Ep#29 | Navigating event catering

So I think choosing food and beverage options is actually super fun. But if you do find managing catering quite overwhelming and you feel the pressure, then this episode is for you. And I'm going to share what's worked for me over the years and how I navigate it for my clients' events. Hey, I'm Jodie, event manager, business owner, educator, and podcast host.

I'm an introverted homebody, wannabe wine master, and I truly believe in the power of events to inspire, delight and ignite human potential. Every week I take you backstage into the wonderful world of business events and give you the insider scoop on how to take your events to the next level. Before we begin, I'd like to acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the traditional custodians of the lands where we live, learn and listen. Let's get into it.

One of the biggest challenges or decisions when planning any event is what to do with the catering. So what to order, how much to order, who has dietary requirements and making sure they're looked after, and how to make your budget stretch the furthest, but also not wanting to waste food by over-ordering. There's lots to consider and I think every event will be different, but today I want to dive into the world of event catering from my perspective as someone who's organized a lot of different events from, you know, just getting some catering delivered for a small board meeting through to large gala dinners for five or 600 people.

So I want to share the tips and tricks that I've learned and how I navigate making the most of your budget while making sure all of the guests have a good experience when it comes to the event food and beverages. So over the years, some of the questions that I get from people are, you know, we have a lot of no-shows. I never know how much food to order because we don't want to waste food or money. People saying we've got a few non-drinkers and I just feel like the beverage package is wasted on them, but I'm not sure what to do.

And then people asking the question of, is a few canapes enough? I don't really have budget. I don't know how many to order. So I want to dive in and answer those questions and give you my experience on working with venues and caterers to get the best outcome for everyone.

Because not only is catering often one of the biggest challenges or decisions that you have to make, it's also usually the biggest part of your budget, the biggest expense for your event. So we want to make sure we get it right, that we're selecting the right options for that particular event style and format, and also for the type of guests that we have attending. Just jumping in real quick to let you know that this episode of the Events Insider Podcast is brought to you by Events Academy, an online platform with so many resources to help you plan business events with confidence and creativity.

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So head to eventsacademy.com.au and download the checklist today. Okay, so I think choosing food and beverage options is actually super fun.

Maybe less so if it's a conference with like a set package that you just have to go with. but if you do get to do a nice dinner event or a seated lunch event, I personally love going through the menu options and selecting the food and the wines. I feel like it's definitely one of the more fun sides of planning events, you know, for all the stressful and boring parts, being able to select the catering makes it really fun and definitely always makes me hungry too. But I totally get that it can be overwhelming for some people.

You know, if you're not really passionate about food or you don't really know anything about wines, it can be super overwhelming to choose what to serve especially if you have really VIP guests And if that you I definitely recommend enlisting help and I talk about that a bit later But if you do find managing catering quite overwhelming and you feel the pressure, then this episode is for you. And I'm going to share what's worked for me over the years and how I navigate it for my clients' events.

Now, as I said before, catering is often the biggest part of your event budget. So depending on the type of event you're planning, the catering can be anywhere from 30 to 40% up to nearly 100% of your event budget. You know, there are some events where catering is literally the only expense that you'll have. Maybe it's a VIP client dinner, so it's all about the food and beverages and there's no other elements.

Or maybe it's an internal company event where you might have a lot of different elements to organize, but the only thing you need to pay for is the catering. And when we're spending often thousands of dollars on catering, we want it to be really good. Now, if someone tells you you need to spend a certain percentage of your event budget on food, I think they're wrong. There is no set guide.

It's completely up to you and the type of event you're planning as to how you allocate that budget. So the first thing I want to share is around how many people to cater for and managing any no-shows. Now, unfortunately, again, there is no set percentage that I can tell you, like always cater for 10% no-shows. It doesn't work like that because it depends on a few factors.

So firstly, is the event free to attend or is it a paid ticket event? Because you're going to get a much higher no-show rate if it's free to attend because they're not as invested. It doesn't matter to them if they show up or not. There's no skin in the game.

Secondly, are the people attending known to you and the company or are they just like randoms. Because if they're clients or staff or suppliers, then they're more likely to show up because they know you and no one wants to be that person that just doesn't show up. And lastly, what's in it for them or what would happen if they didn't show up? So for example, a company mandatory training event, most people are going to show up because it's mandatory.

But maybe a lunch event where, you know, it'll just be a lot of speeches and there's nothing really in it for the attendee, you know, you might get quite a few no-shows, especially if they haven't paid to attend. So how do we navigate catering for that? Well, I would consider those factors that I've just mentioned and decide whether you think you're going to have a high or low no-show rate. Then I would look at past events and use them as a guide.

So if you've run that event or a similar event before, hopefully you've kept a record of how many people registered and then how many people actually showed up on the day. So I have one client where we send out 1000 invitations, which seems like a lot. And then we only get about 400 or so RSVPs, but then we only get about 300 people show up on the day. So it's still a lot, but that's a lot of no-shows because it's a purely free social event.

Now they've run that event for many years. So we now know exactly what to expect each year. It's about the same. And so it's easy to know how many people to cater for now.

So I recommend looking at past data and similar events as a guide for what you can expect to happen and how many people you should cater for. Now, on the other hand, I've run other events where we've gotten 300 registrations and only about five no-shows because that was an expensive ticket to attend. My general rule is that if people have paid for a ticket, then I cater for them. So events where people buy a ticket, I will cater for that exact amount of people.

So those events I find are a lot easier. And the last thing I'll say about managing catering numbers and no shows is that it obviously much easier to cover yourself when it like a cocktail event as opposed to a seated meal I would be very wary of under when it a seated event The last thing you want is to have not enough seats for everyone. So unless you're very confident based on past data, I would usually cater for the full number of RSVPs when it's a seated event. But for cocktail events, you can definitely get away with less if you think you'll get quite a few no-shows.

Okay, the second thing I want to talk about is beverages and specifically beverage packages. Now, I'm super passionate about this because I know when you've got an event with alcohol, it can get really expensive really quickly. But also because as someone with a keen interest in wine, I am also very passionate about serving good beverages and not wasting all that budget on drinks that no one is going to enjoy. Now, I do want to preface this by saying that I love event venues and I love catering companies.

They're amazing. But the reality is that beverage packages are designed for the venue or caterer to cover themselves, right? So they're banking on you not drinking that much and therefore they're going to save money in product. Now, there's nothing bad about that.

At the end of the day, they're the ones taking the risk in saying that they'll provide unlimited pours of whatever's included in the package. But there are three reasons that I think you should reconsider booking a beverage package. Number one, I would argue that they are a waste of money for 90% of business events. Now that is not hard data.

That is just what I think based on my experience. And unless we're talking about a company Christmas party or some other really boozy social event, most people don't go crazy at business events. Not only that, but odds are you're going to have a bunch of people who don't drink alcohol at all at your event. So whether they're just on a health kick or it's a long-term personal preference, they're pregnant or they have to drive.

So if you've got an event for say a hundred people where the beverage package is $70 a head, and let's say 10% aren't drinking, that's $700 wasted because you've had to pay per person for the beverage package. Number two, beverage packages often have lower quality beverages in the package than you would otherwise be able to select to serve. So if you don't opt for a package, you can select higher quality wines and beers or even add spirits or a cocktail, which is only going to make it a better experience for your guests.

Now, in my experience, when I've done beverages on consumption rather than a package, even if I've selected more expensive wines, I've still ended up saving overall. And sure, not everyone cares or knows the quality of the beverages, but for those that do, they'll appreciate and remember the caliber of your event. And the third reason you should consider opting against a beverage package totally relates back to what I was saying at the beginning with catering for no-shows. And that is that a beverage package is prepaid.

So if you have 10, 20, 50 people not show up, that's a lot of money wasted. But if you budget for X amount per person on beverages that you'll pay for on consumption at the event, if those people don't show up, sure, it's annoying, but you've just saved yourself all that money. Other people can eat their food but with a beverage package no one else can drink their drinks. So all of that is to say I strongly encourage you to consider whether it's right for your event and not just to default to doing it because it's the norm or that your venue encourages it.

A beverage package absolutely provides you with certainty and ensures that you don't overspend on the day so it might be the right option for you but definitely take some time to consider all of your options. Okay, the third and final thing I want to talk about when it comes to managing catering for your event is knowing how much is enough We don want to over and waste food but we don want our guests to go hungry either So how much food do we need Well there are a few things that we need to consider.

Firstly, what time of day is the event happening and how long is it going for? So is it over a meal time where people would be hungry and expect to be fed a proper size meal? Or is it kind of an in-between time and therefore you might only need to provide like refreshments or a snack. So that's the first thing is the timing of the event.

Secondly, we need to consider what we're communicating to people. So have we said, or are we going to say something like, join us for dinner? Then obviously we need to provide the equivalent of a dinner size meal. Or are we saying something like nibbles and a drink will be provided?

In which case we can get away with less food and lighter food options. So think about what you're communicating to guests and how you're marketing the event. And lastly, we also need to think about who is coming to our event and the importance of the event and the guests. So how much do we need to wine and dine them?

Or is that not super important and we just need to provide something? So this comes back to your event objectives and of course, what budget you've got to work with. One thing I will say is that I think food stations are a really great option, either on their own or paired with canapes or a seated meal later on. because a food station means there's immediately food available for people.

They can see the food. And when people can see food, they're not going to walk away going, oh, there wasn't really much food at that event. So having the food visible is helpful. And then it also allows those who are hungry to take what they want.

And those who aren't, aren't forced to eat because it's been put in front of them. So food stations are a great option for catering to different types of people. They're also often not priced per person. So you've got flexibility with how many people are coming to your event and how many you pay for.

So it all comes down to ordering your catering and how much to order. Don't feel like you always have to go with the set packages. Think about what's going to work well for the format of your event and get creative and build your own package or mix it up with a few different options. So I hope that was helpful.

I know catering can be overwhelming and it's such a big expense for your event. but I think sometimes we fall into the trap of just picking a package and paying for that number of people who register because we don't have time to think about it and that's the easiest thing. But if we can take some time to consider a few different scenarios, look at a few different options, think about the purpose of our event and who's coming, then I think we can not only provide a better food and beverage experience for our guests but also actually save money as well which we can use on other areas of the event to make it even better.

So I'll quickly recap what we talked about. So we talked about how to cater when you're going to have no-shows and the factors that are going to influence how many no-shows you can expect so that you're not wasting money catering for them. Then we talked about beverages and beverage packages and the three reasons why you might want to reconsider doing a beverage package. Again, nine out of 10 times, this will save you money that you can use towards other things for your event.

And lastly, we talked about how much catering to order and the three things to consider to understand how much food you should order for your event and also why you might want to think outside the box a bit rather than just doing set packages. If you have any questions or you want my advice on an event you're planning, then DM me on Instagram and I would love to help you out. But thank you for listening and until next time, happy planning. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Events Insider Podcast.

If you loved it, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, share with your friends and I'll chat to you next week. Bye!