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…
My wedding was six months ago and people are still asking me about the food. Not the dress, not the flowers – the catering. Apparently when you nail the food at a NYC wedding, everyone remembers it forever. Getting there wasn’t easy though. When Jake and I got engaged, I figured catering would be straightforward. Pick some good food, sign a contract, done. Three months of tastings later, I learned that wedding food in New…
Had to plan my company’s summer party last year and traditional catering quotes were insane. $85 per person for mediocre chicken and wilted salad? No thanks. Started looking at food trucks instead and it was the best decision I made. Food trucks show up, cook everything fresh, and don’t need you to provide anything except a place to park. No renting plates, no hiring servers, no stressing about kitchen access. They handle everything and the…
Event planning used to stress me out because of the food situation. You call catering companies and they all sound the same – chicken parmesan, beef something, maybe salmon if you’re lucky. Then they quote you some ridiculous price and act like they’re doing you a favor. I stumbled into food truck catering by accident when my regular caterer flaked out last minute. Desperation led me to call a BBQ truck I’d seen around town,…
Oh god, they asked you to plan the company event, didn’t they? And now you’re sitting there wondering how the hell you went from being good at spreadsheets to suddenly being responsible for feeding 200 people without poisoning anyone or blowing the entire quarterly budget. Welcome to the club – we’ve all been there, and it’s exactly as terrifying as it seems. But here’s the thing – you’re not actually supposed to become an event…
My daughter’s wedding was supposed to have elegant plated dinners with white-gloved servers. That was the plan until we got the catering quotes. After I picked myself up off the floor, she said something that changed everything: “What if we just got food trucks?” My wife nearly fainted. Food trucks? At a wedding? But six months later, watching 150 guests line up for gourmet grilled cheese and craft tacos while a jazz trio played, I…
Catering sucks. Let’s just be honest about that. You order food for an event, it shows up late and cold, half the stuff is wrong, and you spend your entire party apologizing to people about the food instead of actually enjoying yourself. I’ve been through this enough times to know that traditional catering is basically a gamble you’re probably going to lose. Then someone told me about mobile catering, and I thought it was just…