The Main Event by Memory Makers Event Planning, LLC

I was recently interviewed by Cater.com, a website dedicated to helping catering businesses improve their service and professionalism.  The published interview follows.

It's that time of year, time for personal and company Christmas parties followed by New Years parties; then it will be Super Bowl parties and more. Nearly every event includes food, much of it provided by a caterer. But how do you choose a reputable caterer who will enhance your event, not create unpleasant, and perhaps costly, surprises? The following tips will help. First, decide on your budget. Be sure to consider the cost of sales tax, gratuity and other incidentals, which can add as much as 24 percent or more to the food cost. Next, decide on the type and quantity of food you would like to serve. In this area we are fortunate to have a wide variety of catering choices, including Basque, Mexican, Italian, barbecue and more. You might serve a meal or perhaps you need only appetizers. If your party is casual and not too large, you might ask a caterer to drop off food rather than paying a server to stay during the event. Some caterers have alcohol or beer a...

We asked the caterer to provide tray-passed hors d’oeuvres during the cocktail hour, assuming that anyone in the catering industry knows how to serve hors d’oeuvres in that manner. Wrong!! Imagine our horror when the servers walked into the room (at an upscale venue) carrying large plastic trays used to clear tables. On each tray they had placed paper plates with one each of the four hors d’oeuves. A plastic fork was placed pitchfork-style in each plate. The servers walked around handing out their concoctions to the guests' horror. To make matters worse, later in the evening one of the servers, who had been carving prime rib, took off his chef’s coat and walked around in his undershirt. Less than a month later a different caterer sent only one employee to handle an event for nearly 100 people. The employee set three trays of hors d’oeuvres on a table then exited. When I asked him where the plates were, he said “They can use their fingers.” I then asked if he had brought plates ...