When it’s time to hire a caterer for your event, you want to be sure you’re hiring the right people. It’s true for any size or type of event, but when you’re planning on having a catered party at your home, you must hire someone that you can trust to do the job right in this type of venue.
Your home presents certain challenges that other venues may not. After all, you’re dealing with a limited amount of space, your kitchen may provide some obstacles to getting everything prepared properly, and you need to make a number of decisions as to how the meals will be presented. So when you are shopping around for the best catering huntington, consider these five helpful tips for having a catered party at home.
1. Size of The Event
You should discuss the size of the event you’re planning with your caterer to determine if they are properly equipped to provide you with the service you need. This isn’t particularly about having the ability to serve 30, 50, even 100 or 200 people in your home, it’s more about having the ability to do it using the facilities inside your home. This includes the kitchen, a dining room, or perhaps an outdoor space such as a patio or deck.
2. The Kitchen
Expanding on that point, your kitchen is especially important to your catered party being a success. You must assess the capacity of the kitchen with your caterer to decide if you have enough space to prep ingredients or if the preparations should be done before the caterer arrives at your home. You and your caterer should also decide whether or not you have a sufficient number of burners on your stove or space in your oven to prepare the menu. Consider the amount of available space in the refrigerator as well.
3. Special Meal Requests
Your caterer must be made aware of any special instructions or requests that are critical for you and your guests to enjoy the food being served at the event. So, review any food allergies that guests might have and consider making some menu options available for vegan or gluten-free guests so that everyone will be able to eat at the party. Every good caterer should have the flexibility to meet these needs.
4. Serving
You should also decide how the food will be served at the event. Will you require servers to bring food to seated guests or have them wandering around the event with trays? You must also consider how many of these servers will be necessary. Maybe you would rather make the event buffet-style and no servers will be needed to distribute food to the guests.
5. Cleaning Up
Once the event is over, the food has been prepped and served and the guests have gone home, it’s time to clean up. So, who will be doing that work? The kitchen should be cleaned by the caterers but will the staff also be cleaning up any other rentals such as chairs and tables or will you be doing that instead? Who would you rather do the dishes, you or the caterers? What about leftovers, are they being left in the home and placed in your fridge or will the catering company take them when they go? Decide all of this before your event so there are no misunderstandings.