Catering event for 1st time. How should I prepare?

After helping out with a few events over the years, with one of the places that we hold events renovating but removing almost all of the catering/serving gear in the process, some additional suggestions from someone who's still a novice:

• Try to visit where you'll be serving the food in advance, to make sure that you're familiar with the facilities, and what they have available vs. what you'll need to provide:

  • How will the place be laid out on the day of the event? (so you don't get surprised to find that there's a christmas tree set up in an area that you were expecting to use, or that they now have fewer tables and chairs ... or that they have a 'standard' setup, and you'll have to get there early to re-arrange the room)
  • Will there be fridge space available, or do you need to work from coolers?
  • What is available for heating things (oven, microwaves, grills, etc. ... if multiple microwaves, and you're the first group since their renovation, make sure they know where the circuit breakers are so you don't have to wait an hour because they put them both on the same circuit)
  • Do they have chafing dishes, tongs, sheet pans, serving spoons that you can use, or do you need to bring your own?
  • Can you wash up on-site, or do you need to make provisions for transporting lots of dirty dishes?
  • How early can you arive to begin setting up? Can you bring stuff by the day before?
  • Where can you park to unload? Can you keep the vehicle nearby (either w/ backup supplies, or if you need an emergency trip)
  • When do you need to clean up / leave by?
  • Do they have cleaning supplies, or do you need to bring those, too?
  • What are you responsible for cleaning up, and what's covered by the hall rental?
  • Do they have trash and/or recycling services, or do you need to remove it yourself?
  • Do you need to reset the room back to the way it was when you got there, or break down all of the tables & chairs?

• Make labels for the food, possibly with ingredients. It really slows down the serving line when someone with a food restriction has to sit there and try to figure out what something is and if there's a something in it that they're avoiding.

  • If you're not expecting people to grab a little from every dish, make sure that the labels are large enough to be seen from a distance, so people can survey the offerings before getting in line.

• Once you figure out what you need to bring, consider how you're going to transport it all:

  • If you need to bring large things like tables.
  • If you need to transport cold or hot things (and keep them cold or hot)
  • What can be packed the night before vs. packed the day of the event.
  • What order it's going to need to come out (tables at the bottom kinda suck)

• Consider bringing containers for leftovers. (most people don't want to take home a large tray of food; they're more willing to deal with manageable portions).

• Consider traffic flow:

  • If trying to serve lots of people, pull the buffet tables out from the wall, and let people form a line on either side.
  • Try to place the buffet line such that you're not going to have to walk through the line of people waiting when you're going to refresh a pan.
  • Place silverware, napkins and drinks at the far end of the buffet line (so people don't have to try to juggle them while they're serving themselves, or go back when they decide that they really did need a spoon).
  • If you can, set up an area for drinks separate from the one for buffet line.
  • Place condiments after the dish they're expected to be used on, in a separate space from the dish itself. (so people don't take twice as long at that dish if they want to doctor it up)
  • Place any food for people with restricted diets towards the end of the line. If you place it first, people will try it out of habit, so it'll run out way too early, potentially not leaving anything to eat for the people it was intended for.

• Plan for unplanned things:

  • Do you have someone else you can call if you need something brought to you? (If you're going to need two trips to move everything, holding one person back with the hot & cold stuff also lets them grab anything that might be needed after the first person assesses the location)
  • Are there shops nearby that you can go to if necessary?

• Even if they say that the tables are wipe-clean and don't need table cloths, bring some. Even if just for the buffet line. (because after you've spent however many hours preparing, setting up, serving, etc, you don't want to spend more time cleaning than you have to).