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Eat, Drink & Be Merry!
Catering & More... |
Toronto & Area has many,
many professional event catering companies to choose from, but there are some
things you need to know before jumping to the conclusion that you need one or
before hiring one that isn't right for you.
What is a caterer?
A catering company
offers a wide variety of menu options that you can choose from according to
taste, price and service options. They also provide alcoholic beverages such as
wine, champagne, and sprits. Their emphasis should be on service (getting the
food from their location and into your guests' mouths in one piece) and one the
fine cuisine itself. Caterers are versatile because they are used to operating
outside of their own domain and kitchens. Essentially, they can come to you.
When or why would I use a caterer?
Caterers are
excellent for any outdoor or offsite wedding receptions. For example if your
wedding is in a tent, in a park, you're going to want a caterer. The most basic
reasons being that they will show up with all of the materials required to keep
the food hot (or cold, as the case may be), they will have helpful food servers
in formal attire, and they can also attend to the alcohol, wine, etc. Many
caterers have trucks and vans with their own power source/generator to operate
anything that's power-dependant.
Another time that hiring a private caterer would be useful to you, is when you
aren't particularly fond of the food or prices of food at the reception location
you have chosen. Beware that there are several reception halls that don't allow
couples to bring in their own caterers, because they provide full service
catering themselves.
What can help me decide which
caterer to choose?
So many things can
predict how well your caterer will work with you on your future wedding day...
• How quickly they
return your call and answer your questions?
• How is their
attitude toward you? Are they happy you called or do they sound like your phone
call is a nuisance? Did they laugh when you told them your wedding date or can
they accommodate it?!!
• How long have they
been doing catering?
• How long have they
been doing catering FOR WEDDINGS? (corporate affairs may differ greatly from
Weddings, make sure they've done this before)
• Do they allow you
to sample different menu items?
• If not being
specific about pricing, do they at least give a price range before you go out
and see them? (you don't want to waste time with a price range that is way out
of your budget)
• Is it really that
much less expensive to bring in a new caterer than to use the catering services
of your reception hall? Compare the two prices.
• Does the caterer
offer extra attention to detail, so that you aren't having to follow up on
his/her performance, timing, temperature of food, etc. on your wedding day?
• Call the caterer's
references and when you do, ask specific questions so that don't cause you to
get a generic answer such as "We hired them and they were good". Some examples
of this would be...
• what did the
caterer do that was more than you expected?
• what did the
servers wear?
• was it a hot
buffet or cold finger sandwiches that you served?
• how long did it
take them to set up? how long to tear down?
• did you find the
food be hot when served?
• did they prepare
your cake for you?
• What costs are
involved in the supplying and serving of alcohol?
• Have they ever
worked in your location before?
• Do they prepare
and serve the wedding cake? If so, is that for an extra fee? |
