Catering a business meeting can been much more difficult then it may initially appear.  The number of people, location, pickup time from the restaurant, drinks, personal serving ware and setting up can all play a major role in the overall presence of the catering of your business meeting.

The follow are five items that you should pay attention to when catering an event.

1. Location

The location of the business luncheon may seem like an obvious answer, however many different aspects of the lunch catering can play into a critical role.  Many offices are on a very strict schedule and lunch’s must be delivered and setup on time and in the right location.  Waiter on the Way has delivered to nearly every doctor’s office in the Fort Wayne area, and knows the exact locations and suites of where the events are being held at.  An important part of not only the location of the delivery but also the number of guests that will be attending and how to plan accordingly for them.

2. Number of Guests

After you have determined the location of the business meeting, it is good to plan ahead by contacting the office that you will be catering to, to find out the number of guests that will be attending the business meeting or eating the food that will be delivered.  Many pharmaceutical representatives have set budgets for each month and the number of people at an event can dramatically change the food that will need to be ordered and served to the guests.  A popular choice for a small group would be either smaller or half pan portions of catering entrees, and for a larger number of guests, full pan catering entrees would allow for the most cost effective way to cater the meeting.  When catering an event you should have an idea of the amount you would like to spend per guest, as this will help figure out what food items that can be ordered.

3. Food Items

Most of the restaurants that Waiter on the Way delivers caterings for offer half pan and full pan catering options to serve to your guests.  It is important to find out how many people each different catering option will feed, as different restaurants generally have different serving portions.  For an example, a half pan of pasta or salad from Casa restaurant will serve approximately 10 people, however a Fajita platter from Chili’s will serve about 6.  Generally bulk catering pans are a more cost effective way for the person catering the event and Waiter on the Way will setup the food in a buffet style so that when the event starts, your guests will be able to get the items they want with no effort on the person hosting the meeting.

4. Drinks and Personal Utensils

Something else to keep in mind when catering an event, includes the drinks and personal serving ware such as plates, forks napkins and cups to facilitate the catering.  Drinks and serving ware can easily be overlooks after primarily focusing on the location, number of people attending, and food items that will be served.  Drinks are a fairly easy to cater, however it is important to check with the office that you will be catering to, to be sure that the correct beverages that were requested will be available.  For most caterings that Waiter on the Way delivers, we usually deliver about 2 to 3 times the amount of diet sodas to regular sodas.  For a smaller group of 10 guests, 1 2 liter of diet and 1 2 liter of regular soda should suffice, while larger groups may want to include a clear soda such as Sprite or Sierra Mist and even other options such as iced tea.

5. Presentation

Once you finally have the location, number of guests, food items, drink and personal serving ware established, the setup and presentation of the catering will be one of the final items to pay attention too.  Certain office locations that Waiter on the Way delivers to wants the catering setup in a specific way, while other locations do not have a preference.  If you are catering an event without using our delivery service, you would want to communicate with the office to see how they would prefer there catering setup.  If you prefer to use Waiter on the Way, all of this will be taken care of for you.

We hope that these main points of catering a business meeting have helped answer any questions that you may have had.  When customers use Waiter on the Way, they simply provide us with the location of the delivery, the number of guests, any specific food requests, and what time the event needs to be delivered, and we take care of getting the food from the restaurant on time and making sure that everything is setup when you arrive at your meeting.

If you have any questions, please be sure to comment below and we will answer them for you.