Food & Catering Planner

Questions

Questions for the caterer

1. 01Is the price per head inclusive of service, staff, hire and VAT?
2. 02What is the staff-to-guest ratio for service and for the bar?
3. 03How is the food held and reheated between cooking and serving?
4. 04How many vegetarian, halal, allergy and children's covers are included?
5. 05Who supplies plates, glassware, linen and cutlery — and who washes them?
6. 06What is the plan if guest numbers rise by ten per cent in the final fortnight?
7. 07When is the tasting, and does it cost extra?
8. 08Do your staff eat on site, and is that inside the quote?

Checklist

Food and drink decisions

• ✓Service style chosen — plated, buffet, family style, stations
• ✓Cocktail hour bites confirmed with quantity per guest
• ✓Signature drink chosen, and a non-alcoholic version of it
• ✓Bar model decided — open, limited, cash, or a set tab ceiling
• ✓Children's and elders' meals specified separately
• ✓Vendor meals counted and timed for when the room is eating
• ✓Late-night bite planned for the last hour
• ✓Cake plan: display cake for photographs, sheet cake or dessert for the room
• ✓Water on every table before the first course
• ✓Leftovers plan agreed — who takes them, and in what

Guidance

The things that go wrong with food

1. 01The queue is the failure, not the food. Two service points per hundred guests, minimum.
2. 02Feed the honour party and the vendors before the speeches; hungry people run late.
3. 03Ask when the kitchen closes — dancing guests come back looking for food at eleven.
4. 04Serve the elders first and visibly. Everyone notices, nobody says anything.
5. 05Keep one warm dish going for guests who arrive after the main service.

Questions

Flowers and styling — the questions that catch people out

1. 01How will the arrangements be transported to the venue, and by whom?
2. 02What happens to the real flowers after the event?
3. 03How many boutonnieres and corsages are actually needed?
4. 04Are any arrangements being repurposed from ceremony to reception?
5. 05Who is collecting vases, stands and hired items the next morning?

Checklist

Real, faux or do-it-yourself