Contract Food Service

It has been a year since my last post and I've decided to start posting again. Since then I've gotten out of the restaurant seen and moved on to contract food service which is a little different then working in a restaurant. The company I work for which I'm not going to mention has contracts for various establishments. Everything from government facilities to resorts and law firms. I am now a night chef/manager for the cafeteria I work in at a law firm.
In the restaurant world as a manager you are drilled about labor and food cost to no end but in the contract food service world depending on how the contract is set up things like food cost are not worried about to the extreme as they would be in a restaurant. It is still important but food cost will be generaly higher. For instance where I work we are subsidized and the client pays for all the food and we handle it for them so while we watch food cost it is not a priority unless the client wants to focus on it.
As for everything else we just have to answer to the client much the way a restaurant would answer to corporate. Labor is always a big focus exspecially in these times. As for the rest of the head aches in managing staff it is pretty much the same across the board. Other differences is that the customers are the same people everyday when accounts are not public like the law firm. Things that effect a restaurants business don't effect a private contract food service account. For instance schools being closed could mean a busy day in a restaurant where as at the law firm it could mean nothing or that we would do less business because people have to get their kids.
All in all contract food service is a different world compared to the restaurant world. A restaurant goes under when it dosn't do any business and in contract food service you go under when you lose contracts. Either way you go it is still a tough job and the stresses are about the same so you gotta love it. In my experience both sides of the coin are fun wether you work in a restaurant or in contract food service.