caterer.....savings or BAD idea?

[ladykemma]

if i were to cater your wedding and had full use of your kitchen for two days, and five "your good friend" helpers: i could make your breakfast for 4-5 dollars per head.

chinet plates, good plastic utensils, quality paper napkins, white plastic roll table coverings, coffee cups, drink cups, stirrers, dessert plates, dessert foks

herbed chicken crepes
baked frittata with bell peppers, hollandaise on the side? some with ham, some not? or quiche
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french bread, butter (Have the baker slice the bread)
fruit, preferably watermelon cut into chunks. or cantaloupe (night before)
tossed green salad
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wedding cake (someone else would do the cake, not me.)
cuppa cuppa cuppa from steel magnolias (like a peach cobbler, $1 per pan need six pans
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OJ, water, mimosas, sweet mint tea
coffee, tea, cream sugar, sweetener

LOW STRESS
Herbed chicken crepes: make chicken goop well in advance, freeze, transport. make crepes well in advance freeze, transport. heat crepes and chicken stuff in roaster oven. guests assemble thier own. needs three hours start time to heat through. one 18 qt roaster oven full would be plenty.

HIGH STRESS
baked fritatta with green peppers: serves 48 (need 1.5 recipes)
need 12 aluminum pans and a neighbor's oven OR do this in a roaster oven, like scrambled eggs. defintiely needs a test batch.
saute 12 lb onions with 1 lb grenn peppers in olive oil. 60 eggs scrambled in large bowl. mix together cooled onion mix, your choice of cheese (suggested parmesan) 6 oz, salt pepper, 4 oz herbs of choice. pour two oz of melted butter into each pan, spoon mix into pan, bake at 350 for 20 minutes (edited to add, if for any reason meal was delayed, this dish would be lousy of served cold or overdone)

QUICHE would be LOWER STRESS. make quiche in advance, cook halfway, freeze, transport, finish cooking on site before wedding. no one cares if quiche is cold.

bacon and sausage will blow your budget.
strawbery shortcake will blow your budget.
orange juice might blow your budget.

Sweet tea: This might be too southern, 1 jar lipton or generic unsweetened instant tea carefully measured into a 45 gallon cooler, ice, water, sugar, 1 tsp mint extract. cost 2 dollars.

have to go hunt down cuppa recipe.

back later

 

[rainbowtrout]

cuppa cuppa cuppa?

It's clearly been too long since I last saw Steel Magnolias..

OK, I'm copy and pasting all this info into a doc for later referance when caterer hunting...assuming they can legally get the run of my kitchen for two days.

Helpers could presumably either be people who work for the caterer OR me, FI, and the grandparents...



I hadn't even thought about how expensive OJ, bacon, and strawberries are in quantity! Good point.

A lot of the guests will be Southern, sweet tea is fine.


Thanks LK!

 

[ladykemma]

Date: 2/4/2007 5:16:31 PM
Author: rainbowtrout
cuppa cuppa cuppa?

It''s clearly been too long since I last saw Steel Magnolias..

OK, I''m copy and pasting all this info into a doc for later referance when caterer hunting...assuming they can legally get the run of my kitchen for two days.

Helpers could presumably either be people who work for the caterer OR me, FI, and the grandparents...



I hadn''t even thought about how expensive OJ, bacon, and strawberries are in quantity! Good point.

A lot of the guests will be Southern, sweet tea is fine.


Thanks LK!

well, i would be cooking as a friend, not as a caterer. but most caterers will just show up that morning or the night before to deliver everything. a professional breakfast like this would be about 15 dollars per head to cover costs.

don''t look too closely at legalities....they will need your kitchen.

 

[aljdewey]

Date: 2/4/2007 2:28:31 PM
Author: ladykemma
ok i trust this caterer. do-able menu with prep in advance. this cateter is realistic, quiches, and most of the food could be prepared the night before. and fee is reasonable. this would need a five person staff to pull this off.

edited to add: this caterer screams ''experienced in cooking for crowds'' to me.

Folks, while the caterer may be experienced, this one is WAY too far away.

Plymouth is on the south shore of Boston - it''s more than an hour and a half away. Not a realistic choice from a distance point of view. It''s like expecting someone from NYC to cater your event in Philadelphia....not doable.

 

[Finding_Neverland]

Date: 2/4/2007 3:56:37 PM
Author: ladykemma

Date: 2/4/2007 3:36:15 PM

Author: Finding_Neverland

My daughter works banquet service for a large Hotel here in town. I had her look at your menu. She said there''s nothing on your menu that isn''t doable. But it''s really gonna depend on the company/caterer you choose.


Her hotel serves those same foods on breakfast/brunch buffets they do for events. Everything is prepared 2-3 hours in advance of the event and held in ''hot boxes''. Basically, while the crew is working setting up the tables and chairs, the food is being prepared and held. Then the food is brought out to the buffet chaffers in stages. As needed, extras are prepared in the kitchen.


I was really surprised she said that. I expected eggs benedict, french toast, and crepes would get soggy or leathery on standing. But Daughter says they do it all the time.


As for getting extras prepared in your kitchen,.......... That could be a problem. The kitchen where you''re having your reception would probably have to pass a County Health Codes inspection. Generally, when people run small food businesses from home, they have to have one kitchen for family use and a seperate kitchen for commecial foods prep.


So preparing extras at the house may be an issue. Definitely something to address with any caterers you contact. One way to get around that issue is to gross up your food amounts a certain %. You''re anticipating say 50 people,....... Just order 5-15 extras of some things. Or 10%-30% extra of some items. Caterers have a very good feel for which items will go more than others and should be able to accomodate you in that area.


The friend offering to help with the food is a nice gesture. But when you figure you''re gonna have to do set up, come up with chaffing dishes, serving wear and servers,.......... Overall, I''d think it would be best just to hire a professional caterer. Someone who can do a ''turn key'' operation, start to finish. Then, all you have to worry with is tables and chairs for your guests and serving tables for the food.

there''s a big difference in a caterer who drives to the site and sets up, and a full blown restaurant with a full kitchen and a full staff on site.


when i cook for crowds i say to myself, ok how am i going to cook this, transport this, assemble this, and keep it warm, while not getting anyone sick? and how many helpers will i need? i usually transport frozen the night before and allow to thaw overnight.

We''ve had dinners, BIG dinners, catered at our house before. Smaller parties of 50 guests to larger events like a graduation party of nearly 200 people. By restaurants who have catering capabilities.

What''s happened for us is,.......... They send the prepared food in a big truck. A box style truck. One side of the box section in the back is for hot foods. The other side is for cold foods. Dishers, flatware, table clothes, chaffers, the whole she-bang, in a cargo area in the very back end. We designated a time for delivery and set-up.

Generally, we''ve had the caterers come about an hour before the dinner is scheduled to start. Gives the caterers time to get the food set up before people start to arrive. The only thing we''ve ever had to do is provide tables for the set-up. They put out table clothes on the food service tables. Set out the chaffers, the food, serving dishes, flatware and such. You can decide whether you want them to serve of if you''ll handle that part. When the food service time is over, they pack up, load everything back in the truck, and leave.

I''d think if we have restaurants here that have that capability, other areas would as well. One of the restaurants we had cater a graduation party, one of our largest events, they came from a little over an hour away. If the restaurant isn''t too, too far away, they might take the job. Just depends on how they are set up for catering.