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catering?

YoursTrulyYoursTruly
edited January 2013
I'm planning a small event in April and am starting to sort of wonder about catering. I'm not sure how much money we'll have to spend, but we definitely have to provide coffee and lunch. The shittiest end of the spectrum would be me going to Costco and getting some weird huge sandwich platter. Are there nicer options that would not cost insane amounts of money?

Just wondering if anybody has any hot catering tips, cheats, or suggestions

Comments

  • Loose_ThreadLoose_Thread
    I love Elephant's! Their catering department is really easy to work with, careful, and thorough. I would suggest calling them for a quote--you can look at their catering menu online and then just describe what you need from them on the phone. How many people? How much do you want to spend?
  • the_owlsthe_owls
    Whole Foods is also great for small events. Sandos, veggie/fruit platters, lil' salads, etc. They are very easy to work with.
    :)
  • YoursTrulyYoursTruly
    good suggestions! I'm not sure how much we will have to spend but it will be a very small amount. Like $200 max. I don't even know if that is doable at all.

    I think it will be like 20-30 people.

    Elephant's is a good call, we used to use them at my old job. I forgot about them!

    Currently getting quote from on-campus catering; pretty sure it will be way too pricey

    PLANNING EVENTS IS HARD
  • flossy_log_ladyflossy_log_lady
    I've used Kenny & Zukes, but my budget was unlimited.
  • lolololo
    We just had a lunch catered at my work through Kam and Kam.

    http://www.kamsfinefoods.com/Kams_Fine_Foods_-_Hawaiian_Northwest_Fusion/Kam_&_Kam_Catering_Co._-_Hawaiian_Northwest_Fusion.html

    It was good!

  • Loose_ThreadLoose_Thread
    well how many people is it
    maybe you can do it
  • YoursTrulyYoursTruly
    20-30 peeps I think
  • Loose_ThreadLoose_Thread
    You could do coffee/juice/bagels for $200 for 30 people with Elephant.... Ask someone at the student union what they do, or a dept. you know has a small budget
  • YoursTrulyYoursTruly
    also how do you figure out how many people to plan for?
    Technically it is a conference involving only 10 presenters. But like, you can't just serve lunch only to the presenters, can you? Maybe you can. Maybe you say "ok, lunch for presenters is in the next room, the rest of you [audience] can go fuck yourself, see you in an hour." If you can do this, then I think I have way more breathing room in terms of budget.
  • 12341234
    image
  • the_owlsthe_owls
    You can totally just lunch the presenters!
    Don't tell everyone else to go fuck themselves, just say that there will be an hour break and then whisk away the visiting whomevers for their fancy sandos.

    If people really want to chat and mingle with the presenters they can do that at the end of the day, right?
  • Loose_ThreadLoose_Thread
    Yeah you give the presenters lunch at noon in a nice room then you escort them to the hall where they do their talk. Or the other way around
  • MirandaJulyMirandaJuly
    Or, you say "Right this way, gentlemen!*" and open a door, and they walk through the door, but it's actually the exit door, like the ones at movie theaters, where you can't open it from the outside.

    *you would say "ladies and gentlemen" in real life, obviously. "Gentlemen" is just more succinct for the purposes of this joke.
  • LelandLeland
    edited January 2013
    Just get the conference started then run away somewhere and drink. (Pro tip: Turn off your phone.)
  • Loose_ThreadLoose_Thread
    edited January 2013
    How much to plan for.....if students are involved,more people will show up for food than will watch the presenter. My vote is to spend more money per person on the presenters only. Plus everyone is very status-obsessed in academia, right? So they may resent you if you give the same free food to the plebeians. If you are trying to enhance your reputation with the presenters, I bet they will appreciate a private luncheon.
  • swamp_knobbler_mahanswamp_knobbler_mahan
    I saw a sign at Ben & Jerry's that they do catering...maybe get ice cream for everyone?
  • LelandLeland
    In Seattle nowadays professional and community events often feature a big pile of Bahn Mai sammiches and a few spring rolls, some veg some chicken some pork. Pretty cheap! Lotta crumbs. But tasty!
  • the_owlsthe_owls
    Sparkling water is a very classy beverage option for lunch.
    Juice= breakfasty
    Soda= kinda gross, but maybe a few in case
    Plain water= too easy
  • Dr_William_HaywardDr_William_Hayward
    The PSU social practice program has been doing dinners for speakers with the grad students in the program separate from the talks they give to the public. I think LT is onto something, invite some people the presenters would like to meet to the private lunch or longer chat over food.

    There is a large tech meetup in Portland Lunch 2.0. It has used Nicholas, food + gallon tanks of sweet concentrated Turkish coffee and little plastic cups. Another Lunch 2.0 had someone I haven't tracked down for acres of Bahn Mais, vegie and non. I think the big coffee co from Seattle has cardboard tanks of coffee to go. The Portland UofO has a ton of sustainable, organic, local indy caterers they have worked with you could look into. Wonder if the various culinary schools could kick something out?
  • MirandaJulyMirandaJuly
    Acres of bahn mi sounds amazing.
  • Dr_William_HaywardDr_William_Hayward
    They had about 6-800 bahn mi's meat and vegie, in first class crunchy breads standing on their pointy ends in plastic tubs. Unfortunately the caterer, Lovejoy, closed right after.
  • LelandLeland
    I am so hungry right now. Where is YT's event? It's in April? I am camping out.
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