Planning a wedding in New York City and trying to decide between plated dinner and buffet service. Your venue coordinator has an opinion. Your caterer has a different opinion. Your mother has a third opinion. You’re stuck making a choice that affects your budget, timeline, and how the whole reception flows. Neither option is universally better. It depends on your venue, guest count, budget, and what kind of atmosphere you want. Alfonso Catering has done…
Cocktail hour is where we see the most food waste at weddings, hands down. Couples spend a fortune on elaborate displays of food that look beautiful, but nobody actually eats. Then three items disappear in ten minutes and we’re scrambling to bring out more because we ran out. After catering hundreds of weddings across NYC and NJ, Alfonso Catering has figured out what actually works during cocktail hour versus what just sounds good on paper.…
You know that point in every wedding when people start getting hungry again? It’s usually around 10:30 or 11. Dinner was ages ago. Everyone’s been dancing, drinking, and celebrating. And suddenly, you notice people checking their phones, probably looking up nearby pizza places. I’ve been to way too many weddings where the party just dies around 11 because nobody thought about feeding people a second time. The couple spent thousands on this beautiful dinner at…
Wedding catering eats up a huge chunk of your budget. Like, the biggest chunk after the venue. You’re looking at feeding potentially a hundred people or more, and in New Jersey, that doesn’t come cheap. But here’s what nobody tells you upfront: the per-person price you see advertised is almost never what you actually end up paying. Let’s break down what wedding catering NJ actually costs and where all that money goes. Because understanding the…
I planned our company’s fall party last year. Got volunteered for it, really, someone asked if anyone wanted to organize it and I made eye contact at the wrong moment. Suddenly, I’m responsible for feeding 85 people, finding a venue, and making sure nobody gets too drunk at an open bar. The catering was the part that stressed me out most. Our budget was $3,500, which sounds like a lot until you start getting quotes…
Look, I’m going to be straight with you about food trucks and fall events in New York. This isn’t going to be some sanitized sales pitch. I’ve spent the last eight years coordinating events in this city, and sometime around 2019, I stopped even pretending that traditional catering was always the better option. Food trucks used to be this novelty thing you’d consider for maybe a super casual company BBQ. Now? I’ve got clients asking…
Went to a wedding last year where the food was so bad, people were hitting up a diner afterwards. The couple spent $28,000 on their reception. The chicken was dry, the sides were cold, and half the guests left hungry. Then I went to another wedding where the couple served tacos and sliders. Cost way less, and people are still talking about how good it was. After helping plan food for dozens of weddings in…
Last summer I planned my company’s annual party for 200 people. We’re a tech startup in Brooklyn, everyone’s in their twenties and thirties, nobody wanted the standard rubber chicken situation. I got quotes from traditional catering companies—$85 per person, minimum. For mediocre food. Chicken, pasta, sad vegetables, the usual. Then my assistant suggested food truck catering. I’ll be honest, my first thought was “that sounds messy and complicated.” But the quote came in at $42…
My niece is getting married next spring and I’ve been helping her look at wedding catering options around North Jersey. I got married fifteen years ago and thought I knew what to expect. Chicken or fish, maybe some pasta, basic wedding food. I was completely wrong about what’s happening now. We’ve been to six different venues so far. Morristown, Wayne, a couple places near Hoboken. Each one was totally different from what I remember wedding…
Okay, so it’s that time of year again. The holidays are sneaking up, and you’re probably starting to panic about your corporate holiday party. If you’re dealing with New York City and New Jersey clients, you already know these people have eaten everywhere and seen everything. They’re not going to be impressed by the same tired spread everyone else is serving. I’ve watched too many companies blow their holiday catering budget on fancy venues while…