Top 6 Catering Tips For Your Next Corporate Event
Follow these catering tips when planning your next corporate event!
Corporate events are a wonderful way to bring employees together, celebrate clients, and make announcements of what customer can expect in the future. If you’re having any type of corporate event, one of the best things you can do is to hire a professional caterer.
To help you get a head start in making sure that everything runs smoothly, we’ve put together a quick list of some simple corporate catering tips that will help your event.
Figure Out the Full Budget
The last thing you want to do is find a caterer that you absolutely love only to discover that you won’t have sufficient funds to pay them. Take a look at your entire budget and figure out how much money can be spent on each part of the event and the event as a whole. It’s also a good idea to have a certain amount of discretionary funds available so you have some wiggle room if needed.
Get a Head Count Before Booking
If you’re unsure as to how many people are going to attend your corporate event, you can still contact a catering company and find out some general pricing information. However, before hiring a caterer in an official capacity, you should get as accurate a head count as possible. That being said, it doesn’t hurt to add on 5-10% to your estimated numbers just in case.
Consider Renting Catering Equipment
Several of these catering tips are about making sure that everything runs smoothly during your event, but this one’s about saving money. If you decide to forgo a catering company and do it yourself, then you can save even more money by renting some of the catering equipment instead of buying it. You can typically rent items such as serving trays, chafing pans, coffee makers, serving forks and spoons, beverage dispensers, and more.
Plan a Variety of Foods & Beverages for a Catering Menu
It never hurts to ask what types of main entrees and side dishes people might like to have. The trick is to simply have a variety of items such as proteins, pasta, chips, salad, soda, juice, and other menu options. You also need to take dietary restrictions into account, which would include things like vegan items, gluten-free selections, etc.
Provide Your Guests with a Bar
Whether you decide to hire a professional food catering service for the event or not, you should decide if you want to provide your guests with a bar. Then, you’ll have to decide if it will be an open bar or if they’ll need to pay for their own drinks. This will depend on your budget, but a good rule of thumb is to supply one or two drinks for free and then guests will need to pay for any additional ones.
Don’t Forget to Rent Other Items
Once you’ve gotten your catering equipment all squared away, you should think about other items that you might want to rent in order to save on the budget. Tents and tent accessories are very popular in Florida if you’re having an outdoor event because they protect everyone from the elements. Tables and chairs, flatware and dinnerware, concessions, kids games, and other items are great, too.
Contact Elite Events & Rentals for More Catering Rental Tips
Corporate events are an important part of doing business and will make a real impact with your employees, clients, and others. Elite Events & Rentals can provide a wide variety of event rental equipment in Tampa and the surrounding areas. if you have any questions about the equipment that we provide or would like more catering tips and tricks, reach out by calling (727) 791-7082 today for a free consultation.