About 15 years ago, I saw the introduction of a fabulous surprise dinner entertainment called ‘singing waiters’. First in London, then quickly spreading to other regions, various forms of singing waiters were to be found in corporate dinners everywhere. The concept was, and still is, effective. Waiters actually turn out to be opera singers, and dinner guests are typically treated to a 20-minute show before an arousing finale of Nessun Dorma!
Back then, I was an event manager, about to launch a new events company. I would often watch from the side-line and analyse what worked and what didn’t with this format.
I soon realised that, because the audience were just being sang to, it was easy for some of the diners to lose interest in passive watching and listening. Many quickly returned to their conversations.
Instead, I considered that combining the use of surprise undercover waiters with the unique idea of diners actually creating music themselves would deliver a winning activity. So Crashing Waiters, our interactive dinner activity, was born!
Just like any new idea, some things worked immediately and some things had to be tweaked to create the winning format we offer today.
Interrupting someone’s conversation and dinner, particularly after a few glasses of wine, and then keeping diners entertained is a highly skilled job. The facilitators have to create a believable initial surprise to ‘reel’ diners in, sustain energy and interest levels and then know when to finish on a high!
We find that our Crashing Waiters activity works best between the main course and dessert, and should last for about 30 minutes. We are always mindful that the venue has to finish serving the meal.
Crashing Waiters is now one of our most popular events and continues to stun diners all over the world. Our video below shows two different Crashing Waiters events. One was a 400-person spectacular and the other involved a more intimate group of 70. Both, as you will see, immediately created a party atmosphere, and this allowed us to generate as much fun and rhythmical entertainment as possible. Our aim is always to have everyone involved and, just like all our other activities, create a space where almost anything might happen…and sometimes does!
We get asked to deliver Crashing Waiters in company canteens, at evening dinners and even at wedding receptions. There is always great demand during the Christmas party season.
While this event is primarily just for entertainment, there is a powerful message about what can be achieved by working together as a team. In under 30 minutes, and after an uninvited initial surprise interruption to a meal, the entire room always buys into the concept of working together to create music with gift bags of assorted utensils! We believe that only the leadership and people skills of the facilitator mixed with the committed energy of his or her support staff make this possible.
Please enjoy the video. Maybe after this year’s Christmas party you will also be going home with a gift spatula and pan!
For more information, please Contact Us now.
Pages you may find interesting:
List of Our Indoor Events | Crashing Waiters | Dinner Entertainment | Blog Homepage | Fat Sam’s Speak Easy | Bollywood