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.

Catering by Design has hosted many wine tasting dinners. With hundreds of wines available to choose from, guests really enjoy the chance to hear about and taste specially chosen wines.

A number of restaurants in the Triangle currently offer monthly wine tasting dinners and guests really like these dinners.

Consider having a wine tasting dinner for your next party or event.  At Catering by Design, we even chose to have a wine tasting dinner for a benefit event in December. We invited wine expert Bill O’Neill to introduce the five wines chosen to match each of the five courses. 

Wine tasting dinners are both fun and informative.

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.

Most people choose their caterer through recommendations from friends and family; through referrals.

Ask the people you know who they have used and can recommend.

You can also get suggestions from other service providers or venues, your event planner or the hotel you are considering for your event.

Searching in Google for “Catering, Cary, NC” or “Catering, Raleigh, NC” you will find local caterers in the Triangle area, many in business directories.

Looking at caterer websites can tell you a lot about the business.

But, getting the names of local catering businesses to consider is just the very first step:

• Know your budget and an approximate headcount.
• Make a list of everything you want.
• Check with your intended venue whether or not they have a pre-approved list of caterers, if they do, you may have to choose from that list.
• Consider whether you want the caterer to coordinate the whole set-up, or just deliver the food, or something in between.
• Look at the website and learn about the caterer’s specialties, services,
  menus, policies and pictures.
• Find out if the caterer is licensed and insured.
• Make an appointment with the caterer to discuss everything you want,
  including dietary preferences, or special needs.
• Ask for references and call them.
• Determine if the caterer can handle everything you want. Coordinating with more service providers can add to your stress.
• Check out the contract, the amount for a deposit, the cancellation fees
  and related dates.
• When you think you know who you want to go with, ask for a tasting session. This should be no charge.
• Make sure you feel confident about your choice before signing the contract.  You should have a good working relationship with the caterer you choose and they should be flexible enough to give you what you want, not what they want:  you are paying them.