Top Tips For Organising Your Event Catering
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Organising an event can be a long and stressful process; and choosing your event caterers can be a rather daunting task. With this in mind, we have identified several top tips to help you to effectively organise your private event catering.
Know your guest numbers
Before you seek out potential caterers and request quotes, know your numbers! Ideally, the exact figure is best; however a ballpark figure is better than no figure at all.
The importance of knowing your numbers is clear - you don't want to under-cater or massively over-cater for an event. Clearly for a sit down meal, knowledge of the exact number of guests will be more important than for a buffet, therefore the type of event also needs to be considered.
Sit down meal, buffet or canapés?
Identify the type of event which you are organising and establish your catering requirements early on. Do you require a sit down meal? A buffet? Canapés?
Identifying the type of catering you require will help you to shortlist appropriate companies and will also provide your potential caterer with some guidance with regards to menus, serving times, provision of staff etc.
Themed event, a single cuisine or multiple cuisines?
Cuisine is certainly an important consideration and for a themed event, may be a critical factor in the event's success.
For instance, one popular theme is Indian food. Others may include traditional, Mexican and Chinese.
Some caterers, such as a restaurant offering its own catering service, may specialise solely in one cuisine. Whereas catering companies may be more flexible in their offerings, with a multitude of cuisines available under one roof.
Cater for specific dietary requirements
It is important to identify whether any special dietary requirements will need to be catered for.
This can include identifying anyone with the need for:
* Gluten free food
* Lactose free food
* Vegan food
* Vegetarian food
* Halal/Kosher food
This will allow you to cater for everybody at your event, regardless of their specific dietary needs.
Is your venue equipped to prepare food?
Once you have a venue in mind, you will be able to assess their catering equipment. Some venues may have full kitchens available for use. Whereas others may not offer such facilities, thus your catering company will need to prepare all food off-site.
It is important that this information is communicated to all potential caterers as it will help you to choose the caterer who is best equipped to serve your event and they can gain a better understanding of your catering needs.
Additional services
Sometimes it is not just the catering service which you require. Your venue may not provide you with a bar; therefore you may need to ask for this when requesting your quotes. Further services may include a marquee, particularly for outdoor events. Or maybe even amenities such as toilets. Some companies can offer it all under one roof!
We hope our tips have helped to make the prospect of organising the catering for an event a little less daunting to you! Good luck, we hope your event is a success. |
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Author Resource:-
This article has been brought to you by Feast Online, UK specialists in private Indian catering.
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By :
Gareth Hoyle
Submitted
2011-10-15 09:55:11 |
Article From Article Mayhem
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