Tips on Catering for Large Corporate Events
Large corporate events pose a tremendous challenge for any catering services. The main difference between large corporate events and cocktail party is the sheer volume. Catering companies must also display their top notch professionalism when it comes to large corporate caterings. If you are thinking of catering to a large corporate event, you and your team must be in the highest level of performance since any behavior from your caterers or team will reflect directly to you. If the clients call for a spit roasting catering, then this will add another dimension of challenges from the catering service. Fortunately, here are a couple of tips to get you started if you are thinking of catering to large corporate events.
The first thing to consider when catering to large corporate events would be the volume. Depending on the company you are catering, you could be potentially servicing from fifty to a thousand. You must evaluate your team's capabilities and equipments if you can handle the volume of the client's request. If you think you are incapable of servicing such large volume, then you can either outsource the manpower and equipment, or decline gracefully. Remember, you are putting your reputation on the line here, and you don't want to ruin your reputation by doing a half-baked service because you can't accommodate the volume.
You will have to broaden your food choices. When catering to large corporate events that involves a lot of participants, you have to make food alternatives for people with allergies or lifestyle choices such as vegetarians.
Another thing to consider is the kind of catering style you will be servicing, and plan ahead. There are different styles of catering you can do such as boxed meals, finger foods, plated dinner or buffet style. It is a lot easier if your clients have an idea of what kind of service they want.
However, if the client does not ask for a specific style of catering, then it is up to you to figure out what is the best catering style that will work best. Fortunately, the time of the catering service is a great indicator of what style is suitable. If the clients ask a catering on the morning, then you can adjust to a breakfast style and breakfast food items such as pastries, bread and coffee. For lunch time, a buffet style or premade lunch box can work well. If it is a dinner event, a formal plated dinner would usually work best. However, there are certain times that can lead to tricky situations like mid morning and mid afternoon. In these cases, it is best that you ask the client what they are thinking of, or you could do an educated guess based on the information you can get from your client, budget and your personal experience.
Another situation that can be tricky at times is the decision if you will be offering alcoholic beverage or not. Again, it is best that this specific subject to the client beforehand since some clients may assume that you know what you are doing, and assume you will be offering it.
The first thing to consider when catering to large corporate events would be the volume. Depending on the company you are catering, you could be potentially servicing from fifty to a thousand. You must evaluate your team's capabilities and equipments if you can handle the volume of the client's request. If you think you are incapable of servicing such large volume, then you can either outsource the manpower and equipment, or decline gracefully. Remember, you are putting your reputation on the line here, and you don't want to ruin your reputation by doing a half-baked service because you can't accommodate the volume.
You will have to broaden your food choices. When catering to large corporate events that involves a lot of participants, you have to make food alternatives for people with allergies or lifestyle choices such as vegetarians.
Another thing to consider is the kind of catering style you will be servicing, and plan ahead. There are different styles of catering you can do such as boxed meals, finger foods, plated dinner or buffet style. It is a lot easier if your clients have an idea of what kind of service they want.
However, if the client does not ask for a specific style of catering, then it is up to you to figure out what is the best catering style that will work best. Fortunately, the time of the catering service is a great indicator of what style is suitable. If the clients ask a catering on the morning, then you can adjust to a breakfast style and breakfast food items such as pastries, bread and coffee. For lunch time, a buffet style or premade lunch box can work well. If it is a dinner event, a formal plated dinner would usually work best. However, there are certain times that can lead to tricky situations like mid morning and mid afternoon. In these cases, it is best that you ask the client what they are thinking of, or you could do an educated guess based on the information you can get from your client, budget and your personal experience.
Another situation that can be tricky at times is the decision if you will be offering alcoholic beverage or not. Again, it is best that this specific subject to the client beforehand since some clients may assume that you know what you are doing, and assume you will be offering it.
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