More on Catering vs. Full-Service Catering

Full-service caterers can set out a beautiful buffet.

I’ve written in the past about the difference between “catering” and “full-service catering.”  After working with a couple of not-full-service caterers recently, I have a few more thoughts.

As I’ve said before, any restaurant, chef, or catering company can do “catering.”  That might be as simple as bringing big foil pans of food to your location and dropping it off–along with paper plates and plastic forks.  Especially when restaurants say that they do “catering,” often they mean only that they can make quantities of food for a crowd and bring the food to you.

There are also companies that cater parties–and some even bill themselves as “full-service”–that will cook, bring the food to you, serve it, and even do some of the clean-up.  They are almost always less expensive than the real full-service caterers.  The reason they can afford to cater for so much less is that they agree to be at your location for a specified amount of time–just enough to set out the food, serve, clean up, and go.

If you hire a full-service caterer at full price, in addition to taking care of the food, they will also show up early enough to set up the furniture (for both the ceremony and the reception, if it is a wedding); put the tablecloths on the tables; set the tables; move furniture, as needed; and stay until the very end of the party to clean up the room and put everything away.  Another advantage of a full-service caterer is that they will take care of rentals, including dishes.  You don’t have to have paper plates at your party or wedding.

Another thing I like about full-service caterers is that the bartenders are also their staff, and that means that there are no miscommunications between the caterer and the bartending staff.  It means that all the necessities for bartending will be available (ice, lemons, limes, and so on) without any last-minute trips to the store.

While I prefer to work with full-service caterers, I do understand that sometimes it makes sense to use a caterer who offers fewer services.  The best way to handle a caterer who doesn’t offer all the needed services is to facilitate communication between your caterer, your bartender, and your planner or coordinator to make sure that nothing is missed.