I was in a class this Wednesday when the topic of food came up as it relates to event planning. The instructor asked everyone to share their memorable events and whether food was involved in creating that memory.
Most people shared the horror stories of events that involved food and very few people shared a memorable event that involved good food. If it is so easy for people to remember bad food experience at an event, what can we do to prevent that?
Some suggestions that I thought are helpful for event planning:
(1) Walk the buffet line to make sure it works prior to the event.
Instead of relying on the description of the venue/catering personnel, it is best that you physically walk the buffet line to ensure that it will indeed flow well for the guests.
For example, is it really possible to get the total number of guests through the buffet line in the amount of time you have set aside for the dining portion of your event?
Hungry guests are not going to be happy to wait in line and it takes careful planning to minimize the wait time in the buffet line.
(2) Have a variety of food and drinks available for your guests
Sometimes it is easy for people to forget about the special needs of their guests if they do not have any food allergy problem or diet restriction themselves.
Will the vegetarians in your guest list have a “real” vegetarian option on the menu or just the rabbit food type of salads?
What about those who maybe allergic to nuts? If your menu items have “hidden” nuts that are not visible to your guests, they might get very sick very soon.
If people do not drink alcohol, what options do they have in terms of drinks?
In general, try to have a wide variety of food and drinks available at an event to help most people find what they like.
(3) Do not lie about your headcount to the caterer
Most caterers will prepare more food to account for extra people who show up for your event but please do not lie about your headcount to your caterer in order to save money.
To run out of food before everyone has a chance to eat definitely ranks high among event disasters.
If a lot of unexpected guests do show up and you know the food is not enough, it might be helpful to ask your caterer to serve the food in portions so that the people who are first in lines do not take more than they need.
Do you have other tips that you would like to share?
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