919.481.2366

One of the first posts on our Catering by Design blog in the fall of 2009 was about how to choose a caterer for special events. That was 2.5 years ago, so you might think that its content is outdated. The truth is it’s not. The basics of how people choose caterers for special events remains the same. Maybe a little more information finding is happening online. Maybe there are more directories which have reviews on caterers. But the basic ideas haven’t changed.

1. Friends’ Recommendations. Number one way people choose caterers, is through recommendations. We want to know that someone we know has already had a positive experience with a caterer. Our friends’ recommendations hold the most weight.
2. Vendor Recommendations. We at Catering by Design, often recommend vendors that can help our customers. We’ve worked with them. We’ve heard our customers talk about their experience, and want want you to be VERY happy with yours, so we will only recommend the ones we trust the most.
3. Online Searches. Who doesn’t look online for products and services. Yellow Pages the ubiquitous books that many of us grew up depending on, have gone online as well. Searching online can supplement the recommendations of your friends. You can also gather more information. Since we each have different preferences for budgets, menus, style, and more, we’ll need to qualify our friends’ recommendations to our own needs and desires.

Looking online can be overwhelming because of how much information there is. There are dozens of directories that list caterers. You can choose by proximity to you. By the most reviews. By the look of their website. By the way they answer the phone, or how quickly they get back to you.

We think you should choose a caterer by a combination of these ways:

• Ask your friends and family.
• Ask a vendor you’ve already chosen for their recommendation.
• Search online for additional information.
• Study the caterer’s website. Do they give you enough information to make your decision? Answer your questions?
• Review their social media sites and blog content. We invest time and money in our online content, because we know how important it is for you to be able to see more of what we do than can just be seen on a simple website, or in a brochure.
• We also think you should go with a catering company that feels like a good fit for you. Gather all the information you can find, and then call or visit the caterers and see who you feel the most comfortable with, who respects and listens to your wishes.
• You want to feel good about your choice, because you are trusting your caterer with your friends and family and business associates. Your events are important!

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Holly Springs, North Carolina is a growing town that Catering by Design visits frequently, providing catering services to the town itself, to the Chamber of Commerce and to businesses, for weddings and family events. Catering by Design is honored to have been chosen as the caterer for the Town of Holly Springs Annual Banquet for a number of years.

Catering by Design has catered weddings at:

• Bass Lake Retreat Center in Holly Springs
• Holly Springs Cultural Center

Other event venues in Holly Springs include:

• Hampton Inn & Suites Holly Springs at 1516 Ralph Stephens Road. 919-552-7610
• W. E. Hunt Recreation Center, and
• Devils Ridge Golf Club – which has its own staff and cuisine

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We’re Catering by Design, one of the premiere full service caterers in the greater Raleigh North Carolina region. Let us show you what we can do to make your next event wonderful. Call us at 919-481-2366.

Before you sign on the dotted line for a caterer’s services, be sure you understand these points:

• Budget. Know your budget and an approximate headcount. Make sure the caterer’s all in cost fits in with your budget. Ask if there are any other fees.
• Requests. Make a list of everything you want. Make sure you’re comfortable with anything they can’t provide.
• Pre-Approved Caterers for Venues. 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.
• Full Service Catering. Consider whether you want the caterer to coordinate the whole set-up, or just deliver the food, or something in between.
• Understand the Rules and Policies. Look at the website and learn about the caterer’s specialties, services,
  menus, policies and pictures.
• Licensing and Insurance. Find out if the caterer is licensed and insured.
• References. Ask for references and call them.
• Full Service Catering. Determine if the caterer can handle everything you want. Coordinating with more service providers can add to your stress.
• Understand Payment Due Dates, and any Additional Fees. Check out the contract, the amount for a deposit, the cancellation fees
  and related dates.
• Be Sure before you Sign. Make sure you feel confident about your choice before signing the contract.

Chef Greg Lewis says: “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.”

Did you know that very few wedding parties have a full champagne toast these days?

Are you fretting about choosing your wedding date?

It’s a big important day, with lot of people involved, so well worth fretting over.

What if it rains? What if there’s a hurricane? (One of our brides held her wedding on the day of a hurricane!)

And what if Mom can’t make it in time because of her surgery. (See our same day wedding catering story, Tracey’s mom was in England and just got her doctor’s release in time for the wedding in America.) Talk about stress, and then tremendous relief!

What if one of us gets sick, let’s hope not, what then? (Do you know about wedding day insurance? We talk to our brides and families about it, because face it, the only time you need to know about it is when you’re planning a wedding.)

What if there is a shortage of the special wine we want to serve? Do we need to order a few cases early just to be sure?

We’ve written about the difficult question of how to choose your wedding date in an earlier post but know this is an important topic to keep raising, especially because we have created a tool to help you plan with.

We recommend starting with these important people and places first:

Congratulations on your engagement, and on making progress in planning your big day.

You’re now looking up caterers to see which local caterer feels like the right match for you. You check out our menus and prices. You read about our services and our team. Maybe you visit our Facebook Page and check out our reviews.

You like what you see, so you call us for an appointment. You can’t meet during work hours, but you can make it for a 5:30 appointment. You put it in your phone calendar, and set your reminders.

Now what? You write down the questions you want to ask us. And look over the menus again, to think about what you might like.

Your caterer will also have some questions for you. It’s OK if you don’t yet know the answers, we’ll happily share our experience to make it easier for you to decide. But if you’re curious about what we’ll ask, we’ve prepared a list for you to look over.

One of the first questions we’ll ask about is your preferred wedding venue. Not every venue allows outside caterers. Catering by Design can literally cater at over 100 venues in the greater Raleigh area, but we need to make sure you’re choosing a venue where we’re a preferred vendor if you choose us for your wedding catering.

Here is the list of questions that we, and other wedding caterers, commonly ask their brides. Click here for a PDF of Questions about Your Wedding.