We’ve had the opportunity to cater a number of golf related events, most recently breakfast, lunch and a fancy dinner for a golf tournament at the 12 Oaks Golf Club for 12 Days at 12 Oaks.

Usually these events are in a club house close to the golf course.

But we also do outdoor catering for golf events.

Last year, we were delighted to be chosen to cater the hospitality suites at the SAS Championship. We set up our tent on the grass behind the grandstand, staged all the food and drinks there, and then rode in golf carts, carefully, stopping when the Quiet sign was up, careful about all the visitors, delivering the food and drinks to elegant hospitality suites on the Prestonwood Country Club Golf Course.

You can imagine how pleased we were to find out we were the finalist to cater this year’s championship event on the 10th Anniversary! See our press release about it.

March 6, 2010 marks Catering by Design’s 10th anniversary.

We’ve had ten good years. We’ve been part of very important events in people’s lives. We’ve helped businesses take care of their employees and customers with meals and break food. We’ve served lunch to hundreds of school children.

We’ve worked with thousands of customers through Weddings, B’nai Mitzvah’s, Conferences, Annual Banquets, Picnics, Anniversaries, Awards Dinners, Fairs, Business Meetings, Annual Parties, Birthdays, you name it, and we’ve probably done it.

We are proud to have reached this milestone, proud also that some of the staff who started with us ten years ago are still working with us. “Chef Luis Compos, for example,” said our owner, Greg Lewis, “started washing dishes. He was interested in the business and because we cross train, he had the opportunity to work just about every job there was. When he showed a strong interest in cooking, he trained with me to become a chef. I’m very proud of him and his work.”

Catering by Design’s Operations Manager is Steve Zapadinsky. He arranges the events, orders everything, handles all equipment and oversees loading of the vans.

Jen Hernley is Catering by Design’s Sales Manager. When you want to talk with us about a catering event, Jen is the one you’ll make an appointment with and then meet in person. She handles the event budget, the selection process for the menu and anything else we are asked to do, including any special needs.

We have a number of event coordinators who actually manage the events on site: Cheri Matisuf, Steve Gade and Steve Lombardo. They are reliable and thorough, and take care of Catering by Design’s customers at the event sites.

Earlier this year, the Holly Springs Chamber of Commerce selected Catering by Design as their Small Business of the Year Award for outstanding service to the community and chamber.

We’re thankful for the past ten years, for our team and our customers. Here’s to the next ten!

Here are a few ways you can get the most value from your caterers for your business.

Make an easy-to-read list of the caterers you use and their phone numbers.

Give them a call to make sure they’re still in business, and find out if any terms have changed.

Have a file for each one that includes answers to these questions.  

1. Do you have billing arrangements with them? What are they?
2. How late can you request food and still get it? 
3. Can they handle special requests?
4. What is their average cost per person?
5. What kind of presentation do they have?
6. Are there certain orders that different groups prefer?
7. Find out who to talk with if something goes wrong, someone who can make things right.
8. If there’s something else you need, ask for it.

Take notes on your experience with the caterers.

Lastly, consider calling some peers within your company and at other companies to expand your list of good caterers.

While you may know all of this because it’s part of your job, sometimes someone else has to fill in when you’re out. The more you have organized and written up, the more likely you can continue business without interruption, even exceed expectations.

Delivery service for pizza lunch on Fridays at high tech firms is one kind of catered meal, but that’s not what we’re talking about. We’re talking about attractive catered meals for business customers. We’re thinking of coffee and pastries for a breakfast meeting; croissant sandwiches and gourmet cookies for a working lunch, or your choice of three salads with French bread; and hot and chilled hors d’oeuvres for an early evening reception.

A nicely catered meal, with an attractive display, makes a simple meal an event. It inspires people, lifts the mood, gets people excited and talking about it, and changes the spirit in the room. When you want to make a good impression on your customers, your caterer can carry the day.

How are businesses affording catering these days? Flexibility.

Businesses are working with smaller budgets. If you’re flexible in working with them during these times, they’ll keep bringing their business back.

Talk to your caterer about your budget, generally they can customize a menu that will fit within your budget.

Here are some of the alternatives that people are asking for.

• Having the main part of the meal catered, while the employees bring desserts to share. (This is fine in one’s own business setting, but may not work in public venues)
• Having employees set up the event, decorations, tables, chairs, table cloths and place settings. The caterer brings the food and displays it, and then employees help with serving.
• Ordering less food.
• Ordering less expensive food.
• Not serving alcohol.

In business people say “you only get one chance to make a good first impression.”

Experienced people used to coach young people out of college to dress up and dress for their next promotion. Creating a good first impression is worth the extra effort.

At 7:30 one morning, a business man walked into a local cafe in Cary and picked up an elegant tray of gourmet pastries, wrapped in see-through wrapping with a bow. Someone asked him what the tray was for, so elegant at 7:30 in the morning.

“Whenever I invite a group of potential clients to my office for a presentation, I order a gourmet tray so I can make a very positive first impression with them. When it looks this good, they know I’m serious about valuing their time and their business.”

Marketing and event planners recommend making your clients’ experience of your business an event. Make it memorable. Make it distinct from other experiences.

A fancy lady’s boutique at Southpoint serves cold bottled water and fresh chocolate chip cookies to customers during the summer. A Chocolatier at Crabtree Mall offers a free chocolate. Grocery stores give away balloons to children. 

Quality catering is like a gift, it looks good, smells good and tastes good, leaving your clients with the impression that you care to treat them well. It doesn’t have to be expensive to give everyone a great experience.

Many businesses are eager to reduce un-necessary expenses in these times, and while they could bring in home cooked hors d’oeuvres or brownies, the impression that an attractive presentation by a caterer makes is much more professional. Maybe it’s no longer shrimp from the Gulf that is served, maybe it’s a fresh quiche with seasonal fruit.

Talk with your caterer about your budget and the kind of experience you’d like to give your clients, and see what suggestions they may have.