They typically report to the executive chef, who in turn reports to the director of food and beverage. More significantly, however, stewarding is responsible for the transportation of food to the function room. So, even though the chef prepared the seared tuna with ginger perfectly, if stewarding delivers it to the banquet table five minutes behind schedule, attendees will grouse about the kitchen's inadequacies. He's the guy that has to get the food where it is going on time. If the food gets to the table cold, it doesn't matter how good it is.
Many meeting planners think the chef is the key person in the kitchen.
Actually, it's the chief steward. Without him, the chef won't have the equipment he needs to cook with, and the waiters won't have anything to serve the food on. It's that simple. Meeting planners who lowball their numbers wreak havoc on stewarding and ultimately sabotage their own event, says The Peabody's Williams. And, says Williams, although number changes usually are handled smoothly by the kitchen, problems occur when several functions are happening simultaneously.