Uhg. Cold food is a big, red warning light that proper food handling was not in place, making the danger of food poisoning extremely high. If this was my banquet, I'd send a polite letter (not email, they're too easy to ignore) to: The Lodge Key Three (Chief, Advisor, Staff Advisor), the Scout Executive (the Supreme Chief of the Fire), and the Banquet committee chair.

That said, the other short-comings are easily addressed - never use that facility again. But for $15, I'm guessing this was catered by volunteers in a church basement. Then it's up to the event chairman (who is a youth, right?) to be better trained by his adult adviser on how to run a banquet.(This message has been edited by CubsRgr8)

Irregardless of your hours of service to scouting......


An RSVP event that runs out food is inexcusable. Either there was portion control issues or some folks showed up who didn't RSVP....

The fix is pretty simple don't attend the next one.

Base,

Unfortunately some folks are inconsiderate do not RSVP, and just show up last minute. At one banquet I attended, ok I was staffing it putting on a display and presenting two awards, so I was RSVP'd, I was the last person to get served and there was hardly anything left to eat. More people showed up than anticipated.

BUT at least I was the first one in line for desert .

We do charge for banquets due to the cost involved (catering and awards). And we tack on a late fee to discourage last minute signups.

Maybe I am just a hard ass.......

Let me run that event.....No RSVP you can pay your money, but your last in line.....Just that simple.


As long as you tolerate a behavior folks will take advantage.

The banquet wasn't a banquet, and folks that were responsible for the failure should know about it--in clear, frank language. Including a request for a refund. Having been to a couple goat ropes like this, the responsible parties would probably scoff at that, insisting that the banquet cost X (even though it stunk) and there is no way they could refund it. But I'd press the point, if only to further let them know how far they missed the mark.

Basement, I like the hard ass approach as well and applaud it. Dude doesn't rsvp? That's fine, pay more at the door and eat last. When the non-rsvp'ers feast upon that half a scoop of crusty mashed potatoes, and some over done green beans, and the fatty remains of the steamship round, perhaps they'll begin to understand the purpose of picking up the phone and rsvping next time, so the planners can actually plan. True, there will always be a couple folks that drop in, and that shouldn't be a problem. But a herd of lazy meal crashers? Unsat. Alas, non-rsvp'ing is a trend, it seems, doesn't matter whether it's your kids' birthday party, an official event at work, or a formal scouting dinner. Even with all of our alledged superior communication devices, and finely honed communications skills......

Anyone ever heard of a ticket?

we had this issue the first time our pack had blue and gold catered - after that we gave tickets to those that paid and they turned in their ticket when they came up for food. No tickets sold the day of - den leaders got numbers sold from their cubs and turned that over to the pack leader in charge. We also had a time stated for dinner and a time stated for awards and entertainment so that those that did not want to eat (or pay) could show up after the dinner for the awards and skits. Doing that with tickets and stated times made 100% difference and we kept doing it that way when we catered.

Good point(This message has been edited by desertrat77)

Reduce your FOS donation by $30 and make sure to tell the DE exactly why you're reducing it.

Besides scouting, I've also planned quite a few functions for the American Institute of Architects and architects are notorious for being poor at the RSVP. With that said, if its an event that they hold every year they should have a good overage factor to apply plus the RSVP's. So if they get 200 people every year and they get 120 replies every year, its easy to figure out what number to buy for. Worst case overbuy and coordinate with a shelter to take the overage.

The cold food isn't acceptable (unless its ice cream) and isn't safe. I'd agree to let the people in charge know, but you might also need to volunteer next year.