So are you planning your next corporate event for your company? If yes, then this will be the best read for you. It is quite tricky to find out and organize an event where all your co-workers will love the food and drinks served. So there are seven catering tips which will help you at your next event.
Dietary Requirements and Menu options
It is essential to provide an event planner or organizer with the list of headcounts and their dietary requirement and preferences, so that they can easily prepare menu options as well as arrange the most appropriate venue. The catering should allow for at least one option for all dietary requirements, for example: one vegetarian dish. Keep yourself updated with the improvements when the event is getting closer.
Additionally, a good menu will always comprise of varieties of food that will suit the taste of different guest. There will be the guest who will prefer gluten-free diet whereas others will be vegetarian. So you need to inform the caterers by making a list, and it is a part of event planning. It’s always a safe option to keep gluten-free and vegan items in your menu because you don’t want your guest to go home empty stomach. So you need to make a list in advance and then hand it to your catering service while planning the event menu.
Due to the very large food options and several moving parts involved in organising a corporate event, it is always recommended you go for a catering business who is professional, organised and also use an advanced event and catering software to monitor everything properly.
Headcount
It is mandatory to overestimate the headcount for counting all the attendees that may arise in the last minute. So even if that attendee increases on the event day then you will be able to accommodated for the extra guests. Normally, if you want to arrange buffet style for the food, then the venue and catering provider will require at least 35 guests.
Budget
Budget is significant in corporate events before you start to plan it. It happens that you are given the budget of hot dog and hamburger, and you are planning according to lobster or steak. It is important to highlight and clarify all the needs which must be included in the events budget and closely analyze and review them for managing the present budget in addition with the money spent on the event planners or caterer. Also, make sure to add the cost spend on the decorations, if any. It may be a wise decision to opt for an event planner as they will help you to set the budget and make everything and optimum successful within that budget. Event planners have done that hundreds of times and have the experience.
Meeting themes
The theme of a corporate event is also important, and every decoration and food must sync together with the theme. For appreciating the job done by your employees provide them with a buffet which is also a good idea. If you aim to thank all the sales team for your company as your company has earned a reasonable profit, then you need to think of some unique ideas. It is essential to convey your feelings to the staffs properly and to plan the event accordingly.
Schedule
If the corporate event is going to have different kinds of presentations or speakers, then you need to plan the time accordingly. One should always plan the food service depending on the time when the event is going to take place. It is also important to plan the event with the help of an event planner as well as the caterer for organising the time required for cooking and serving, so that the food is not served half way through an important speech.
Wait staff or buffet service
Nowadays the trend of buffet service is very much in. So you need to decide whether your corporate event is going to be busy or not. If you’re going to invite a lot of attendees, then you need to opt for service like buffet service so that no staff will have to wait for getting their foods served or wait for the seats to become available again. If you are going to opt for waiting staff, then you will need to hire the staffs for doing that. So if you want the LimeLight to be on the corporate speaker and you want to save some time, then you should hire full service waiting staff so that they can keep the attendees in the chairs for a longer time. If you want to opt for a way that will break up the entire day, then you should go for buffet service so that the attendees will get enough time to talk to each other or mingle.