5 Affordable Catering Ideas
Are you planning a major event? One mistake event planners make is avoiding catering altogether, deeming it “too expensive.” Catering doesn’t have to be expensive, though! In fact, there are plenty of affordable catering food ideas you can take advantage of.
Let’s take a look at a few of them.
1. All-Day Breakfast
One of the first options to consider is an all-day breakfast. Breakfast food is generally more affordable when compared to traditional lunch and dinner entrees. When you’re planning an event, send your guests a survey to determine if an all-day breakfast menu is the best option for them. Although this type of menu can be affordable, you should also ensure that it’s what your guests want.
2. Proper Portioning
In addition to building a cost-effective food menu, another way to save money is to ensure you don’t provide too much or too little food. Ordering too much increases food waste while ordering too little will leave your guests unhappy.
Be sure you keep track of everyone who RSVPs to the event. Of course, there will always be a few folks who forget to RSVP or those who RSVP and then don’t show up. Set a deadline for RSVPing, preferably a month before the event begins, and then use the total RSVP number when placing a catering order. Of course, it is always better to have a few extra meals available, but you don’t want to have two entrees or meals per person.
3. Time Is Money
Next, remember that time is money. For work events, start catering 30 minutes before the designated lunch time. Then, have the event run through lunch hour until 30 minutes after the designated time slot. Additionally, instead of doing an on-the-clock catered event during the workday, you may also consider a happy hour after work hours. Remember that time is your most valuable resource, and you must make sure that you use it wisely.
4. Choose Cost-Efficient Cuisines
As previously mentioned, breakfast foods are typically more affordable when compared to traditional lunch and dinner meals. However, there are some non-breakfast affordable catering options out there. For example, traditional Mexican or Chinese food are typically less expensive when compared to sushi. When you’re ordering catering, do your research and be sure to really look over every option that you have.
5. Buffets Over Boxed Lunches
Lastly, don’t forget to think about how the food is served as well. For more affordable catering, consider going with a large buffet. This allows people to get the exact amount of food they want instead of having to box up each individual lunch. Remember that if you go with boxed food, the cost of the packaging will be built in. If the catering company doesn’t have to worry about boxing up the food, then you might be able to save some money. A buffet is also better because it allows people to skip the food they don’t want to eat. When you order a lower quantity of food overall, you can save a significant amount of money.
Find Affordable Catering Options With Chef Raymone
If you are looking for affordable catering food ideas in Michigan, turn to Chef Raymone. We provide a wide variety of affordable catering services to individuals and businesses in the greater Michigan area. We also have plenty of custom menu options available for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as well as buffet options. Contact us today to learn more about our menus or to request a catering estimate.
