Why the Craft Services Buffet Is Dead in Pandemic Era

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How Craft Services Will Change: Goodbye Buffets, Hello Rising Costs

by Brian Welk | May 18, 2020 @ 6:48 PM

“We’re going to assume everyone is terrified…Now let’s serve food that way,” Chef Shanita Castle of Castles Catering tells TheWrap

When Hollywood returns to work, people will still need to be fed, and the industry’s caterers and craft service providers are serving up plans to safely provide meals to sets under strict new conditions.

Actors and crew members will be met with individually wrapped meals, staggered lunch breaks and deliveries as well as possibly “one-touch buffets,” all of which will come at a higher cost to caterers and productions. But what is clear is the days of hundreds of extras gathered for a serve-yourself lunch or craft service tables ripe with donuts and shared bowls of nuts are over.

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“Obviously the buffet is dead, at least for the rest of the year. There’s not going to be any more family-style buffet going forward,” chef Shanita Castle of Castles Catering said. “Everyone is saying they’re ramping up on a smaller scale, so we’re just trying to figure out what that even means. From my end, I’m having to figure out the best way to serve food. They’re having to figure out the best way to shoot scenes. It’s going to be so different.”

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Castle has been in the industry for 10 years with a specialization in Creole cooking and soul food and has worked with agencies, executives and other corporate entities, as well as with SAG-AFTRA, Fox Sports and on “Insecure.” She says full-service buffet options are likely not an option for the near future, and it’s going to come at a cost.

Castles Catering is estimating a packaging fee of $75 per 50 people. Sean Heyman, who runs Rise and Shine Catering, estimated that his packaging costs will rise between 10% and 20%, and that accounts for the additional cost of labor, boxes and even additional food that will be included with each individual meal.

Paige Simmons of Dine With 9 Catering, which has worked on “The Bold and the Beautiful” and “The Voice,” says to think of it like a wedding. If you pick a plated option versus a buffet, it’ll cost more because you have to account for the number of chicken dishes, fish dishes, vegetarian dishes — and it will all have to be packaged in warming containers and then dropped off or handed off to productions, possibly multiple times a day to accommodate staggered lunch breaks.

“It’s going to be just like ordering from a restaurant because we’re going to have to package everything for each person individually,” Simmons said.

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In addition to the basics of keeping cooks and drivers in masks, gloves and sanitizing constantly, there will be no more utensil sharing, or really no sharing of anything. Simmons also adds that she’ll be assigning vans to individual employees, so it’s clear who’s coming in contact with what and when. All of these new safeguards may create additional headaches for clients, but caterers say it’s a necessity.

“Sometimes when you’re in a service industry, you just tend to do what the client wants you to do, but I have a responsibility for my company and my staff,” Castle said. “I know you want to do X, Y and Z, but here’s what we should be doing or need to be doing so that everyone’s good.”

Heyman’s Rise and Shine Catering once provided over 800 box lunches for the music video shoot for Dr. Dre and Snoop Doog’s “Still D.R.E.” and is familiar with the challenges of delivery and keeping meals either warmed or refrigerated. In recent weeks, he’s been eager to reconnect with old clients and has let them know that his company can offer individually wrapped meals and do so with their entire menu.

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“It’s a new ballgame, so to just have business right now, this is us following the light,” he said. “If you are working on a shoot for 10, 12 hours or more, people will work for whatever they’ll work for, but you have to make sure you have a well-fed crew. If you don’t have a well-fed crew, if you’re not taking care of them in that regard, you’re going to have a problem.”

There’s also the issue of craft services, or the tables that provide snacks to cast and crew on set during production. While you might expect to find an assortment of donuts, appetizers, nuts or other snacks, tables might now be limited to pre-packaged, individual bags of chips or treats, and anything homemade would likewise have to be individually wrapped. And it will be up to the production to determine whether the “crafties” responsible for administering such treats would even be considered essential on set.

“It’s just going to be mayhem because people are self-serving, and we can’t allow self-serving anymore,” Simmons says of craft services. “Almost every production has it because of course people want a snack throughout the day. I think they’ll still need those people, and it will be up to the productions to decide how small their set is.”

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Simmons, however, is at least exploring options to bring back full-service options to sets, either for catering or for craft services. One pricier option is to have food service out of a truck, with a chef serving meals through a window. Another option is what Simmons calls “one-touch buffets.” She compared it to a line at Chipotle, with plexiglass shields covering the food and enclosing either the server or the chef. One individual would be responsible for all the food handling and would then pass the food down a line so that neither server nor crew have to come in direct contact.

Simmons would require that productions that want this option to set up buffets outside where air can circulate, and only the caterer’s own trained team members would be allowed to set up and handle equipment, a process that previously took 20-30 minutes but will now take much longer.

“Our biggest fear is our things will be slowed,” Simmons said. “No one wants to pay for a lot of servers. That’s the one thing about productions. They’re always like, ‘Can one person do it for a hundred?’ If everyone’s self-serving, yeah sure, we can do the buffet and everyone self serves. But now the server has to do everything.”

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Castle, however, says she “wouldn’t even bother” with a buffet option and would be concerned with people standing and chatting as they order meals or with food sitting out in the open air.

“There might be five people on set who are okay with that, and then there are 10 people who are like, ‘I don’t want to eat because the food is out.’ You just have a whole group of people who will not eat the food,” Castle said. “We’re going to assume everyone is terrified, everyone has had a near-death experience and everyone has lost their moms. That’s where we’re going with this. Now let’s serve food that way.”

Celebrities Who Have Died From the Coronavirus (Photos)

The world continues to be upended by the coronavirus pandemic, with more people contracting COVID-19 as the days pass. While many have recovered, some have died from complications of the illness. These are the names of some notable figures from Hollywood and the media that we have lost.
Terrence McNally, a four-time Tony Award-winning playwright, died on March 24 at the age of 81 of complications from the coronavirus. His works included "Master Class," "Love! Valour! Compassion!" and "Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune," which later became a film with Michelle Pfeiffer and Al Pacino.
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Italian actress Lucia Bosè, who starred in such films as Michelangelo Antonioni’s "Story of a Love Affair" (1950) and Juan Antonio Bardem’s "Death of a Cyclist" (1955), died on March 23 of pneumonia after contracting COVID-19, according to the Guardian. She was 89.
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Chef Floyd Cardoz, winner of "Top Chef Masters" Season 3, died at the age of 59 of coronavirus complications on March 25.
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Mark Blum, who starred in "Desperately Seeking Susan," "Crocodile Dundee" and the Lifetime/Netflix series "You," died on March 26 of coronavirus complications. The veteran character actor and regular on New York City stages was 69.
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Maria Mercader, a CBS News veteran who worked for over 30 years as a reporter and talent director, died March 29 after testing positive for coronavirus. She was 54.
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Grammy-winning country music singer Joe Diffie died March 29 due to complications from the coronavirus. He announced his diagnosis just two days prior.
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American rock musician Alan Merrill, best known for co-writing and recording the original version of "I Love Rock 'n' Roll," died March 29 of complications from the coronavirus. He was 69.
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Popular Japanese comedian Ken Shimura, whose career spanned decades, died March 29 due to complications from the coronavirus. He was 70.
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Andrew Jack, a dialect coach who most recently was hired to work with Robert Pattinson on the new Batman movie, died March 31 of complications from coronavirus, TMZ reports. He also appeared in "Star Wars: Episode VII" as a member of Leia's resistance. Jack was 76.
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Adam Schlesinger, Fountains of Wayne singer and "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" contribute, died at the age of 52 from coronavirus complications on April 1.
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Ellis Marsalis Jr., New Orleans jazz legend and father of Wynton and Branford Marsalis, died at 85 from COVID-19 complications, Branford said. "Ellis Marsalis was a legend. He was the prototype of what we mean when we talk about New Orleans jazz... He was a teacher, a father, and an icon — and words aren’t sufficient to describe the art, the joy and the wonder he showed the world," New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said also.
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Eddie Large, one-half of the comedy duo Little and Large, died April 2 after contracting coronavirus while hospitalized for heart failure. He was 78.
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Sergio Rossi, the Italian shoe designer, died at age 84 after being hospitalized with the virus, the brand confirmed in an Instagram post Friday.
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Patricia Bosworth, a stage and screen actress turned journalist who penned celebrity biographies, died April 2 from complications of the coronavirus. She was 86.
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Tom Dempsey, New Orleans Saints legendary kicker who was born without toes on his right foot and wore a flat shoe that he kicked with, died on April 4 from complications of COVID-19.
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John Prine, one of the most influential and revered folk and country songwriters of the last 50 years, died on April 6 at the age of 73 after being infected with the COVID-19 virus.
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Allen Garfield, who appeared in such films as “The Conversation,” “Nashville” and “Irreconcilable Differences,” died April 7 due to coronavirus complications, according to his sister. He was 80.
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Charles Gregory, an Emmy-nominated hairstylist who frequently collaborated with Tyler Perry on his films and TV shows, died of complications from COVID-19 on April 8.
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Hilary Heath, an actress and producer who starred opposite Vincent Price in horror movies in the late 1960s and early '70s, died in April of COVID-19 complications. She was 74.
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Rick May, a voice actor best known to gamers as the husky-throated Soldier in Team Fortress 2, died in Swedish nursing home on April 13 after contracting COVID-19. He was 79.
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Allen Daviau, a 5-time Oscar-nominated cinematographer, died April 15 at age 77. He frequently collaborated with Steven Spielberg, and worked on such films as "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" and "The Color Purple"
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Henry Grimes, celebrated jazz bassist, died on April 15 at age 84, according to WGBO. He worked with such legends as Thelonius Monk, Charles Mingus and Sonny Rollins.
"Knight Rider" and "Magnum P.I." producer Joel Rogosin died of coronavirus at the MPTF nursing home. He became the fifth person to die from COVID-19 complications at the facility.
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Rapper Fred the Godson died after contracting coronavirus, a representative confirmed to Complex. He wrote on social media of his diagnosis on April 6, but he did not recover.
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Art director Matteo De Cosmo, who worked on films including "Emergence," "The Punisher" and "Luke Cage," died of coronavirus complications. He was 52.
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Roy Horn, best known as half of the legendary Siegfried & Roy magic and animal act in Las Vegas, died on May 8 from complications due to coronavirus.
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Legendary Auburn football coach Pat Dye died on June 1 after combating COVID-19 and other medical conditions. He was 80.
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Chris Trousdale, a member of the boy band Dream Street, died of coronavirus complications on June 2. He was 34.
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Broadway star Nick Cordero passed away on July 5 due to complications from coronavirus. He was 41.
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Herman Cain, the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza who sought the Republican nomination for president in 2012, died July 30 from complications of the coronavirus. He was 74. He was hospitalized in Atlanta just days after attending a campaign rally for Donald Trump in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he was seen without a mask.
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Trini Lopez, the singer of "If I Had a Hammer" and an actor in "The Dirty Dozen," died on Aug. 11 from COVID-19. He was 83.
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Tom Seaver, Hall of Fame baseball pitcher, died on Aug. 31 in his sleep of complications of Lewy body dementia and COVID-19.
Harold Budd, ambient musician and composer for several Hollywood films, died from complications of the coronavirus, his manager said Dec. 8. The Brian Eno and Cocteau Twins collaborator was 84 years old.
Carol Sutton, actress who has starred on HBO’s “Lovecraft County” and OWN’s “Queen Sugar" and appeared in such films as "Monster's Ball," "Ray" and "The Help," died of complications of COVID-19 on Dec. 10. She was 76.
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Charley Pride, one of the first Black performers to break through in the country music scene, died of complications from COVID-19 on Dec. 12, just weeks after his final performance at the CMA Awards show back in November. He was 86.
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Grammy-winning country singer K.T. Oslin, died Dec. 21. Although her cause of death was not immediately known, a friend told the Associated Press that she had been diagnosed with COVID-19. She was 78.
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Linda Torres, known as Angela Raiola's friend on VH1's reality series "Big Ang" and "Mob Wives," died of COVID-19 on April 1, 2021, following breast cancer surgery. She was 67.
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While many celebrities who contracted COVID-19 have recovered, some have died from complications of the illness

The world continues to be upended by the coronavirus pandemic, with more people contracting COVID-19 as the days pass. While many have recovered, some have died from complications of the illness. These are the names of some notable figures from Hollywood and the media that we have lost.

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