Are you planning for your company’s next corporate event in the near future? If yes, then along with other preparations, you have to plan for the food as well. If it is an evening event, then you must arrange for a dinner that your co-workers will love. However, while planning it, you have to pay attention to several minute details in order to make it pleasurable for everyone. So, here are a few corporate dinner catering tips, which will be helpful for you in your next corporate event.
8 Catering Tips for Corporate Dinner
Count the heads- Before setting up the menu and giving the contract to catering service providers, you must count the heads as you need to provide estimated head count to the event planner or the caterer. This is necessary for them to suggest you the menu options and start the preparations accordingly. You should also keep on taking the updates on the number of people attending the event. It is recommended to overestimate the count by considering the last minute entries. While thinking about corporate dinner catering, you must note that, most of the venues reserve the right of replacing the menu items if the number of people increases at the last moment in order to adjust the extra guests.
Plan your budget- Before presenting your budget and menu choices to the corporate dinner catering service or the event planner; you must present it to the management. Have a discussion with them to clarify as well as highlight what has to be included in budget. Sometimes, it happens that, management gives you a fixed budget but expects more than what fits in it. Therefore, it is important to be clear and review the budget according to the budgetary requirement. Additionally, you must not consider only the food while planning the budget, linens, flowers, tables, and several other relevant things must also be considered. If you have a well-planned budget, event planner can help you to fit the required things in it.
Think about the themes- While doing the planning for corporate dinner catering, you must focus on the theme or purpose of the corporate event. If you are willing to surprise and appreciate your employees for accomplishing a task successfully, then you must go for a buffet. If the event is aimed at thanking specific team, especially the sales department for earning the highest profit in financial year, then buffet will not be a great idea. While doing the planning you must concentrate on the message and feelings you want to convey through the event. This will help you greatly in planning the menu.
Buffet or wait staff service- You must be well-aware of how busy your event schedule will be. So, according to that schedule, decide if self-serving buffet will be okay or you will need a full serving wait staff to serve and take the plates away. If the focus needs to be completely on the speaker and if you want to save the time, then availing the wait staff service will be a great idea as they can keep the attendees to be in their places for long. Whereas, if you arrange a buffet, attendees will get time to mingle.
Decide the menu- While deciding a corporate dinner catering menu, you must offer 3-4 appetizers, soups, and salads, few good starters and main course items. Along with 1 or 2 side dishes you must plan at least two desserts. Also, it is important to have menu varieties suitable for all the guests. If many of the people are vegetarian, inform the caterer about the same in advance. Few years ago, boxed food was popular for the corporate events. Although, it is a cheaper option, you must not go for it as you must serve the attendees with great food in order to get desired results from the event.
If you make use of the above mentioned tips for office dinner catering, your event will be successful and will be remembered for long for the food along with other important factors.