Corporate Summer Party And Away Day Catering: Two Different Jobs

They are not the same event

Both land in the same budget line and get booked by the same person, which is how they end up with the same catering. They should not.

An away day is people working, off site, for six or seven hours. The catering’s job is to keep the day moving and stop the afternoon session dying.

A summer party is a reward. The catering’s job is to feel generous.

Order the same buffet for both and one of them will be wrong.

Away days: feed the day, not the lunch break

The mistake is treating it as one lunch. A working day off site needs three touches.

On arrival. People have travelled and most have not eaten. Breakfast catering starts at £3.35 a head. Get this right and the first session actually starts on time.

Lunch. Keep it light. The heavier the lunch, the worse the two o’clock session, and every facilitator knows it. Buffet 1 at £5.50 or Buffet 3 at £6.65 is the right weight. Save the substantial food for the evening if there is one.

Mid-afternoon. The session that struggles. Homemade cakes at £2.25 a head, hand cooked crisps at £2.75 or a fresh fruit platter at £13.80 costs very little and does more for the last hour than another round of coffee.

Add drinks if the venue has none: cans of pop £1.35, bottled water £1.35, fruit juice £2.75 a litre.

Summer parties: it has to look like an occasion

Here the food is part of the thank-you, and a tray of sandwiches does not read as one.

• Buffet 8 at £9.40 a head or Buffet 9 at £11.00 for the full spread.
• Grazing tables from £97.00 per crate: the version people photograph, and the one that makes a room look like something has been laid on.
• Charcuterie, cheese and ploughman’s platters at £16.50 each to sit out through the evening.
• Barbecue catering at £13.00 a head, cooked on site, 50-guest minimum, about 3m by 5m of flat ground with no steps to the serving area. We arrive an hour and a half before service, which runs an hour with seconds for anyone who wants them.
• Hog roast from £7.25 a head, same minimum and space, carved as people come.

Anything cooked on site takes a 25% deposit to secure the date, with the balance due 30 days before.

When to book

Demand for corporate summer events starts in March, which is when the good dates go, not June. If you are running an away day, the venue is the longer lead time of the two and the catering follows it easily.

For delivered catering the ordinary lead time is 4pm the day before, delivery is free, and there is a £20 minimum. For anything cooked on site, think in months rather than days, especially for a Friday or a Saturday.

Invoicing

Most of our corporate work runs on account rather than card. If you are booking for a company, say so when you order and we will set the billing up properly, with a PO number on the invoice if your finance team needs one.

Dietary requirements

Every buffet is 30% vegetarian as standard, with vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free and halal portions prepared separately and labelled. For a work event, ask your people rather than guessing: the numbers are almost never what the organiser expects and getting them right is the difference between somebody feeling catered for and feeling like an afterthought.