Castle in the Clouds
 

Our women's club just had a buffet luncheon at the Castle today. We were in the carriage house, and the view would have been heavenly if it hadn't been pouring rain! Weather not their fault......but they ran out of food! There were 80 +/- of us, and the ladies didn't pile huge portions on their plates. There were three tables of people whose only lunches consisted of salad, asparagas, and rice pilaf...no chicken, no shrimp! The place looked terrific and all that, but they definitely get a minus 10 for portion planning! If you're going there, better pack a pb&j just in case!

Not the first time
 

I was told they carry limited food. Many patrons complained that menu items are not available. Do they have a small kitchen?

I was told Gretchen of Gretchen's Restuaurant in Glendale is now the head chef at Castle in the Clouds. I hope she remedy this situation.

I was also told that the kitchen may be serving dinner for two nights a week during this season. They should have a fantastic sunset view.

Were reservations made for 80?
 

Sue D.N. : I have gone to establishments where a large group are going for lunch, and more than once have been one of the ones who did not get all that others got.

In a few cases, it was people piling up their plates, which you say didn't happen. At at least one other, and I think twice, the "coordinator" for the luncheon made reservations for lets say 50 and 65-70 showed up. That isn't the business' fault...you plan for the 50 and a few more.

Don't know if that was the situation here...more people showed up than the Castle knew about and planned for. Usually there is a "fudge factor" built in, but if there were 25 or more extras, that's a lot of fudge ;).

As I said, don't know if that was the case here, but is a possibility. If they were told about 80, and no was "piling on", well, sorry it didn't go well for your club.

Hope your next meeting is better!:)

There were reservations for 84, and about 24 were shortchanged. We didn't allow anyone in who hadn't paid by the deadline 2 weeks ago. We'll get over it, but I would be embarrassed to have a personal function there with hungry guests!

Maybe they made an educated guess from previous experience... that ALL of you Ladies..probably woudn't show up...They don't want to get Stuck with a lot of extra food in the Early Season that will go unsold.. Think Waste. Does that make sense..?? :look: NB

General Quarters: General Quarters...Fire In The Hole... :D :D

Regardless, they paid for 84 servings.

I assume you discussed this with the management. Assuming the facts are all understood by both sides (if there is an explanation other than what your post has, I assume you'll post their side as well), any solid business person would make the situation "right" by, for example, providing a free lunch gift certificate to all who came and left hungry, or some other equitable correction. Good relations are better than bad press. Think about it...how much did it cost the business to short 25 pieces of chick...maybe $30-40 total plus costs for shrimp? So maybe the problem was a $100 cost problem... What do they think the bad press is costing them in possible lost business?

To do nothing, there are 25 people with negative views of this business flowating around the community. Time for someone to buck up and get to the bottom of the problem.

I was at the Women's Club luncheon and the food situation was disappointing. A close friend of mine is very experienced at catering. She catered at Church Landing for years. She recently applied for a job at the Castle, but she didn't get the job. I noticed today that the staff was young and appeared inexperienced. Maybe the kitchen was also inexperienced. Experience (even though the person might be middle-aged or older) often can make the difference between a successful business or not. I hope the Castle gets the food service part of their business straightened-out. Summer is just around the corner.

Your correct the restaurant should have a chance to make things right. But a free lunch to everyone who left hungry? Like you said it was maybe (??) a 100.00 error at their cost how much would a free lunch cost them for 15,20,25 people? That might be a lot to ask, either case a tough call for the place.

Yes, it may be costly, but do not forget they WERE PAID for these meals that apparently were not delivered. So they pocketed the cost/profit already. As a result, the cost would not be substantial to offer some sort of compensatory lunch....and how do you measure he adverse cost of bad publicity? I say fix this ASAP and move on. Nothing better for good public relations than doing the right thing before things fester.

Portion control/planning
 

Seems like a planning error on the part of the kitchen. Depending on what was served, there should have been enough for 6 to 10 over the 84.
Been in this situation many times, have come close, but never came up 30% short. Better to waste a little food rather than a reputation.

I agree that the whole episode was unfortunate, because they disappointed all the women who had paid and expected a decent lunch, but now almost everyone present knows what happened, so 84 people are going to be warning their friends, who will tell their friends, and so on. This is definitely not good PR for the Castle! They need to fix this for future events or there won't be any.

I have always had excellent meals there in the past year and had planned on going this year. Has the kitchen staff changed since last year?

How is the Castle restaurant operated? Is it a profit making business, a concession or a sideline for the LRCT?

I think it's a for-profit operation........which should mean DON'T UPSET THE CUSTOMERS!

If it is "for profit", why does Moultonborough give them a tax exemption as a non-profit ? It may actually be part of the overall non-profit operation.

How did the Castle people respond when the problems were brought to their attention?

I THINK that the food service is a separate entity, but I am not sure about that at all. As for their response when the food shortage was brought to their attention, they said that they had served enough food for 84, and that some people had taken too much. I didn't see any evidence of "heaped plates". As I said before, we'll get over it, but it did leave a sour taste (no pun intended). Under the circumstances, I wouldn't plan a buffet there....if I am hosting something, I don't want my friends to leave hungry!

WHAT..? Was this a Buffet..?? ............YUP :look:

We all know that people's "Eyes Are Bigger Than Their Stomachs"....Particularly when the Food is Particularly Appetizing....NO...? :D.. FOOD ALL GONE....

NB it was 84 women, I believe. Men are more wasteful IMO

I worked at the Castle last summer, in the cafe and also in the gift shop. Previously, I was a frequent lunch client there. The food was always outstanding, and the service was good.
I have to say that at several of the buffet type luncheons I served, there were a number of people who took a lot of food which they never finished. Very wasteful. And some of the people at the end of the line got whatever was left. The kitchen had to scramble to try to prepare more food quickly, and that was difficult. In this case it may have appeared that nobody had plates piled high, but that could have been the problem.
In any case, I would have asked to speak with the general manager to try to straighten things out before posting on the forum. The Castle is a great place for a function or lunch, and I hope people don't get a bad impression based on this.

I have never been to a buffet where they ran out of food. There were not even any men in our group so I believe there should have been able food. Also the price of our meals were not inexpensive. It should never have happened and the castle should have never suggested that we had put to much food on our plates. I call that " passing the buck". They were at fault- we weren't. That is very poor business. Moultonborough is a small town. I would think the castle would like to have their customers back time and time again. "Shame on them".

I heartily agree with Green Basin Gal......the Women's Club members were the victims, not the Castle! They did not have enough food available....PERIOD!
For once, can we NOT blame the innocent? The food was very good, what there was of it, but too bad not all got even a sample!

I saw 84 women in Filene's Basement once. It wasn't pretty. :D :D NB

Wasteful or not, a professional kitchen will understand, budget for, and cook for how much food people TAKE, not how much they EAT. This is part of managing a buffet or catering style operation. From the sounds of your post, the kitchen at the Castle has been aware that their anticipated serving quantities do not match up with people's actual servings for a given group size.

They need to adjust their output, and potentially pricing, accordingly.

If you had told Castle 84 women and showed up with 84 high school football players instead, running out of food would be understandable. Otherwise: Not.

Since threebritts has acknowledged that the same kind of thing happened when she worked there last summer, the General Manager must know that it's a problem with their buffets. This is a case of Castle either not learning from its mistakes or not caring.

You're absolutely right to be sharing your experience at Castle publicly.

I am a longtime chef in the Lakes Region and would be extremely embarressed to run out of food. I always prepare enough for people taking some home or if 10 to 15 more show up. This is just a bad Chef.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm....I'm thinking that the minus 10 I gave them was too GOOD a grade! You chefs and food managers out there seem to agree that the Castle screwed up! Hope someone from there reads these posts and can pass on our sentiments!

After reading this thread, I'm curious to know what the menu was and are you certain it was the Castle's kitchen which catered it? I'm surprised you had such a bad experience given the number of events there (some of which are handled by other caterers) and the fact that there are 2 kitchens in the carriage house... that is, with 84 people in attendance, I would think the kitchen staff would have been able to create something to fill the gap long before everyone had been served.

It was the Castle's kitchen that catered it.

Wow, I' m really surprised then.

I was there recently and am really impressed with the work being done by the Preservation Society. The menu and service are also quite an improvement over years past. (No more cafeteria food!) I hope, in the future, they could be open all year long?