If you are hosting a party, one of the first things you will want to ask yourself is, "should I have a buffet or seated dining at my event?" There are several pros and cons that come along with both types of seating and it will depend on the specifics of your party as to which type will be best suited. For now, let's explore a few tips you can follow to help you pick the best type of seating for your next event.
Tips for Choosing the Best Dining Option for Your Next Event
There are three main things to keep in mind when choosing between seated and buffet dining. The first is your budget. Seated catering is going to cost more than a buffet event. The second thing you will want to consider is the venue. If you are hosting the event in a venue that is grand, then seated catering is going to be the best choice.
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And lastly, you will want to consider the style of food you want to serve. If you want a large selection of foods and you aren't concerned with upholding a great amount of formality, then a buffet will be best suited to meet your preferences.
Seated Catering Options
When you take advantage of seated catering, this means a plate will be served to your guests and there will be no need for them to get up and serve themselves. As you can imagine, receiving this type of service can make a person feel very special because they are literally being waited on hand and foot.
Seated catering is especially ideal for weddings and big corporate events and it tends to be paired with extreme decorations and a grand venue. Most people view this type of seating as professional and fancy, making it the go-to choice if this is the atmosphere you are trying to create.
Seated catering can take place in one of two ways. With the first way, your guests get to choose between two or more entree options. If you opt for this way, you'll need your guests to RSVP well in advance with their preferred entree option to ensure the catering service provider has properly prepared the right amount of each dish. If you have multiple guests who fail to RSVP, this can make the actual event quite stressful.
The other way seated catering can take place is by not giving the guests an option for their entree. You will, however, need to take into account the food preferences of your guests when selecting the entree that you are going to serve. Take for example if you are going to serve steak filet as your entree. Although this is likely to be a big hit, there will be people who show up who either can't eat steak or don't eat it. For these people, you will need to have something else served, such as Tilapia, pork chops or a vegetarian option is always safe.
When compared to a buffet, seated catering comes with fewer options. And because each guest is served individually, the dining part of the event usually takes up more of the reception time when compared to buffet catering. If you have a lot of other events taking place during the reception, like a formal dance or other ceremonial activities, you may want to consider buffet catering as your dining option.
Buffet Catering Options
Even though buffet catering isn't typically viewed as being quite as fancy as seated catering, it can still be very professional, especially when the food items are sitting on the buffet line on ceramic or glass plates and dishes. It's also with a buffet that you can still have caterers standing by to help your guests fix their plates as they walk through the line.
One of the best aspects of a buffet catered event is that it can be scaled to meet your preferences. Whether you're hosting a wedding or a birthday party, the buffet can be adjusted to meet the event's formality, however, they tend to go best with informal events, like work lunches and product launches. Buffet events have a more casual and laid-back feeling to them and even though caterers are not waiting on guests hand and foot, they can still be used to pick up after the guests, removing their plates once they have finished eating.
Contact Us Today
Regardless of the seating option you choose, Laissez-faire Catering can do both! Contact us today - talk to us about your event and we can suggest some great menu ideas.