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Event catering is not an easy task to plan out. There is actually a lot to consider before you set a menu – this process includes asking critical questions that will help you determine the type of catering company you work or hire with. Thus, you should do a few things to ensure that you select the best options for your event.
Primarily, it is essential to be familiar with your guests and their preferences. It is somehow similar to knowing your audience. This process requires you to know their background, whether it is related to demographic, culture, age, gender, or even the tiniest bit of their personal preference. This way, you know what menu to include as well as the selections you need to consider.
Additionally, you should offer a variety of menus instead of just sticking with one set of meal or food options. With this technique, you leave your guests with more options in case they don’t like one of your menus. Consider including multiple entrées, salad dressing, desserts, a variety of condiments, wine and non-alcoholic beverages, and so on. To offer more alternatives, you can also incorporate seasonal food - whether it is mango, strawberry, or pineapple season, you might as well go for it.
Another thing to take note of is the place where the event takes place. You might want to incorporate food that is only available or popular in that region to provide a unique experience to the guests and establish an identity for the event. Furthermore, plan out the event schedule and match it with the duration it will take for your guests to consume the food you will add to your menu, as some events allow more spare time than others.
If the guests only have a few-minute spare time during the event, a box lunch or a few food vendors might be the best option. However, if you want to serve a buffet or plated meal, there should be a few hours allotted for the guests to consume the food served. You must also be aware of and prepared to cater to special needs or dietary requirements such as religious restrictions, food allergies, and nutritional needs. It is highly important that you do not cause any harm to any of your guests by offering them food that may cause offense or harm to them. A preventive action to take in order to address this is to ask the guests in advance if any special considerations must be made.
After selecting all the best food options for the event, remember that food presentation serves as the first impression, so you must create a remarkable one. Both the food and the environment in which food is served and consumed must look and smell fantastic. The event caterer must be aware of the proposed setup in order to plan flawless execution of the menu, service, and cleanup. With all these things considered, a successful event is guaranteed!