HOW MANY?
The reception featured a nine course meal with bird’s nests, crab cakes, sushi rolls, and braised duck spanning over two hours. Hand selected wines and a traditional cognac blend complimented delectable foreign dishes. In charge of all that food and finery: one Vietnamese chef and her veritable army of white clad assistants. More, she was delighted by the challenge and relished in the appreciative applause poured forth for her and her team. Catering seems a test in endurance cooking, veritably feeding the masses.
A few things to keep in mind when shopping for caterers:
Price per Person: Commonly, catering is charged on a per-person basis, making an accurate guest count all the more important. Variables like fire permits, bartending service, and unseasonal foods can all affect the ending price tag as well.
Menu Options: Can the caterer prepare some of your favorite dishes? Set your own menu if you can. Some caterers can customize meals mixed and matched from large menus, while others are more specialized and therefore lack many options. Caterers are more than willing to help in the customizing process, though they might not be able mash potatoes just like Mom.
Caterers Needs: Wherever you are having your event, make sure you can cater to the caterer. Most reception areas will have lists of caterers that they have work history with and know they can easily accommodate. Will your event be a plated dinner or a buffet? A plated dinner could require 50% more staff and double the amount of china used.
Always astounding are the refined and punctuated tastes in catered cooking. The logic says that taste would become muddled in the sheer mass of food and the bland overtone of preparation would snuff out the subtler tastes. Caterers continue to surprise. How they manage to not only sustain but accentuate even the finest flavors with that make-enough-to-feed-an-army efficiency is a proud feat.