How to handle last minute catering change by venue??

NYCMercedes

How'd it go?

jr10042014

So we met with the owner and the venue coordinator. We will be serving a buffet unfortunately, but they ensured us the price would not be higher than what we initially budgeted. I really wanted a plated meal for my wedding, but I am not going to force them to do something if they can't do it well. For some reason they did still try to talk us into sending out our RSVPs with meal options and using the responses as a way for them to proportion the buffet, but I answered that with a firm no. I will not be giving my guests meal options and then serving a buffet...it would just be confusing to guests. Anyways, seems to be sorted out for now. We just have to come up with a whole new menu now. 

Does anyone have any experience in proportioning/calculating amounts of food for buffets? I like to try to price out options on my own instead of asking my venue for help. Or at the very least, since they seem like they don't know what they're doing, I would like a second opinion. Thanks!

lyndausvi

If your venue can't figure out proportioning then they have some serious issues.  Seriously, it's the chef's job to know.  It's complete BS if they don't.

What are you serving?  Maybe I can get my [executive chef] DH to help on portions?  Although he is pretty busy these days so it might take a few days.  

tammym1001

So I let my caterer handle the numbers for the food, but since you aren't confident in them I thought I would try and help. My photographer took photos of the food set up so I counted what was there. We had 35 guests and there are 28 pieces of salmon and 30 pieces of chicken. We also had a full prime rib and they may have brought out a second one. So basically there was enough of everything for each person to have one of everything. 

ETA: I'm saying enough for everyone because I'm counting from a picture so my count is probably a little bit off.

Maggie0829

lyndausvi said:

If your venue can't figure out proportioning then they have some serious issues.  Seriously, it's the chef's job to know.  It's complete BS if they don't.

What are you serving?  Maybe I can get my [executive chef] DH to help on portions?  Although he is pretty busy these days so it might take a few days.  

This.  Seriously if your venue wants to go to an all buffet catering service because they can't handle doing plated events, yet they can't seem to figure out how to determine how much of each item they need to provide, well then they suck as a company.

All we had to do with our venue was say "hey, we have X guests coming" and they provided the necessary amount of food.

manateehugger

JillianNutter said:

So we met with the owner and the venue coordinator. We will be serving a buffet unfortunately, but they ensured us the price would not be higher than what we initially budgeted. I really wanted a plated meal for my wedding, but I am not going to force them to do something if they can't do it well. For some reason they did still try to talk us into sending out our RSVPs with meal options and using the responses as a way for them to proportion the buffet, but I answered that with a firm no. I will not be giving my guests meal options and then serving a buffet...it would just be confusing to guests. Anyways, seems to be sorted out for now. We just have to come up with a whole new menu now. 

Does anyone have any experience in proportioning/calculating amounts of food for buffets? I like to try to price out options on my own instead of asking my venue for help. Or at the very least, since they seem like they don't know what they're doing, I would like a second opinion. Thanks!

I am utterly horrified by your venue's behavior and professionalism. Seriously, what are you paying these people for if not to handle the food for you? I gave my caterer a seating chart and a guest count and she said, "We've got this."

I have no clue how to help out with proportion food, but I'm sending you good wishes that this works out.

Have you gone all the way up the chain for this venue (or is the venue owned by a larger management company)?

theartistformerlyknownas

So they can't handle serving of plated meals or prep/portioning of a buffet? 

Yikes. You'll definitely want to plan for there to be at least twice as many total servings as there are guests, but within that... idk.

sophhabobopha

Yeah I agree with lolo, at least twice the amount,

but isn't it their job to know that?

lyndausvi

I completely understand not being able to handle a plated meal.  It takes space and staff that some venues just don't have or can handle. The chef might now how to do the plated meal, but if you do not have the space or staff it will never work.

However, there is no excuse for not being able to figure out buffet portions.   That is pretty basic stuff any chef should know.  

BlackLace2015

JillianNutter said:

Oh, I did ask that. They suggested I put a note on my invitation letting guests now how important it is to make sure they stick to their meal choice. Ridiculous and tacky!

ugh!

 

jr10042014

Well we are rethinking our menu now, but I believe we are going with a backyard/cookout kinda feel with the food. Its an outdoor wedding at a rustic winery, so we won't be going with anything real formal. Sandwiches, BBQ, comfort food...those types of food. For 150 people.

We did speak to the owner during the meeting. It just think they are not knowledgeable in how to cater correctly. They are a winery and a restaurant, so I think those are their first priorities and the catering aspect of their business isn't a  major priority yet. I wish we had known how incompetent they were when we signed the contract though. It's extremely frustrating to deal with them, but fortunately we did hire a day-of wedding coordinator who has been wonderful at stepping in early and helping us with this situation. So now we're just hoping we won't run out of food on the day of the wedding.

Thanks everyone for suggestions! Very helpful! And a great place to vent I just keep telling myself the food is not the most important part of the day!

Maggie0829

JillianNutter said:

Well we are rethinking our menu now, but I believe we are going with a backyard/cookout kinda feel with the food. Its an outdoor wedding at a rustic winery, so we won't be going with anything real formal. Sandwiches, BBQ, comfort food...those types of food. For 150 people.

We did speak to the owner during the meeting. It just think they are not knowledgeable in how to cater correctly. They are a winery and a restaurant, so I think those are their first priorities and the catering aspect of their business isn't a  major priority yet. I wish we had known how incompetent they were when we signed the contract though. It's extremely frustrating to deal with them, but fortunately we did hire a day-of wedding coordinator who has been wonderful at stepping in early and helping us with this situation. So now we're just hoping we won't run out of food on the day of the wedding.

Thanks everyone for suggestions! Very helpful! And a great place to vent I just keep telling myself the food is not the most important part of the day!

But it kind of is to your guests.  

I would definitely keep a hand in this pot and keep in contact with the venue on the regular.  Like others have said you should have enough of each option for each guest but I would increase that to at least double the amount.  When having a buffet you have no control over how much of what item your guests take so you need to have extra of each option so that you don't run it.  It is always better to have too much then not enough.

jr10042014

Yes, I definitely want a great experience for my guests. I just don't want the stress from this situation to ruin my entire wedding planning experience. Thanks and I will definitely keep updated on what they are doing.