchen, the banquet captain, the setup crew, the bar and the banquet office. Each of them needs a different part of the page, and a revised BEO has to reach the same people the first one did.
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Who writes it
Sales or catering writes the BEO from what the client agreed to. The banquet office does not usually write it; it reads it and turns it into a plan. Hotelwright follows that split: your sales or catering system still writes BEOs, and Hotelwright reads them.
Who gets a copy, and what they use
This is a starting list. Your property's distribution list wins.
| Who | What they take from the BEO |
|---|---|
| Kitchen / chef | Menu, courses, counts (guaranteed), special meals, allergen notes, service times |
| Banquet captain | Everything: room, times, counts, service style, bars, VIP tables, notes |
| Servers | Room, service style, courses, times, special meals |
| Bartenders and barbacks | Bars (how many, hosted, cash or consumption), hours, cocktail hour |
| Setup crew / housemen | Room, setup style, set count, setup, start, end and strike times |
| Banquet office / manager | All of it, to staff, plan and catch conflicts |
| Stewarding | Counts, service style, china and glassware needs |
| AV or engineering | AV notes, room, setup and strike times |
| Sales or catering | Their own copy, for the client |
Stewarding, AV and engineering are common recipients, but which departments get a BEO is a property decision.
Send the same version to everyone
The risk with a distribution list is not forgetting a person on day one. It is that only some of them get the revision. When a BEO changes, send it to the same list, put the date and version on it, and take the old copy back. For the sweep that follows, see handling a revised BEO.
Not everyone needs the whole page
A busser does not need the billing notes, and a houseman does not need the wine list. A shorter page per role is easier to follow on a busy floor. The Daily Event Sheet, the line-up card and per-event task lists are the shorter versions most teams already use (the line-up card and task lists are part of the Team plan). See the Daily Event Sheet and the captain checklist.
How Hotelwright handles it
- Packet. The print packet is the Daily Event Sheet followed by each event's EO pages, repeated once per assigned server on the Team plan. On Paperwork you type the number of copies.
- Phones (Team plan). Staff get their shifts on their phone in English or Spanish, and confirm with a tap.
- Told who changed (Team plan). After a day is published, a change to the room or the times, or a count move of at least your threshold, notifies the people on that event. The threshold is a setting.
- Stale, not overwritten. Anything printed that a change affects is marked Stale and kept, so you know which copies to replace.
FAQ
What banquet managers ask.
Who prepares a BEO?
Sales or catering, usually in the hotel's booking system, from what the client agreed to. Operations reads it and runs it.
Who should receive a banquet event order?
Everyone who has to act on it: the kitchen, the captain, the setup crew, the bar and the banquet office, plus whichever other departments your property includes.
Does every department need the full BEO?
No. Most need only their part. Many teams hand out a shorter page, such as a Daily Event Sheet or a line-up card.
What happens when the BEO is revised?
It should go to the same people as the first one, marked with the date or version, and the old copy should be taken out of circulation.
Does Hotelwright send BEOs to the kitchen?
Not as BEOs. It prints your event pages in the packet and, on the Team plan, sends staff their shifts and changes.