About Catering Menus

A catering menu is not the take-out menu from the local pizza and salad place. It's not the menu offered at the restaurant. It is a specially formulated menu of choices, listing food offerings and prices per person, either as a la carte items, or as part of a package. Many caterers and catering venues offer flexible menus that let you choose from column A, B or C. The menu may actually be a pocket folder with separate price and menu sheets for breakfast, lunch, dinner, appetizers or coffee.

Choices

If you are in charge of a big event, you will be creating your own menu from the food and beverage choices you are given by a private caterer or the catering manager at the location of your event. You will be selecting each item for the menu, depending on what style of meal you are planning: buffet or plated. Before you decide what menu you want, decide on how much time you have for the meal.

Time Spent

Plated meals, in which a server brings each course to the table on a plate, take about an hour and a half to two hours. So if your agenda includes a program requiring rapt attention and note taking, or audio visual materials best shown in the dark, allow for the full time before beginning the program. To trim the time somewhat, choose a cold salad that can be on the table when guests arrive, and start the program as soon as the entree plates are cleared and dessert is served.
Buffet meals take less time away from your program, as people can serve themselves and bring their plates to the table. Allow about an hour of program time for this meal, unless it is an informal breakfast, lunch or breaktime buffet. Then you can plan to begin the program while people are still eating.
Passed offerings are usually only offered at receptions or cocktail parties when hors d'oeuvres and appetizers are brought around on serving trays by the wait staff.

Breakfast and Brunch Break Menu

Your caterer is likely to offer you pre-packaged meal options for your breakfast or break time catering menu. It will be more cost-effective to select the continental breakfast package buffet, for instance, and then make choices of pastries, juices and fruits from within the continental menu. If you choose hot items such as omelets and hot pancakes, you can add hot breakfast stations.

Lunch Menu

For a cost-effective, efficient lunch menu, choose a "working lunch" package. This will be a buffet with cold prepared sandwiches, or make-your-own sandwiches with cold cuts, cheeses and breads. You can choose cold side dishes and desserts including salads and cookies. Boxed lunches let your caterer do all the preparation ahead of time, and guests will go through the line choosing from a selection of one or two lunches, such as ham sandwich, potato salad, fruit and cookie, chicken salad sandwich, carrot sticks, and brownies, or whatever menu you put together.

Dinner Menu

Whether you choose a buffet or plated dinner menu, think about including the specialty of the house if there is one. The Executive Chef will have preferences and signature dishes you can consider (ask to sample them!). On the catering menu sheets, you may see the per-person price breakdown for a three-course dinner package, and for four or five-course dinners. There are mix and match options too, where you could choose the plated dinner menu, and then choose menu items for a dessert and coffee buffet.

Appetizer and Reception Menu

For receptions, cocktail parties and mixers, look for the menu sheet with appetizers and beverages. The expensive way to do it is to have a wait staff pass these on foot. A buffet is less formal, more efficient, and less expensive, and can offer most of the same items. If you see a higher price on hot hors d'oeuvres on the menu, that's because they either have to be passed when hot, or kept hot on the buffet line.

Theme Menus and Special Needs

For a unique experience, choose items from a theme or ethnic food catering menu, especially if you are having your event in an appropriate venue. Mexican, Chinese, Italian and Thai foods all hold up well on a buffet line, or when plated and served. You may be able to select components from the catering menu, and let your guests build their own tacos, burritos, salads or meals from a buffet. In that case the catering menu may give you a package price for so many items, but let you choose the ones you prefer.

Especially for seated, plated meals, have an option for guests with special needs, dietary restrictions or even religious requirements. At the buffet, guests can simply choose not to have items they do not want to, or cannot eat.

Resources

• Top 9 catering menu considerations
• Planning the meals