Hiring a caterer for your corporate event can be a real challenge. You need to create a spread that will appeal to everyone in attendance while also managing to keep your costs down. But you don’t skimp on the quality of food either. This is an event that you will take great pride in planning and the results should speak for themselves.
That means you need to do a little homework first. You certainly wouldn’t hire the first catering company you find in the phone book. This event is too important to trust to the wrong company. So you’re going to want to interview every potential candidate.
But you may not know what questions to ask in order to help you determine which caterer can fit your needs best. We’re going to solve that problem right here and now. So the next time you need to choose a caterer in farmingdale ny you’ll know exactly what to inquire about and you can feel assured that you’re bringing the right people on board.
The interview process is very important, get it right the first time with these five questions that need to be addressed ahead of time.
1. Who Is Your Contact?
As you would with any business transaction of this nature, you want to know the individual with whom you will be dealing with during this process. Are you going to be working with the owner of the catering company or a representative in a certain department? Will you be dealing with a single point person or multiple people?
Having a specific contact person will help with communication and ensure that you reduce confusion and cut back on potential mistakes. Once you have this worked out, you can then decide if you work well with that person or if there are personality conflicts.
2. How Will The Catering Staff Operate The Event?
While it’s important to have the right food and plenty of it at the event, you should also request that your prospective caterer walk you through how they plan to run the show. How many staff members will be employed for the event? Will they be the ones serving the food? Do they envision this as a buffet-style event or a sit-down meal? You’re not asking these questions as a way to tell the catering crew how to do their work, these are just basic queries that need to be worked out ahead of time.
These questions should also cover if the caterer can handle certain types of meals, do they provide desserts or bartenders, and any other services they may offer. These could be very helpful in the planning of your corporate event and possibly cheaper to have one company do all of the work instead of hiring multiple firms at the same time.
3. Where Are Your Ingredients Sourced From?
This question is crucial for understanding how the catering company approaches the food for their events. Placing an emphasis on sourcing their ingredients from local growers and farmers markets not only means they place a high value on getting the freshest ingredients, but also that their menu can be adjusted to fit your standards and requirements for the event.
Caterers that go with frozen ingredients are probably going to be less accommodating with respect to adjusting their recipes and dishes so as to be mindful of food allergies that might be present among many of your guests. Frozen ingredients can also be less appetizing, no matter how much preparation goes into the food.
4. An Itemized Cost Estimate
You must not forget to ask for this before you engage any caterer to start work. That’s because most catering companies will charge per guest and that per person rate needs to cover everything you want in the catering spread. If you don’t have the specifics as to what the per person rate covers, you may be quite taken aback by the bill when it comes time to settle up.
The rate should include food and drink along with any other additional necessities such as labor, event set up and breakdown, any other wages that need to be paid to various staff members working the event. You can avoid all of the confusion by getting an itemized breakdown of your costs first.
5. Who Gets The Leftovers?
Many caterers will take any leftover food that goes uneaten instead of allowing you to take it home with you. Some catering companies are more than happy to wrap it all up for you to enjoy later on, others will charge you just for what was consumed and not the entirety of the food that was prepared.
It’s always good to find out what you get to keep and what you don’t once the event is over.
