The Caterer by Charrisse Min Alliegro In previous articles in this series, we've talked about such crucial topics as securing your vendors and developing an action timetable. Now we start getting to the fun part! I'm always amused when a client who had appeared rather disinterested in the early stages suddenly perks up and becomes quite animated when the topic of catering arises. Everyone has an opinion of the food and unlike, say, your lighting scheme, food is one element of your event that you can be certain every guest will notice. So let's discuss one of your most crucial vendors: your caterer. On-site versus off-premise We already encountered this issue when discussing reception sites. On-site caterers are found at hotels, catering halls or rental facilities that have a contract with a particular caterer. Working with on-site caterers tends to be easy and efficient because they are familiar with the site, and they typically own the equipment already (tables, chairs, kitchen equipment) which saves you money, and their packages tend to be comprehensive, presenting not only set menus but also such items as valet parking, flowers, etc. However, if your needs are very unusual, you may find that some on-site caterers are limited in their flexibility, willingness and ability to deviate from their standard packages. For example, if you wish to bring in your own alcohol or cake, it may be completely prohibited or else you may be slapped with "corkage" or "cake-cutting" fees for the privilege of using an outside source. By hiring your own off-premise caterer, on the other hand, you have a huge choice of cuisine, equipment, and even staffing. Keep in mind, though, that off-premise catering is quite a specialty. It's one thing to turn out a gourmet meal working in an industrial kitchen or a private home; it's quite another story to be able to do so working in an empty warehouse or open meadow without access to electricity or running water. The latter requires knowledge of not only food, service and equipment but also field kitchen equipment, transportation and logistics, power requirements and tenting. Experience is crucial. For this reason, choose your off-premise caterer with the utmost of care. By all means, request references and check them out. Off-premise caterers may also have long- standing relationships with equipment purveyors and tenting companies and therefore offer you one-stop shopping just like an on-site caterer, or they may only handle the food and leave all the other details to you. Think this through carefully before you commit. Contracts One issue that often arisen is that of tastings. Clients often ask how they are supposed to pick a caterer without tasting their food first. Obviously anyone can copy a great menu and promise to deliver it. Caterers, on the other hand, are loathe to expend many hours and much expense doing tastings for those who are just shopping around. They also caution that it is foolhardy to choose a caterer based on a tasting since it is relatively easy to turn out a fabulous meal for four people at a tasting and quite a different thing to recreate that same exquisite meal for 500 guests. Hiring a caterer therefore becomes quite a Catch-22. Sometimes a reception site will schedule tastings during open houses, or a professional event planner can arrange for a private tasting for a client who expresses serious interest. Most of the time, though, you'll need to rely on references, photographs from the caterer's portfolio and your gut instinct from talking with the caterer himself or herself, and look forward to a full-blown tasting after you've already contracted with a caterer and are in the process of finalizing a menu. Another issue that arises is that of the guest count. The contract typically specifies a guaranteed guest count for which you will be charged regardless of the final number. A final count is usually due a week prior to the event with additions allowed up to three days prior to the event, at a surcharge. So when you're asked to provide a guest count, it is a good idea to give a number at the low end of your estimate. However, I don't advise playing games by purposely lowballing the number because your caterer needs to plan ahead to order equipment and book staff. If the final guest count is significantly higher than your original estimate, you run the risk of catching your caterer shorthanded. Sit-down vs. buffet vs. stations One of the biggest food-related debates is whether to have a sit-down dinner or a buffet. The latest hybrid of this is the station format, a term which is often confused with a buffet. A station event involves various locations around the room, each with a particular theme. These are often staffed with live chefs (hand-carved meats, pasta with a choice of sauces) or ethnically themed (Thai station, Mexican station), and the best format offers guests a mini-meal at each location, i.e. a vegetable, a meat/protein and a starch, so that they don't have to roam around the room in order to assemble a whole meal. In contrast, a buffet is simply a long display of many types of food. Sit-down dinners are commonly considered more formal. Both stations and buffets accommodate a wide variety of tastes, with stations offering the most variability. When considering costs, keep in mind that while you may save some money in staffing costs when working with stations and buffets, that savings is often more than offset by the additional food necessary to stock a visually pleasing buffet/station (since you need to order more than exactly enough) and stations and buffets often require additional decoration in the form of linens, flowers, etc. Also, if yours is a tented affair, keep in mind that a station or buffet dinner requires much more space than a sit-down party, since people need room to form lines and there needs to be space allotted for the actual buffet/station tables and staff. Finally, don't confuse the number of seats with the meal format. You can get away with fewer chairs for a stand-up cocktail party, but if you plan on serving a real meal, you need to provide enough chairs for everyone. And if you do not plan on assigning seating, you may want to even have extra seating in order to avoid guests playing musical chairs while balancing their plates. These are some of the basic considerations when talking with a caterer. In the next article, we'll discuss the nitty-gritty of menu selection and some of the latest trends in cuisine. back to ideas