19. 10. 2022 How to choose a catering service not only for a wedding

However, it may happen that your chosen location does not have a restaurant or you want to arrange the food and drinks yourself. In this case, you will need top-quality catering. In the following lines, we will advise you how to recognize a truly quality catering service and what to avoid when choosing a caterer.

Guide to choosing a catering company

Not sure how to navigate the wide range of catering services? Don't despair. To make the selection process easier, we've summarised the basic criteria you should look for before ordering any catering.

1. Quality of ingredients

Quality ingredients are the absolute foundation of any tasty meal. Therefore, when deciding between different catering companies, be sure to ask what ingredients a particular company works with and from which suppliers they source them. Above all, freshness and provenance should be your priorities.

2. Variety of dishes

Whether you're organising a corporate party, wedding, prom, conference or family celebration, expect that there will always be guests with different diets, intolerances, or perhaps vegetarians and vegans. For this reason, you should also pay attention to how varied a range of dishes the catering company is able to provide. At the very least, you should be able to prepare a meat-free and gluten-free menu, or perhaps children's portions. Ideally, then, the catering service can cover a variety of dishes, from traditional home-made broth, to beef tartare and sea bass, to avocado guacamole or tofu.

3. Comprehensiveness of service

Another important criterion is the comprehensiveness of the services offered. It is a huge advantage if the catering company can provide not only excellent food, but also, for example, service, decoration, cleaning after the event or the possibility to taste the menu in advance. Believe that organizing a social event is sometimes not a piece of cake, and if you had to deal with different providers, you would unnecessarily add work.

4. Reasonable price

When choosing a caterer, you can't forget about the price. It's important to know that even with limited financial resources, you can do quite a lot with the help of the right catering company. Don't be afraid to ask the provider if they offer any economy packages or other bargains. If they do, you're in business. Otherwise, keep in mind that less is sometimes more with catering. So, choose a few carefully prepared dishes made with quality ingredients that will leave you covered in dust, rather than a wide range of dishes for a few crowns that won't impress your guests and will leave you with plenty of leftovers.

5. Personal touch

Can you imagine if you've been arranging your event with a certain person all along, but in the end someone else is catering for you? We can't either. Such situations occur especially when a company is catering for many different events in one day. To avoid having to worry about problems and misunderstandings as a result of poor organisation, we recommend looking for a personal approach from the catering service.

6. Professional service

The goal of good catering is to provide top-notch care for guests at a social event of any kind. This includes not only the delivery of food and drink, but also the coordination of the event. To ensure that everything goes as it should, the service provided by the catering company must be as professional as possible. This applies not only to the experienced chefs, but also to the other staff whose job it is to ensure that guests do not miss out on anything throughout the event. Require the catering company's staff to be trained, courteous and passionate about their field.

7. Venue

Often, people choose to hold an event at a venue that does not allow self-catering, or is pre-arranged with one particular catering company from which you can order services. In the latter case, this is known as catering company exclusivity.

This can sometimes be an advantage, as such an approach will make it easier for you to decide and arrange. However, if you are not comfortable with the catering services with exclusivity, you need to look for another venue or try to arrange an alternative solution for a (considerable) fee. If you are considering what premises to hold your social event in, be very careful of such conditions.

8. Distance of the venue from the company's headquarters

Another issue to think about is the origin of the catering company, or where the company will be coming from and to. Here again, we will partly come back to the price of catering.

This is because it's good to remember that the distance between the catering company's headquarters and the venue of your event can have a significant impact on the overall price of the services provided. If someone orders catering from Brno, the price will probably be higher than if they use the services of a local company. Remember also that while some companies only offer services in a certain area, others operate all over the Czech Republic with either fixed or varying prices.

9. Communication

In order to make your birthday party, babyshower or wedding a successful and memorable one, you will need to plan it in detail in advance. Therefore, be prepared to communicate frequently with your chosen catering company and ideally it should be a pleasant affair for you. This will be helped if the catering management is polite, helpful and reliable.

10. Customer testimonials

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, before you make a confident decision to book a particular catering service, try to find as many reviews and experiences reflecting customer (un)satisfaction as possible. References can tell you, first and foremost, whether the services offered are true to life. Reviews often include photos or videos, which can help you to be a little more confident in your choice.

Why choose Chateau Catering?

Complete catering services, countless satisfied customers and years of experience - all this and more is Zámecký catering. We are a Czech company that has been providing catering services since 2001. We are happy to take care of your banquet, cold and hot buffet, cocktail bar, garden party and we are not afraid of fine dining or banquet.

For future spouses, we offer our popular Turnkey Wedding service, where we will plan your wedding from A to Z. We will provide your dream wedding location and outstanding catering including professional service. But in addition, you will be able to turn to us for the choice of rings, wedding dress or perhaps a suit. Of course, we can also provide the formal decorations, DJ or band, guest accommodation and final clean-up. Read more about what a castle wedding can look like with our help.

Unlike most of our competitors, we pride ourselves on a personalised approach and follow the 1 day = 1 event rule. Your satisfaction is our number one priority, so we will always be on hand. Only experienced professionals with a love for their work are part of our team. Our wide reach is also a great advantage.

See which cities in the Czech Republic you can order Chateau Catering to:

• Catering Prague
• Catering Hradec Králové
• Catering Pardubice
• Catering Kutná Hora
• Catering Kolín
• Catering Jičín
• Catering Chrudim
• Catering Čáslav
• Catering Poděbrady
• Catering Mladá Boleslav
• Catering Nymburk
• Catering Nový Bydžov
• Catering Přelouč
• Catering Hrádek u Nechanic
• Catering Dobřenice

If you are interested in the services of Zámecký catering, please do not hesitate to contact us via phone number +420 601 301 601 or email address info@zamecky-catering.cz. For more inspiration, we recommend you to pay attention to our other blog articles, in which we advise you how to change the menu for a warm buffet or what must not be missing at the wedding buffet. A lot of useful information is also waiting for you in the section References, where our customers describe how they were satisfied with Zámecký catering.