The preference sheets land four days before the charter. One guest is coeliac, one keeps kosher, one has told you only that she "eats clean", and the principal has a shellfish allergy that is not on the form but that you were told about verbally last season. Everything that happens in the saloon starts here, at a table with the chef and a pen.
The interior-galley relationship at senior level
At junior level you carry plates. At senior level you are the chef's partner in planning, and the quality of that relationship shows up on every plate.
- Meet before every charter and daily during it. A five-minute morning meeting prevents most service failures.
- Bring the interior's information: guest mood, what was eaten and left, what was praised, what time guests actually got up, whether they are going ashore.
- Disagree in private, never in front of guests or junior crew, and never in the saloon.
Menu planning input
- Feed in guest preferences, allergies and cultural or religious requirements in writing, consolidated into a single sheet the galley and the interior both work from.
- Flag the service reality: how many crew, what style of service, how long the walk is from galley to table, whether the yacht will be underway.
- Agree the timings for every service, the trigger for each course, and who calls it.
Guest-preference-driven service
- Keep a living preference record for every guest: food, drink, temperature, allergies, brands, what they order, what they leave, what they ask for twice.
- Update it the same day, not at the end of the charter. Detail evaporates overnight.
- The mark of senior service is anticipation: the guest never has to ask twice, and never has to explain themselves twice.
Cultural and religious dietary protocol
Treat these with exactly the same rigour as an allergy, and ask rather than assume.
| Requirement | What it typically means in practice |
|---|---|
| Halal | Permitted ingredients and slaughter method; no pork, no alcohol in food; some guests require separate preparation |
| Kosher | No pork or shellfish; no mixing of meat and dairy; possible requirements for separate utensils, equipment and certified supply |
| Hindu / Jain | Often no beef; frequently vegetarian; Jain diets may exclude root vegetables |
| Buddhist | Frequently vegetarian, with variation between traditions |
| Ramadan and fasting periods | Eating hours shift; suhoor and iftar timings drive the whole service plan |
| Vegan / vegetarian | Check for hidden animal products: gelatine, fish sauce, stock, honey, rennet |
- Ask the guest or their assistant what their observance requires in practice. Two guests naming the same tradition may need different things.
- Where separation of equipment is required, agree with the chef exactly how it will be achieved and confirm it can actually be done aboard.
Onboard Notes
- Never guess a dietary requirement to avoid an awkward question. The awkward question takes ten seconds; the wrong plate can end a career or harm a guest.
- Verbal information is not information until it is written on the sheet. If a guest tells you something at the table, write it down before you do anything else.
- Religious and cultural requirements are not preferences to be worked around. They are absolutes, and being served the wrong thing is a serious matter to the guest.