Have you ever ordered catered food your event over the phone and felt worried or lost after placing the order? You would then proceed to hope that it turns out alright, with your guests being satisfied with both the quantity and quality of food provided. If so, then we would like to encourage you to use our tips for catering.

Avoid Over Ordering Desserts

Curiously enough, one of the factors that leads to food wastage and thus over budgeting is that of good old sweet desserts. On average, event hosts order 3 or more types of dessert offerings for their event. What happens then is that most people are unable to take the excess amount of sweetness and thus lose their momentum towards the end of the meal.

Furthermore, typically by the time your guests start taking dessert, they will likely be deep in socialising mode. This shifts the focus away from food and towards each other. As such, their rate of eating slows down, meaning that much of the food is left over when the event ends.

Check the Flexibility of the Caterer When Ordering

Often times, you may struggle with choosing between various sets due to the limitation of courses offered. Rather than ordering additional dishes, we recommend checking with your caterer on the flexibility of the set. In a best case scenario, the caterer may allow you to swap out an equivalent dish or request that you make a nominal top up to get a more premium dish.

This would help to save you money and reduce food wastage. In addition, you will not be stuck with too many dishes under a single category.

Cut Down Staples

In Asian societies, we have the tendency to overorder staples such as rice or noodles. While it is true that we do consume large portions of such carbohydrates, the over ordering comes about due to a specific reason. Often times, we do not find out the number of pax that the default serving of the staple can feed. Instead, we go by intuition to order twice as much to “play safe”.

Yet what ends up happening is that after the first round of plate filling, most guests start to stay away from rice and noodles. Instead, they tend to save their stomach for more distinct dishes such as the meats.

Consider Ordering a Mini Buffet Rather than a Full Set up

Mention the word catering and what comes to mind is a long table with chafing dishes available for guests to choose from. While aesthetic to the eye, a cheaper and equally valuable alternative exists. Mini buffet catering is increasingly becoming popular for its simple and cheaper approach. With simple disposable containers filled with ready to eat food, caters are able to charge lower prices with less setup time. Consider switching to mini buffet catering for a hassle free and more affordable experience.