Meeting With Your Event Caterer For The First Time

Preparing for a catering event may seem straightforward, but there is more to it than just cooking and serving the food. Perhaps one of the most important stages of planning for a catering event is meeting the caterer. It is during this stage where you lay down all your expectations and let the caterer know what you want to achieve for your event. As a client, you should be ready for questions like:

Do you have a budget in mind?
Have you picked a venue already?
How many people will be there?

This is the most critical stage of planning because this is where the caterer will base their proposal. For this reason, get ready to provide all information necessary regarding these elements:

Event Type

Aside from budget, one of the first things you need to provide information for is the type of event you are hosting. Is it a wedding event, a birthday party, or a corporate gathering? From this, your caterer will have an idea on the professional level of the guests and how they can meet their needs accordingly.

Proposed Date and Time

The next element to consider is your proposed date and time. Top caterers always have their schedules full, so it's important to decide on the date and time of the event with your caterer months ahead. Moreover, knowing what time of the day the event will take place will let your caterer determine how much time they need to prepare.

Number of Guests

This is one of the most important elements in a catering event because it will determine whether your budget will match with your expectations or not. Once you have stated a general budget for the event and how many people you expect to attend it, your caterer will figure out whether your proposed budget would be enough to cater to all the guests who will be at the event. If you're envisioning something very elaborate, and yet your budget and the number of guests do not match, your caterer can help you come up with a better idea like prioritize on the more important factors of the event.

Venue

For the venue, the first thing your caterer will have to figure out is how you can maximize the venue. Top catering companies usually have a software that they use to draw up floor plans for the event and help them utilize the venue to its potential.

Menu Ideas

You may have your own menu ideas, but the caterer will still suggest what types of food will work best for your event, the people who will attend, and the time it will start. For instance, if your party will be around 5:00-7:00 p.m., your caterer may suggest you focus on hors d'oeuvres because this is usually cocktail hour.

These are the basic and most important elements where your caterer will base their proposal, so it's important that you provide all necessary information for each to make sure your event turns out to be a success!