Steps for Choosing Event Catering

We have put together six steps for you to follow to ensure you will make the best decision with your event catering. These steps will help you feel secure and confident in your decision.

Step One: Decide on Your Budget

Catering can be one of the biggest costs of any event, apart from the venue. Your budget should be the very first thing to consider, as it will change the rest of your decisions revolving your event catering. Think about what you get in return for hosting the event, and set your budget accordingly. Whether this is a great business deal or just happy memories, think about how much the catering is worth to you. Once you have set a realistic budget, you are ready to move onto step two.

Step Two: Look at Your Venue

The venue you are having your event at will have a large impact on your event catering. Does your venue have a kitchen? If not, your food will probably need to be delivered. How much room does your venue have? Different catering styles require different amounts of room, so this is something to be aware of. If you have not seen the venue, making a quick call to ask for room dimensions will get you all of the information you need. Although, it might be a good idea to request a tour of the event space.

Step Three: Know How Formal Your Event Will Be

The catering style you choose should match how formal your event will be. If you are hosting a seminar for employees at your company, you won’t be required to have formal catering. However, if you are hosting a gala, you will need your catering to be very formal, with servers and passed appetizers. Making sure your event catering matches how formal the event and venue are is one of the most important things to consider.
If you are struggling to evaluate how formal your event will be, think about what people will be wearing. Thinking about the dress code is an easy trick to know how formal your event will be. Will people be spending hundreds of dollars on their attire? If so, you are likely hosting a formal event. Are people going to be wearing their everyday, casual clothing? Then, your event will probably be on the casual end of the spectrum.

Step Four: Decide on a Catering Style

Now that you know how formal your event will be, you are prepared to make a decision on catering style. Perhaps the least formal event catering is having a restaurant deliver food to your event location. This option is ideal for work meetings, casual baby showers, and other small casual get-togethers. If you know your event is too formal for this catering style, you will need to consider other options.
Buffet catering is another catering style that is typically used for more casual events. However, buffet catering can be dressed up through the use of decorations and personalization. It is a great option for very large events where you are wanting to avoid having to pay for wait staff. Buffets can also be used for casual and semi-formal weddings, as they are a great way to save money. If your event will be more casual or semi-formal, you may want to consider having a buffet for your event catering.

For galas, balls, and very formal weddings, most people do not prefer buffet-style catering. This is because these events are very formal, with cocktail hours and hors d’oeuvres. They also typically have passed appetizers, where servers walk around with trays and offer up-scale snack options to guests. So, if you are hosting a formal event, you should consider a plated catering style or a cocktail reception catering style for shorter events. Keep in mind that these catering styles are usually more expensive, so make sure they fit your budget before requesting their services.

Step Five: Choose Food Options

Next, you must choose your food options for the evening. Again, this will depend on how formal your event is and your budget. As you can guess, steaks and lobster are appropriate for formal events and venues, while pasta dishes and casseroles are appropriate for semi-formal events. The more food options you have, the more expensive your event catering will be. With that being said, many people recommend asking guests what their dietary restrictions are before deciding on food.
Accommodating any food allergies or dietary restrictions your guests have can potentially save you money. This is because you will know exactly what to ask your caterer to make and no food will go to waste. To be safe you may want to consider offering one vegetarian option, and perhaps even a vegan option. Another common food allergy and intolerance is gluten. To avoid this, try to offer a gluten-free option if possible.

Step Six: Estimate How Many Guests You Will Have

Your caterer will ask you how many guests you plan to serve at your event when you initially speak to them about their services. A great way to estimate this is to ask your guests to RSVP to the event a few weeks in advance. This gives your caterer plenty of time to prepare for the number of people who will be eating. Always round up and plan for more people to show than who RSVP’d. This is to ensure there is plenty of food for everyone, and no one will be left without food.

The Best Event Catering

We hope the steps above help you with planning your event. Remember, the best event catering is one that will fit your budget and is just as formal as your event is. When you follow the steps above, you should have no problem deciding on the perfect catering for your event.

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Types of Catering Trays

Depending on the type of event you are throwing, there are endless catering tray options. If it’s a large event, like a wedding, people may find it easy to use finger foods for the reception. Fruits, vegetables, cheeses and small meats. Easy for guests to grab before the main course. If you choose a buffet style for your wedding dinner, the catering trays can be for the main courses and sides. Or maybe your event is a little smaller, like a baby shower. You may choose the finger sandwich options. This gives your guests a sandwich option for a small lunch or crackers and pepperoni for them to get by for a few hours. Another catering tray is your desserts! Don’t forget the cookies and brownies tray. The possibilities are endless. Check out a catering menu to get your ideas flowing!

Catering Tray Positives

Catering trays take away the stress of having to serve food and the host won’t have to worry about letting the food get cold from being left out. These trays are cost effective, which is one less thing you have to worry about spending tons of money on when planning an event. And they bring variety, you can add many types of food to your trays, making sure all your guests are happy.

Contact Four Seasons

Ready to get your catering tray now? Four Seasons Catering and Eatery can create delicious trays for any event. Give us a call today to get started!

The post Catering Trays: The Crowd Pleasing Food Tool appeared first on Four Seasons Catering and Eatery.

Type

The type of catering event you will be having is a general concept, but still essential to preparing for the event. This determines the rest of the preparation for the event. Deciding between a meal and/or appetizers is the first decision. If you choose to have a sit down meal, you need to decide upon a buffet style or servers. It all is decided by the kind of event you would like to have. Once you have decided upon the type of catering you would like to have, you can then move onto the fun part of choosing your food!

Time

Prior to setting up any details for an event, it is most important to set a date and time. This does not only involve the time of the event, but a timeline of the event. For catering events, it is essential to have the timing for food correct. Not only do you not want your guests to not go hungry, you also want to make sure the food is safe to eat and hasn’t been sitting out too long. Certain foods can only sit out of the refrigerator for so long before spoiling, so it is necessary to keep this in mind when planning a time to eat. This also depends on what type of catering is being served. Whether it is a sit down meal, a buffet or a constant flow of appetizers, the food needs to be fresh and ready to eat.

Numbers

The number of guests who will be attending the event may seem like an obvious thing to prepare; however, it is extremely important to do this as early as possible. Making sure the number of guests is set-in-stone is vital for catering events. This determines the amount of food to be served, as well as the time the catering company needs to prepare the food and arrive at the event.

Space

To serve large amounts of food to guests, assuring there is enough space for the food is paramount. If it is a buffet style, then there needs to be plenty of table space for the food to be laid out on. There also needs to be a spot for the caterer to set up the food and anything they need to prepare it to go out. It is possible to get food from a catering company, but for the catering company not to serve it. If the food is being stored for a certain amount of time by you, not the caterer, you need to ensure there is plenty of refrigerator space for perishable items.

Ready to Prep?

There is a lot to prepare before hosting an event, these are just some of the basics to get you ready for the catering services.

Contact Four Seasons Catering and Eatery today to receive catering for your next event!

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When hosting any event, a great consideration is hiring an outside catering company. Outside catering companies, such as Four Seasons Catering and Eatery, will prepare and serve the food that you want and also give great service throughout the event.

Hello, Spring!

Spring and early summer is a wonderful time to host an outdoor wedding, birthday party, graduation party, or other outdoor event in Pensacola, FL. The sun is always shining so the weather is warm and there is always a slight breeze in the fresh air. This beautiful weather makes it a perfect time to host a stress-free event outdoors.

Preparation

Setting up for an outdoor event can be much more stressful than one indoors; however, when the weather is perfect and everyone is enjoying their time, it makes it worthwhile. When hosting an outdoor event, you have to be concerned with the weather as well as setting up tents, tables, chairs, decorations, etc. Why should you stress over cooking for the event as well? With so much to prepare already, by hiring an outside catering company, you will not have to worry about the food at all.

During the Event

As a host for an outdoor event, you want to make sure every guest is comfortable and appreciating the event. When people are fed, they are typically more comfortable and and can relish their food and time. It can be stressful making sure every guest is content and their stomachs are fully satisfied. By hiring an outside catering company, all these concerns can be handled with ease throughout the entire event. Whether the event is offering brunch, dinner, or a variety of hors d’oeuvres, a catering company will handle the entire meal, as well as serving the food to guests, and taking the concern off the host.

Enjoy!

With the stress off the host and the guests comfortable and full from a delicious meal, everyone attending the event can enjoy their time and remember why the event is being held in the first place. Spring is a beautiful time for celebration, so host a stress-free event outside this spring!

Contact Four Seasons

Are you ready to hire an outside catering company for your outdoor event this spring? Four Seasons Catering and Eatery will do the work for you, so that you can enjoy the celebration with your guests! Call us today to get started!

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Types of Catering Platters

Depending on the caterer, there are several different types of catering platters to choose from. For lunch catering, many people choose different sandwich platters. These sandwich platters offer a variety of meats, cheeses and even vegetarian options. These are great for corporate lunches, meetings and other events that don’t require a three course meal. Another type of platter is the snack options. Snack platters with fruits, meats, cheeses and crackers are all crowd-pleasers for your next events. Another great snack is dip! After all, what’s a Super Bowl party without dip? Whether you’re throwing a watch party for the big game, hosting an engagement party, or any other event, platters with different dips are a great snack for your guests. Lastly, don’t forget about dessert! From cookie platters to cake platters, the dessert options are endless!

Benefits of Using Platters

Now that you have an idea of the different types of catering platters, let’s talk about the benefits of using them! Having pre-made, ready to go meals for your guests significantly reduces the stress of planning an event. Catering platters are also usually cost-effective, which is especially helpful for tighter budgets. Another benefit is that platters offer enough variety so there’s something for every single one of your guests. Happy guests, happy hosts, happy wallet!

When to Use Them

So, now you know what catering platters are and the benefits, so when should you use them? Platters are great for more casual events that don’t require a multiple course meal. Birthday parties, luncheons and corporate meetings are all great times to use them. Pool parties, beach days and cookouts are also great opportunities to use sandwich platters, dessert platters, or platters with different dips.

Contact Four Seasons

Ready to get your platter on? Four Seasons Catering and Eatery can create delicious platters for any event. Give us a call today to get started!

The post Catering Platters: The Perfect Party Planning Tool appeared first on Four Seasons Catering and Eatery.

If you’re on a budget, which most people are, it can be hard to find affordable catering services. At Four Seasons Catering & Eatery, we pride ourselves on being a delicious, high quality and affordable catering company. Even still, there are some things you can do to tighten down on your budget even more. Read these five tips on how to get affordable catering.

Use Plastic

In order to reduce spending of your catering budget, you can consider using nice plasticware. As a silverware alternative, plasticware is cheap, durable and you don’t have to worry about cleaning it after your event. Buying plasticware in bulk at places like Sam’s, Costco or Party City will also help to cut down the price.

Strategically Placed Staff

To ensure affordable catering services, you’ll want to place serving staff strategically. For example, having someone man the drink station helps reduce and control costs. This ensures that people don’t get more than they actually need. Your experienced caterer should know exactly how many staff members you’ll need and where to put them.

Buy in Bulk

As we mentioned before, buying food, utensils and other materials in bulk significantly helps reduce costs. When looking for affordable catering services, make sure to talk to your caterer to see what items can be bought in bulk.

Decide What Foods go Furthest

When on a budget, you want to make sure your food for your catered event is worth the quality and quantity. Be sure to talk to your caterer to discuss what foods can go the furthest on a budget. Your caterer should also explain that types of serving style, such as buffets, can affect the food waste costs. Hiring an experienced, affordable caterer like Four Seasons is key.

Double Check with the Venue

Once you’ve found an affordable caterer, you want to make sure your event venue will accept them. In some cases, certain venues do not allow outside catering. Make sure you discuss this before putting down payments on the venue or caterer.

Four Seasons Catering & Eatery

We hope these tips will help you save money when looking for affordable catering services. Four Seasons Catering & Eatery offers a delicious catering menu, and is experienced and affordable. Let’s discuss your next event today!

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Catering for events is hard, detail-oriented work. Even if you’re an excellent cook for yourself or your family of six, there’s still a ton of other aspects and crazy amounts of work that go into catering any type of event. We could go on all day about the reasons to use professional event catering. Instead, we’d like to discuss the top four reasons why you should use event catering from an experienced caterer like Four Seasons. Read on to learn more!

Reduces Stress

Reducing stress is probably the most important reason to hire a professional caterer. For many people, planning an event of any size can be tremendously stressful. Trying to please everyone, having everything out on time, making sure everything tastes good and socializing with your guests can result in a serious headache – at the least. This is especially true for the inexperienced hosts out there, which most people are. (Xanax) Reduce your stress and use event catering. Experienced caterers like Four Seasons have put on seamless events countless times, and we actually enjoy doing it. Leave it up to us and we’ll make sure you’ll be free to be the best host around town!

Saves Time

There is no doubt whatsoever that hiring a professional for your event catering saves you precious time. Instead of worrying about ordering and preparing the food perfectly and on-time, and then the setup and clean up of the event, let us do all the work! Hiring a professional caterer will make sure you have plenty of time to prepare for your event, entertain and spend quality time with your guests. Don’t spend the whole evening stressing about burning the entrees or delivering the salad on time, leave that to us! Spend time with your guests and enjoy your event with the help of an experienced caterer.

Saves Money

Believe it or not, hiring a professional for your event catering actually ends up saving you money. We know exactly how much to order, where to order it from and when to order it. If you don’t have the experience of a professional, you will most likely end up wasting money. Whether it be ordering too much, too far in advance so the food goes bad, or not enough and you have to rush deliver extra food. All of these instances are less than ideal, so hire an experienced catering company like Four Seasons so you don’t overspend.

Provide the Best Menu

Trust us, we know you want to serve your guests the best possible food. At Four Seasons, we want to provide that delicious food to you and your guests. Our highly trained chef and cooks are experts at creating culinary masterpieces. We will work with you to determine the type of food you want, allergy restrictions and other food related issues in order to provide the perfect menu to your guests without breaking the bank. If you don’t use a professional, you simply won’t get the same quality, delicious tasting meal at your event.

Four Seasons Event Catering

As you can see, there are many reasons to hire a professional to cater your next event. From reducing stress, saving time and money, and providing the best food to your guests, there’s no reason you shouldn’t! Be sure to contact us or view our catering menu, and keep us in mind for your event catering needs!

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Corporate catering is a unique and important sector of the catering industry. At Four Seasons Catering and Eatery, we have years of experience and knowledge in this segment of the industry. We are also centrally located in the heart of downtown Pensacola, minutes from several businesses and offices. Corporate catering requires a punctual, planned caterer with delicious meals that won’t go over corporate budget. From office meetings, client luncheons, business team building and workshops, let’s discuss some different examples of corporate catering.

Office Meetings

Maybe your team exceeded it’s sales goals in record time, or maybe your CEO needs to have an extended meeting with the whole company. No matter the size, scale and reason for the meeting, you want your employees to have a delicious meal for lunch. At Four Seasons Catering and Eatery, we provide your office meetings with impeccable, affordable meals that we can deliver straight to your office or you can pick up for your office meetings. Full, satisfied and focused team members are a recipe for office meeting success!

Client or Employee Luncheons

Whether it’s a client appreciation lunch or your monthly employee luncheons, you need good food…and probably lots of it! With corporate catering from Four Seasons Catering and Eatery, show your clients and/or employees that you appreciate them with a warm, made from scratch meal. Instead of the usual takeout or sandwiches, treat them to our beef tips over rice, oven roasted chicken, or one of our other delicious items from our catering menu.

Workshops or Seminars

Is your office or team signed up for an all-day workshop or seminar? If so, you’ll need a reliable, on time caterer. Four Seasons Catering and Eatery will work with your event planner or business manager to choose the perfect menu for your team’s workshop. Will you need breakfast, snacks and a full lunch? Or maybe something simple, easy to eat and delicious? Whatever your needs are, we have you covered. Four Season Catering and Eatery will be on time and prepared with the food, staff and utensils you and your company needs.

Four Seasons Corporate Catering

No matter your corporate catering need, Four Seasons Catering and Eatery has you covered. Whether you’re a small team of eight or a large corporate meeting of eighty, you can trust us to deliver an exceptional corporate catering experience. Contact us today to get started!

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When catering events, there are several steps and details that go into making the event successful and special. At Four Seasons Catering and Eatery, our highest priority is ensuring a smooth and unique catered event for all of our clients. To accomplish this, we meet with and discuss the wants and needs of the client, establish logistics, create a seamless timeline and perfect the execution of the event. Read on to understand the four steps of successful catering events.

Step 1: Consultation

At the heart of all catering events are the clients. To create a memorable experience, we sit down with clients to meet and discuss the catering options. Meeting face to face with clients helps us get a clear understand of what the client wants and needs. At this consultation, we discuss type of event, number of guests, theme, menu options, pricing and other specifics to ensure a smooth affair. Four Seasons is dedicated to our clients, so we want to make sure all questions, concerns and thoughts are clearly understood at this consultation. A successful consultation is an important start to a successful event!

Step 2: Establish Logistics

After we understand exactly what our clients want for their catering events, it’s time to figure out what we need to do to ensure a successful night. Four Seasons Catering and Eatery wants each experience to be delicious, unique and specific to each client. Our experienced servers, chef and cooks know exactly what we need to do to accomplish this. The logistics of catering events includes checking and ordering inventory in a timely matter and scheduling servers and staff to help work the event. Catered event logistics also includes exact plans for creation, transportation and presentation of the catered food. To help, caterers must create a timeline.

Step 3: Create a Timeline

The key to successful catering events is knowing exactly who and what will be where and when at all times. Establishing a detailed event “itinerary” helps the event staff create a beautifully smooth event. The timeline should include food drop off, preparation and serving times. In addition, it should include what staff members are serving and at what time, to ensure high quality service. Working with our clients to create the perfect timeline for their event creates a memorable and pleasant experience for everyone.

Step 4: Execution

After all of the menu plans and timelines are settled, it’s time to execute the event! Following the timeline, ensuring food quality and service quality and cleaning up are all aspects of the execution step. At Four Seasons Catering and Eatery, we have been catering events for a long time. Our years of experience, high quality service and food is unmatched, which creates the perfect event experience for our clients.

Four Seasons Event Catering

Now that you understand the steps to catering events, what are you waiting for? Let Four Seasons Catering and Eatery create the perfect event catering experience for you. Contact us today or view our menu options to get started!

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Perhaps you want to celebrate an anniversary, a birthday, an engagement, or just have a nice dinner. Whatever the occasion, you’ve probably decided to host a catered party. There are several tips and tricks to host the most successful catered party. We’ve compiled our top three tips in this blog post to help you with your next event. Read on to discover our secrets!

Know Your Guests

This is by far the most important tip for hosting a successful catered party. Just like a comedian does, you have to know your audience. For example, you probably wouldn’t serve smoked duck and caviar at your toddler’s birthday party…unless your two year old has some oddly sophisticated taste buds! Understanding the wants, needs, allergies, likes and dislikes of your guests will allow you to plan the entire event accordingly. Knowing who and how many you’re serving will make it easier to choose from menu options, seating arrangements and serving style.

Have a Detailed Itinerary

The secret behind any successful person or event is organization. Having a detailed itinerary, or even an outline of the event will relieve a lot of stress off the host when planning a catered party. A timeline will also help the overall event run smoothly. After you select your menu you can develop an itinerary. Here’s an example of a timeline for a catered party:

• 5:00 pm:  Guests arrive
• 5:00 pm-6:00 pm: Cocktail hour serving spanakopita and bacon wrapped scallops
• 6:15pm: Begin seating guests
• 6:30: First course is served – Caesar salad
• 7:00: Main entree is served – Chicken de Rhone
• 8:00: Dessert is served – Creme Brûlée
• 9:00: Guests depart

Working with an experienced caterer will ensure your planned itinerary runs smoothly and on time.

Create a Seating Plan

Especially for more formal dining events, having a seating plan is elegant and helpful. When you establish a seating plan, it increases the efficiency of seating your guests in order to stay on schedule. Try to create a fresh mix of people at the table(s) so new connections can be made. Creating a great seating plan requires knowing your guests, as we mentioned earlier.

Ready to be the Hostess with the Mostest?

Are you ready to host the perfect catered party? Remember our tips: know your guests, have a detailed itinerary and establish a seating plan. With the help of Four Seasons Catering, your catered party will be the talk of the town for weeks to come! Contact us today to get started, or check out our catering menu.

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