Managing Temporary Staff at a Catering Company
In brief: A caterer without temporary workers is a caterer who turns down events. Managing temporary workers is the operational core of the business: building a reliable pool, tracking availability, mobilising quickly, handling last-minute replacements, automating Dimona (Belgian employee registration system) declarations. This guide covers the full temporary worker management cycle, from building the pool to post-event billing, and shows how Shyfter industrialises this process.
Why temporary workers are the backbone of catering
A caterer operates with a small permanent team: a chef, one or two permanent cooks, a logistics manager, a sales person. Everything else relies on temporary workers. A 200-guest wedding may require 25 to 30 people on site. A corporate cocktail needs 8. A corporate brunch, 5.
The ratio of permanent to temporary staff is often 1 to 5, or even 1 to 10 in peak season. This dependence on temporary workers is not a choice: it is the very structure of the business. Activity is event-based, needs fluctuate from week to week, and maintaining 30 permanent employees when there are only 2 events per week in January is not viable.
Building a high-performing temporary worker pool
Pool size
Basic rule: your pool must be 3 to 4 times larger than your maximum need. If your busiest weekend of the year mobilises 60 temporary workers, aim for a pool of 180 to 240 people. Why such a ratio? Because temporary workers are not exclusive. They work for multiple caterers. They have classes, exams, another job. On the day, you will never get a 100% response rate.
Profiles to recruit
- Experienced waiters: plated service, protocol, high-end events
- Versatile waiters: buffets, cocktails, standard events
- Student workers: available evenings and weekends, reduced cost thanks to the 475-hour scheme
- Bartenders: cocktails, evening bar events
- Temporary cooks: kitchen reinforcement for large events
- Dishwashers: often hard to fill — build a dedicated sub-pool
- Drivers: licence class C or B depending on vehicles
- Freelance head waiters: for prestige events
Individual temporary worker profile
For each temporary worker in your pool, centralise essential information:
- Contact details and national registration number (for Dimona declarations)
- Skills and experience (waiter, bartender, cook, dishwasher)
- Experience level (beginner, confirmed, senior)
- Usual availability (weekends only, weekday evenings, full week)
- Transport (own car or not, maximum distance accepted)
- Mission history (past events, ratings, reliability)
- Status: student (475h tracking), flexi-job (Belgian employment type), hospitality temporary worker contract
Mobilising temporary workers for an event
The mobilisation process
- Identify the necessary profiles (number and skills per role)
- Filter your pool by availability and skills
- Send mission proposals with details: date, venue, hours, role, pay
- Track confirmations in real time
- Follow up with non-respondents after 48h
- Confirm the final team one week before the event
Done manually by phone and WhatsApp, this process easily takes half a day per event. With 4 events per weekend, you spend half your week calling temporary workers instead of preparing events.
Automatic notifications
Shyfter automates sending mission proposals. You define the positions to fill, the system identifies available and qualified temporary workers, and each person receives a push notification with the mission details. The temporary worker accepts or declines with a tap.
Managing last-minute replacements
Last-minute cancellations: a fact of life
Last-minute cancellations are part of daily catering life. The cancellation rate in the 48 hours before an event is around 5–10%. For a 30-person event, that means 1 to 3 cancellations on average.
The permanent plan B
- Always confirm 10–15% more staff than strictly necessary
- Identify 3–5 "standby" temporary workers in advance for each major event
- Maintain a list of contacts who accept last-minute missions
- Pay more for last-minute missions to incentivise temporary workers to respond
Replacement alerts
When a temporary worker cancels their mission in Shyfter, the system automatically triggers an alert, identifies available and qualified temporary workers not yet mobilised for that slot, and sends them an urgent replacement proposal. You save hours of phone calls.
Automating Dimona declarations
Each temporary worker engaged for an event must be subject to a Dimona declaration before the start of the service. For an active caterer, the volume is considerable: 4 events per weekend x 20 temporary workers average = 80 declarations per week. In peak season, this figure can double.
With Shyfter, the Dimona workflow is integrated into the mobilisation process: the temporary worker confirms, the system verifies their administrative data is complete, the Dimona declaration is generated automatically and sent to the NSSO. Any modification triggers automatic update of the corresponding declaration.
Tracking availability continuously
Temporary workers are not full-time employees. Their availability changes from week to week. Set up a regular collection system: monthly availability per temporary worker, weekly updates, anticipated unavailabilities (holidays, exams, personal commitments).
Shyfter lets temporary workers update their availability from the mobile app at any time. Track the response rate of each temporary worker. A temporary worker who never responds to mission proposals clogs your pool without contributing to it.
Pool quality: evaluate and train
Post-event evaluation
After each event, briefly evaluate the temporary workers who participated. A simple rating (1 to 5) on a few criteria: punctuality, service quality, attitude, cleanliness, versatility. These evaluations feed the profile of each temporary worker and guide future assignments.
Retaining the best temporary workers
- Offer them missions as a priority
- Pay them more than the minimum (even 1–2 euros more per hour makes a difference)
- Respect their availability constraints
- Pay them on time (a temporary worker who waits 6 weeks for payment does not come back)
- Treat them with respect on site
Performance indicators for the pool
- Active pool size: temporary workers who have worked at least once in the past 3 months
- Fill rate: percentage of positions filled vs. positions needed, per event
- Confirmation rate: proportion of temporary workers who accept proposed missions
- Cancellation rate: cancellations in the 48h before the event
- Average temporary worker rating: overall pool quality
- Retention rate: proportion of active temporary workers from one season to the next
FAQ
What is the ideal size of a temporary worker pool for a caterer?
Aim for a pool 3 to 4 times your maximum simultaneous need. If your busiest weekend of the year requires 60 temporary workers, build a pool of 180 to 240 people. In practice, only 25–30% of your pool will be available for any given slot.
How do you avoid last-minute cancellations from temporary workers?
Confirm missions at least 2 weeks in advance. Send reminders 48h and 24h before the event. Always plan 10–15% more staff. Identify standby temporary workers ready to step in at J-1. Pay better for late-confirmed missions. And above all, retain your best temporary workers by treating them well: fast payment, priority missions, decent working conditions.
Is a Dimona declaration needed for each event or just one per temporary worker?
A Dimona declaration is required for each distinct service. If a temporary worker works for you on a Saturday and a Sunday for two different events, those are two separate declarations. The volume of declarations is therefore directly proportional to the number of temporary workers multiplied by the number of events.
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