Food-only catering service?

laurengitis

Does anyone know about catering companies near Detroit that will provide buffet-style food service only, and not alcohol/bar service? We are bringing our own alcohol and hiring friends to bartend. The venue allows this, but i don't know of any caterers that do. Any advice is welcome. Thanks!

sopraffina

I know that 2 Unique does. They're doing our catering, and our venue handles the bar.

http://www.twounique.com/

minko1986

I second 2Unique. They were caterer to my reception, and the food was amazing. There was no complaints about the food from any of my guests. I worked with Adrienne, and she was fantastic. 

One thing I want to warn you though - you need to pay the staff directly. However, they expect you to write a check or pay the exact amount in cash for every single staff separately. I was only given an estimate of the staff fee and wasn't told about paying each staff separately. We only had one check, so we were literally borrowing cash from our family to pay the staff. But this is the only negative comment I'd give about 2Unique.

Sue-n-Kevin

Look into Joe's Produce in Livonia and Holiday Market in Royal Oak. They both do catering. We did taste tests at both and the food was amazing. They will supply as little or as much as you want. However, I'm not sure they'll simply supply the food. In other words, if you want to make arrangements to pick up a bunch of disposable aluminum chafing dishes, without them supplying the onsite chef, servers, real chafing dishes, etc.........not sure they'll do that but you can ask.

"Just the food" can be budget friendly. But, if you want it displayed properly, with servers to take care of the replenishing, remove empty chafing dishes, keep cold foods cold and hot foods hot, you may want to pay for the servers. All of these costs are included in their bill. They even supply linens, plates, utensils and glasses. I did a spreadsheet of all these things and looked up prices for independent companies, and to be honest, the cost difference was so minimal I was happy to turn over to Holiday Market's coordinator all the supplying of the "other stuff" to save myself some sanity........I would have had to arrange for the other companies to pick up and drop off, etc.

Good luck.

chellekel

I would also look into Dorsey Culinary Academy.  They are who I'm using for my wedding.  Because they are not trying to make a profit, but provide experience for their students, they charged me about half of what other caterers quoted me and I am getting a more sophisticated menu and more food for the money.  I had my tasting and the food was unbelievably delicious!