When you employ the services of a caterer, you get high-quality food for guests or attendees. There is various type of catering out there, but how do you go about selecting a caterer that is suitable for your event or party? Here are tips for finding a caterer for your event that best suits you
Allow Time to Find a Suitable Caterer
One of the first things you must do is give yourself time. You need to have enough time to reach out to caterers and to book them, especially as reputable ones get booked up in advance. If you are only giving yourself days or weeks, then you are cutting it too fine. This may mean that you will have to make compromises, and this is, of course, not always a good thing. Before committing to a date for an event, you should always start approaching caterers. See what their availability is looking like and see how much advance notice they require.
The Type of Catering You Require
Not all caterers offer the same sort of service or the same range of food. It is, therefore, important that you establish what type of catering you require. For example, are you looking for a caterer that specializes in event catering? Or, are you looking at one that offers mobile catering? Do you need catering just once for your party or event? Or, are you looking at having caterers on board for several sittings? If you do not select a caterer that suits your requirements, then you may be disappointed with the result.
Remember, if you have any special dietary requirements or allergens always make these known as soon as possible. Give caterers the chance to accommodate your additional requirements and requests.
Be Open About Costs and Discuss Pricing
All caterers will offer different pricing strategies, and this may be dependent on where they must travel and how many people they must cater for. To build a strong relationship with a caterer, you need to be open and honest about costs and pricing. If a caterer is out of your price range, then you want to know this in advance. You don’t want to waste your time or theirs. When you are discussing pricing, it is important to try to obtain a breakdown to see what the caterer is quoting for, and what it includes.
Utilize Reviews and Recommendations
There are going to be people that you know that have used certain caterers before. It is, therefore, crucial to your search that you listen to (and utilize) reviews and recommendations where you can. Other people will be able to give you an idea about what you can expect and at what cost. When you utilize reviews and recommendations, you can quickly create a shortlist for caterers. You can see which ones can cater to the numbers you are talking about. You can also see which ones can deliver on their promises too.
Hope these tips help you in finding a caterer for your event, seeing the reviews and recommendations is one of the best ways to shortlist a caterer.
