7 TIPS FOR HOSTING VALUE-DRIVEN EVENTS

By Keri Laman

Planning an event is a business transaction. Even if it’s as emotionally charged as a wedding reception, clients owe it to themselves to work with a budget. Budgeting for your event will provide your catering team a road map that begins with understanding what might be (or isn’t) possible.

Engaging a catering professional can save you money and keep you within those guidelines.

Hosting value-driven events allowed me to grow Tidewater Catering Group these past 20 years. It starts with being honest with clients, sharing my feedback and drilling down to what is really needed to bring their vision to life.

So, as you prepare for your next event, consider these tips.

Decide what the important elements (must-haves) of your event are

On some occasions, if your event is very small in scale, service staff may not be required to stay at your event. I oftentimes recommend a “set up/return to breakdown” scenario. When appropriate, this uses the budget for mostly food and lessens the labor costs. Food and labor costs are drivers, and there are many ways to masterfully navigate those costs while still enjoying a fantastic event.

Be open to options that might save you money

It is OK to ask “what can I do to trim back costs” without sacrificing the overall experience. A catering professional will have many recommendations and, once armed with those, you can decide which you are most comfortable with.

When collaborating with my clients, I ensure they understand the financial impact of their decisions and offer alternatives when appropriate. For example, requesting passed hors-d’oeuvres or a plated meal to a large group of guests requires more service staff and culinary staff than doing stationary appetizers and a buffet. It’s an efficiency curve, and that labor fee would certainly be in your proposal.

Don’t try to fit a round peg into a square hole

If the venue you’re selecting has a lot of restrictions that encumber the catering team and has limited resources (water and electricity on-site and nearby), inadequate workspace, and unreasonable unloading and loading access, be prepared to pay more for their services.

Set-up and breakdown logistics can add to labor costs as well. If the service team is unable to efficiently unload and access the ultimate event site, considerations should be made to simplify.

Similarly, choose a caterer local to your venue site.

Travel fees are a budget’s worst enemy. I prefer to keep our events within 45 minutes of travel each way.

Understand bar and beverage services

There is never a one-size-fits-all approach to beverage services. Ask your caterer to offer an on-consumption, non-alcoholic drinks setup for meeting-style events. Inquire about different several levels of alcoholic bar offerings for your event. Perhaps you only want to allocate $1,000 to the bar, and once that amount is reached, the guests will be required to purchase their own drinks. This can be both fiscally sound and a gracious gesture to your attendees.

Knowing your event timeline can have meaningful savings

Let’s say your event begins at 5:30 p.m. and ends at 7:30 p.m., and you have a one-hour speaker planned from 6:15 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. That leaves guests with only 30 minutes to enjoy the food provided. Always share the event agenda with your catering coordinator, as they know the best industry recommendation for the quantity of food needed to fulfill the event’s timeline.

Consider the general profile of your attendees and how it can relate to their food and beverage requirements

You are hosting an event and the profile of your guests must be a big consideration in planning the menu. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to please everyone’s dietary needs, given the myriad of personal eating requirements many of your guests will have. You cannot fill the table with every item on the menu, so what do you do?

Oftentimes, it’s a simple matter of choosing which items do not necessarily need to be offered for your full group. For example, you have a group of HVAC technicians that

are attending an all-day seminar and your attendees will mostly be men. You need to provide a hearty luncheon, but there are certain to be women attending, and the guest speakers are both vegetarians. Tell your catering coordinator this, and let them offer you suggestions.

In this scenario, I would offer a hearty hot meal with beef or chicken, a salad and two sides, but also perhaps a Mediterranean-style orzo pasta salad and bowls of grilled vegetables and hummus for a quarter or half of the group to ensure all bases are covered.

Also, consider dessert. Offer cookies for most, but a lovely fruit platter for half of your attendees works well, too.

Build a trusted relationship

Allow your caterer to build a strong rapport with you. Having a go-to catering team that has already worked with you will lessen your stress. In turn, they will not only know what’s important to you, but will also respect the bottom line and work diligently to provide you with the best advice in how to stretch your budget and achieve maximum results.

Keri Laman is owner of Tidewater Catering Group, Waterworks Café, Unity Café and Bayona Café, and can be reached at keri@tidewatercatering.com.