The miner’s gala is one of Durham’s largest events, attracting in the region of 50,000 people year after year. Catering for such an occasion needs to be planned like a military operation and for some can be the most successful day of the year.
For the 2011 miner’s gala Executive Coach and Catering Services were given a prestigious position in the city’s market place for the first time. This is an area often described as ‘the heart of the city’.
The stall’s position was perfect, at the junction of two of Durham’s busiest streets, Silver Street and Saddler Street.
When setting up the stall at 7am we were aware that the position of the stall and the glorious weather would help make the day a huge success and could be the company’s most successful miner’s gala day to date.
As we suspected securing such a spot was vital to the success of this event; it ensured the food stall was busy all day, from 8am to nearly 6pm. With bands marching by all day long there was always people passing the stall and being enticed in by the smell of the food, it was a great day for everyone.
The range of food and beverages available from the stall was appropriate to the event, everyone was catered for, both in terms of range of choice available and also the amount of food stocked.
The Durham Miner’s Gala 2011 Menu included:
Lincolnshire sausage sandwich
Danish bacon sandwich
Lincolnshire sausage and Danish bacon sandwich
Prime beef burger
Prime cheeseburger
Prime cheeseburger with bacon
Cans of pop
The menu was a great success with many customers coming back to the stall throughout the day for additional food for both themselves and their family. Many commented on how well organised we were in comparison to other stalls and how queuing for food at some of the high street stores had been a nightmare.
In order to cater for such a large amount of people and to have the resources to serve customers effectively and efficiently the company decided to employ double the amount of staff that are usually required to work the market stall any other Saturday. This meant four members of staff were manning the station, all of whom were capable of cooking and serving, very effective staff management for such a busy day.
The whole day was a roaring success, for both us as a catering firm but also Durham as a City. Considering it was the company’s first year catering for this event from the market place position everything seemed to go to plan.
The customers enjoyed the food, the staff enjoyed serving the food and the company’s reputation was severely enhanced. The success of the stall didn’t go unnoticed by those organising the event either as Executive Coach and Catering were given the same position in the market place for the miner’s gala event in 2012.
Hog Roast Food Station at Durham Miners Gala
