Luxury events catering can involve a number of different service styles, from plated dinners to grazing tables and mobile food stations. Each option has its perks and equally, pitfalls, so selecting one which one aligns best with your event’s needs will help ensure a smooth and successful food service.
Plated service
The epitome of formal dining, plated service involves waitstaff serving pre-portioned, individually plated meals directly to seated guests.
Best For:
- Formal Events
- Formal Weddings
- Corporate dinners
- Gala dinners
If You Want To:
- Control stock: easy for forecasting food orders
- Provide a formal environment: Ideal for upscale events where you want to create a sophisticated atmosphere.
- Control quality Every dish is perfectly plated, ensuring consistent quality for all guests.
- Provide a seamless dining experience: Since everything is served to guests, it’s a smooth, well-organised structure.
Things to Consider:
- Costs: Most expensive service style
- Staffing: Requires more trained staff
- Flexibility: Less menu flexibility for guests
- Less interaction: Guests may not have as much opportunity to mingle.
- Requires precise timing: All meals need to be prepared and served simultaneously, which can be challenging depending on the guest count.
Buffet service
This style is popular for events with larger guest lists or when you want to offer diverse options for different tastes and dietary needs. Buffets can range from simple spreads of salads and sides to elaborate displays with carved meats and multiple hot entrees. While tailored to more casual events, they can still be delivered with sophistication.
Best For:
- Large events
- Casual weddings
- Corporate lunches
- Casual gatherings
- Community events
If You Want to:
- Increase choice: Can provide a variety of food options all at once.
- Accommodate dietary restrictions: Although this may prove complicated for guests if not clearly signed.
- Variety: Guests can choose exactly what they want.
- Casual and interactive: Buffets create a relaxed environment where guests can easily move around and chat.
- Cost-effective: Buffets can sometimes be more affordable than plated meals, especially for large groups.
Considerations:
- Less formal: While buffets can be elegant, they often lack the formality and structure of plated service.
- Food management: Ensuring food stays at the correct temperature and is frequently replenished can be challenging, especially with large groups.
- Logistics and presentation: Can get messy, if not managed properly, so can look scruffy and disordered. If not structured properly this could also encourage long queus.
Mobile Carts and Stations
Multiple themed serving stations are set up around the venue, each offering different types of food or cuisines. Food stations offer a more dynamic experience, where guests can visit different stations around the venue to sample a variety of dishes. These can range from a Japanese sushi stations to a Mexican Burrito Trucks, or even a carving station featuring prime cuts of meat. You could also organise them in terms of courses. Offering light bites, heftier main meals, sweet treats and late night snacks.
Best For:
- Modern weddings
- Large corporate events
- Networking functions
- Cultural celebrations
If You Want To:
- Incorporate themed presentations: Opportunity to align to a specific theme, or offer micro themes at each station. Creates a more interesting event landscape.
- Offers variety and entertainment: Opportunity for diverse food options, catering to a variety of tastes and encouraging guests to engage.
- Reduce long lines: Multiple stations or trucks spread out minimise wait times and keep the event flowing.
Considerations:
- Bottlenecks: If one station is far more popular than others.
- Staffing: Need for multiple staff members for management across stations
- Orchestration: May require number of different contractors
- Costs: Higher setup costs than buffet style
Interactive Stations
To increase dynamism and activity, food stations offer you the chance to integrate engaging and interactive elements. This could be things like live teppanyaki, liquid nitrogen ice-cream carts, customised pizza and smoothie bowl stations. Offer personalised and customised cocktail bars in addition, to create a holistic and cohesive event experience. Guests can make build own drinks or rely on expert mixologists to create a bespoke cocktail tailored to their preferences.
If you want to:
- Supply luxury: Interactive, bespoke and live preparation will impress guests and increase the luxury feel.
- Create a dynamic and social atmosphere: Encouraging guests to engage and creating a talking point.
- Provided customisation: Guests can enjoy a tailored and personalised experience.
Cons:
- Logistics: This style requires more planning to ensure interactive elements are controlled well executed.
- Costs: Increased setup costs to ensure each station is properly set up and professionally staffed.
Grazing Tables
Grazing tables are expansive spreads of various foods, artfully arranged to encourage guests to sample and share a variety of snacks, charcuterie, fruits, cheeses, and finger foods. Often presented in a buffet-style layout, however incorporating grazing tables into a seated table plan can be a very effective solution for a relaxed and flexible dining experience.
Best For:
- Casual weddings
- Informal gatherings
- Garden parties
- Corporate functions
If You Want To:
- Create a visual feast: Grazing tables are beautifully presented, offering a stunning and photogenic display of a wide array of food.
- Have a relaxed seated dining experience: You can decide whether to stick to a table plan or promote a more fluid structure, promoting a relaxed, social atmosphere.
- Provide variety: With a range of items, guests can enjoy a little bit of everything and have as much or as little as they please.
- Offer flexibility: You can offer more traditional charcuterie and cheese spreads, but practically any cuisine can be used.
Considerations:
- Satisfaction: Without a main meal you want to provide enough so that guests can help themselves until they are satiated. This may be difficult to forecast for ordering and create waste!
- Temperature management: Many items on grazing tables, such as cheeses or meats, need careful management to ensure they stay at the correct temperature- this could be tricky on hot days!
- Allergies and dietary needs: It may be challenging to clearly label foods for allergies, so clear signage is important.
Tip: Incorporate themed elements or a visual style (e.g., rustic, modern, or floral) to match your event’s décor, and be sure to offer a balance of sweet and savoury options to cater to diverse tastes.
Canapés
Servers circulate through the crowd with trays of bite-sized appetizers or small plates.
Best For:
- Networking events
- Presentations
- Openings and Launches
- Cocktail parties
- Pre-dinner receptions
If You Want To:
- Provide Elegance: Offers a refined and sophisticated presentation
- Minimise lines: Avoids guests having to queue for stations
- Casual and flexible: This style works well for informal, standing events where guests are more focused on networking or conversation than a sit-down meal.
- Variety: You can offer a wide range of bite-sized treats, from savoury canapés to sweet desserts.
- Great for short events: If your event is not centred around a meal, cocktail receptions are a great way to provide light food.
Considerations:
- Satisfaction: May not be filling enough for main meal and may be coverage challenges in large venues.
- Allergies: Could be harder to monitor dietary requirements
- Less structure: A lack of formal structured service might not suit guests who struggle to jump between different groups.
- Tip: Pair the appetizers with signature cocktails or a well-chosen wine list to enhance the overall experience.