Functions: the bookings that fill a quiet night

A function fills a venue that would be quiet on a Tuesday. The guest count, the menu and the time are all known in advance.

Everything good about that depends on a clear arrangement. Everything bad about it comes from an arrangement nobody recorded.

A minimum spend protects the night

A group taking the whole venue displaces every other customer, so the booking has to be worth at least what a normal night takes.

A minimum spend, stated in the first reply, makes that obvious without anybody negotiating. It also filters the enquiries early.

A deposit is what makes the booking real

A function held without a deposit cancels at a week's notice, and the venue has already turned away other bookings for that night.

A deposit sized at a meaningful share, with a stated cancellation point, keeps both parties honest about the commitment.

Confirm the numbers, then lock them

Guest numbers drift constantly between booking and the night, and the kitchen orders against whatever the last figure was.

A final number, confirmed a few days out and charged whatever turns up, is the standard arrangement. It is also the only one protecting the food order.

Dietary requirements arrive with the final number

A table of forty holds allergies, intolerances and preferences, and discovering them on the night makes the kitchen improvise dangerously.

Collecting them with the final numbers gives the kitchen time. Our guide to handling allergen requests covers doing it safely.

A running sheet stops the night going wrong

Arrival time, drinks on arrival, when food lands, speeches, cake and a finish time all belong on one page the whole team reads.

Without it, the kitchen sends food during a speech and the bar runs a tab nobody authorised.

Say who is paying, and how, before the night

One bill, split bills, a tab with a limit, drinks on consumption: each works. Each also needs agreeing while everybody is sober and clear headed.

The worst version of this conversation happens at midnight with a host who expected something different.

Staff the function separately

A function absorbs staff who would otherwise serve the rest of the room, and a venue that rosters for a normal night serves both badly.

Costing the extra staff into the minimum spend keeps the booking genuinely profitable rather than apparently profitable.

Price the exclusive use of the room

A group wanting the venue to itself is asking the business to close to everybody else, which has a real cost on a good night.

Charging for exclusivity, separately from the food and drink, states that cost plainly instead of hiding it in a menu price.

The follow up books the next one

A host who enjoyed the night is the best source of the next function, and most venues never contact them again.

A short message a few days later, thanking them and offering the same date next year, books a surprising share of them.

Keep the details for next time

What the group ate, what they drank, how many came and what the host asked for all make the second booking easier for everybody.

A venue that remembers last year's order looks attentive, and the conversation starts from a menu rather than from nothing.

What to change first

• A minimum spend appears in the first reply to any enquiry
• A deposit and a cancellation point confirm the booking
• Final numbers lock a few days out and get charged as confirmed
• Dietary requirements arrive with the final numbers
• A running sheet covers arrival, food, speeches and finish
• The payment arrangement gets agreed before the night
• A follow up message offers the same date next year