You want to order a meal for100 People, and contact a caterer.
First you ask: what would you recommend, or what’s the best seller.
The Caterer spend 10 Minutes with you on the Phone, and sends you a Quote (what they worked on for an hour) and saved the date for you.
You asked another Caterer the same Questions, got a Quote, and the you decide , what Caterer you are going.
But then you forget to tell the first two Caterers you contacted, to tell them, that you have choosen a different , and you don’t even think of it, to tell them, that they can free up the date.
When a caterer gets a go for a Job, we have to Order all the food items, or go shopping for it. There is time involved in ordering, organizing and Hydro, to keep the goods fresh and cool.
Peeling Potatoes trimming the meat, making the gravy, boiling the potatoes, mashing them
Roasting the Meat, covering it with Aluminium Foil, hydro for the Stove , Cooling it of in the Cooler, cutting the meat, on a Meat Slicer (Hydro) Cleaning the Meat slicer, cleaning the roasters, (dishwasher, Detergent, Water)
Cleaning and washing the Vegetables, boiling them, Drain them, adding Spices, Butter, stir them. Keeping them warm.
Mashed Potatoes, adding Milk, Butter, Spices, keeping them warm.
Washing the Lettuce, Tomatoes, Cucumber, cutting everything, keeping it in the cooler cold.
Prepare the Salad Dressings, have al the Ingredients on hand.
Put the into queeze bottles, what have to be cleaned after the event, so as all the Warmers, Chafing pans, Bowls, and so on.
In a great Gravy, goes only real ingredients in it. Roast dripping, needs to be strained, Strainer needs to be cleaned.
Then we usually add cream and butter , spices, often that is not the case, because we have to take care of allergies.
We have to drive to the event, ohh did I mentioned, that before we drive , we have to organize , the staffing, the cooling, have to drive to the venue before, so we know where it is, and how long are the drive will be, so we are on TIME, at the event.
So we are at the Event, Outdoor Venue, We have to set up the Buffet Tables, even bring Table cloth or clean the tables.
We set up the buffet Line, place under each chafing dish two Burners, and add Water to the dishes. Watch it , the wind can blow them out.
Fife minutes before the crowd comes to eat we place the food into the Chafing dishes. One staff member will check on the burners.
The salads get dressed or placed on the buffet tables. The buns and butter get placed, the Lifters and ladles, spoons and Forks are on the spot , for the servers to ladle out the food.
It’s 6pm supper time, the time we are supposed to serve, who is not here??
The Wedding party, the Graduant, theHappy anniversary Couple.
We have to wait, the server standing by, for another 30 minutes, minutes we have to pay our staff , minutes the burners are burning for nothing? Did you know we have to pay for those Burners?
Are we putting the salad back into the cooler, are they coming soon??
In the mean time, People asking us for this and that, what we not offered, or you did not ordered. We try to help, but no luck , we didn’t bring it, because nobody ordered it.
Finally they arrive, 40 Minutes late the food, hopefully stayed warm, the lettuce is not wilted, my Staff members, standing arround and waited, still get payed.
At one Catering we had to wait 1 hour and 15 Minutes, for the bridal Party to arrive, and then they complained the peroggies were soggy. Really
It’s about time, they come to the Buffet, heaping the food on their plates. Table by Table, ohh they are coming for seconds, another plate full off food.
Hey they like the food, coming twice, paying once, awesome great
Asking the Happy couple , how is the food, It’s ok.
It’s ok?? Coming twice, paying once, complaining about things, what we are not discussed or we are not in charge off.
It is what it is, i guess.
Cleaning up the Tables, Plates and cutlery. Cleaning up the left over food, put them into pails, into a fridge, because they asked for the left overs.
Loading the vehicle, driving back to the kitchen, and start cleaning all the dishes, Laddles, Lifters and warmers, lids, slow cooker.
The sink is full with dirty dishes, the dishwasher is running, until the last spoon.
Kitchen clean, after 2 hours we left the venue, going home, and wondering are they going to pay, or are they start arguing with us?!?!?
Can’t sleep because of that, i have to pay my bills, my staff, Taxes, Hydro, Water, rent, Gas, Insurance, WCB.
I made a decision, If you book with us, you have to pay 50% down payment, and the rest before we serve the food.
For Outdoor Events there is an 25% extra charge, and if we don’t have shelter, while it started raining, we won’t stay.
From now on only written Quotes, and correspondence!!
And we charge now for quotes 50$ , and if you decide to go with us, we will deduct the 50$ of your Invoice.
This is our story of a catering Business, in case it makes you wonder why we charge, what we charge
We have to make a living, and the times where we brought everything, and helped with everything are unfortunately over.
Now you know what goes on behind the scenes .
Hopefully this helpes other caterers and Business owners as well, no only costumer can leave a review, caterers can too.
