Working Around Contract Caterers Phoenix AZ

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There are great caterers, and then there are those whose style could be most kindly be described as “high school cafeteria.” And when the latter is ensconced as the in-house caterer at an otherwise to-die-for location, what’s an event producer to do?

“Unfortunately, you can’t turn cooks into quality chefs overnight,” says Loretta Lowe, a San Francisco-based meeting and event planner. “Once I handled an event at a venue that was used to doing budget weddings, [with] prefrozen appetizers and the like.” Their idea of upgrading the menu, she says, was adding toothpicks to a cheese-cube platter. “The most hilarious bit was when they proudly told me they were serving ‘green bean almondine,’ which consisted of canned green beans and a bag of presliced almonds, which they mixed together and then boiled.”

Obviously, caterers are rarely this off the mark, but great spaces often have contract vendors that you might not book if you had the choice. Maybe they don’t specialize in the cuisine that coordinates with your vision of the event, or maybe they’re just not quite up to the level of cooking that you—and your guests—are expecting.Sure, as a general rule, “quality locations definitely align themselves with the more upscale caterers,” says Karen Knox, manager of meetings management for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina. “They’re not going to provide a great location, the best technology, and then have catering that’s not so great.”

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Author: Lauren Matison

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