A family friend asked me to cater an event that she was hosting. It was a mid-morning event, primarily consisting of women. I got the impression that her goal was primarily to help me network and to (obviously) provide a great experience for her guests. My goal was to dazzle some new customers with visually stunning and mouthwatering food, all while avoiding the dreaded leftovers. Overall, I think it went well with a number of successes and a few lessons learned along the way.
Believe it or not, I actually managed the logistics pretty well! From packing out, to transportation and set up, it went pretty perfectly (even if transporting the food in the back of my Toyota Matrix was a bit nerve wracking). But of course, it wasn’t all smooth sailing. The greek yogurt parfaits took longer to assemble than I thought, and they didn’t exactly win any beauty contests. Lesson learned: piping bags and more time for on-site assembly are the secret ingredients for success. Or maybe just figure out another granola recipe that I can trust to stay crunchy if they are finished before the event.
The menu choices were on point, satisfying the taste buds of our esteemed guests. Well, mostly. Those romesco veggie cups were a bit of a letdown. Note to self: either revamp that dish or give it the boot. The punch should also be mentioned as something that could be improved upon. It was …fine at best? By the time I returned to pick up the serving platters, it had separated in a very unappealing way. While it was a bit of an afterthought, I absolutely cannot afford to make that kind of mistake again.
But, and here’s the kicker, I made way too much food. I was like, “Hey, I want everyone to be full and happy!” For a group of 35 people, I decided around 20 of each item was a good number; that way each person could have one of each type of item and a few people could come back for a second taste of each item if they chose to do so. Sounds simple and reasonable, right? Here’s the rub (which I distressingly did not consider beforehand): since there were two choices for each of 4 item types, that worked out to around 160 individual items. YIKES! That means each person would need to eat around 5 items. And, if I’m being honest, I ended up with even more than that originally planned 20 of each, particularly with the ham biscuits. TLDR; I went a tad overboard and ended up spending more money and time than I needed to, and many of the people ended up taking home lunch for their families with the leftovers. Great for their families, not so great for my bottom line. Oops!
Let’s talk about my service skills. Professionalism and politeness? Check. Warmth, effusiveness and magnetism? Not so much. I needed to turn up the charm. Some of this I can chalk up to stress… I was admittedly extremely nervous for my first real gig as a professional caterer. But the reality is that I need to play the part if I want to reach my goals. After all, this gig was all about leaving an impression and to make people want to hire me. Lesson learned: let loose, have fun, and leave ’em wanting more.
Honestly, when it came to the presentation, I think I knocked it out of the park! The food looked fantastic, except for those pimento cheese sandwiches.They weren’t problematic, but they were missing that “wow” factor. Note to self: next time, get fancy and use piping bags to create sandwich masterpieces. It’s all about the little details, my friend.
Now, let’s talk money. Budgeting? Yeah, that’s where things got a bit messy. Renting kitchen space nearly wiped out any earnings I might have had. Efficiency and right-scaling is going to be key here. Oh, and a friendly reminder to myself: crunch those numbers properly next time. Take the time to figure out actual costs of overhead and product; I can’t just rely on my instincts from working in restaurants here. “Do the work,” is a lesson I’ve learned time and time again… and it looks like this was another one of those times. Catering is an altogether different beast to restaurant operations, and I need to approach it with the respect and effort it deserves. Let’s not make enthusiasm and laxity my downfall.
The feedback from clients was overwhelmingly positive, but maybe a bit too polite. Next time, I’ll consider giving the guests a chance to unleash their inner Gordon Ramsay with some anonymous comment cards. Brutal honesty can be a powerful tool for improvement, right? Plus, if I add some optional lines for their name and email address, it can serve as a means of lead generation. After all, compound effort is key.
In the end, this catering gig was a delicious adventure filled with little victories and valuable lessons. I’m all about growth; with this experience (and all those to come after), I’m ready to take on the world one catering event at a time. Constant, consistent improvement is what it’s all about!
Side note: take pictures with better lighting.