Three Common Food Catering Mistakes, and How to Avoid Them
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Inexperienced or amateur food caterers sometimes make one (or more) avoidable mistakes. These errors can ruin a lovely event, and take the focus off of your event’s message. If you’re searching for a catering company, you’ll want to ensure that they avoid these three all-too-common errors:
1. Supplying too little (or too much) food
2. Inefficient preparation and cleanup
3. Poor communication with event planning personnel
Supply The Right Amount of Food
Supplying the right amount of food is critical to the success of your event. If your caterer skimps on serving quantities, guests may leave hungry, and you’ll suffer the embarrassment of running out of food before the event is over. On the other hand, preparing too much food might cause the event to appear excessive and wasteful, and you’ll end up spending money on food that goes uneaten.
Judging the correct amount of food to prepare for an event requires some skill and expertise, so look for catering companies that have experience at events similar to yours. For example, guests attending a day-long training seminar involving a lot of vigorous physical activities may develop heartier appetites than those snacking at an office cocktail party or a fashion show. An experienced event caterer should know approximately how much food to supply for your unique event.
Efficient Preparation and Cleanup Services
Inexperienced caterers also frequently encounter problems handling set up and cleanup tasks efficiently. If you’re renting an event venue, you likely have a finite amount of time you’re able to use the space. This means that your catering company must setup and cleanup the event in a specific timeframe. Beside timing concerns, you’ll also need to ensure your caterer maintains food within the correct temperature ranges during the critical meal set up period, or else the event won’t comply with health standards.
The catering staff must also clean up discreetly at the right time. Nothing ruins a speech at an event like the sounds of clanging dishes in the background!
Open Communication with Event Planners
Finally, one of the most common and preventable catering errors is miscommunication. Make sure the catering company you choose has a strong client communication record. Miscommunication between caterers and event planners can lead to a multitude of problems including incorrect food, caterers running late and more.
Careful preparation and communication ensures these types of disruptions won’t derail your event. By establishing effective communications with the event planner, a catering company helps the sponsor’s event proceed as smoothly as possible.
Use an Experienced Caterer
How can you ensure these common food catering problems won’t arise during your next important gathering? Hire a tested, full-time catering service with a proven reputation, such as Cotton Culinary. From emergency food services to large corporate events, we’ve honed our skills to provide the best catering services available. Put our skills to work for you during your next event!
