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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

HOW DO I SET A BUDGET?
Here are the components of a fully catered, staffed, event.  Some of these costs may not apply to your event, and you may be able to handle some of the items yourself.   (See next question.)  Costs are expressed in dollars per person, for ease of understanding, and the range is rather wide as we're covering both simple and complex events in this summary.

Other common charges are delivery (usually inconsequential), gratuity (see below), floral arrangements, and sales tax (10%).  Less common charges are venue rental fees (can be substantial) and tents.

CAN I DO SOME THINGS MYSELF?
You will get different answers to this question from different caterers, and the answer may depend upon certain factors.  For delivery only events, so long at you meet any minimums, the caterer neither knows nor cares what you are doing on your own.

For managed (staffed) events, which entail a more substantial time commitment by your caterer in planning and execution and may require them to turn down other work, it gets dicey.  Recognize that caterers make their money on the food and beverages, so if you want a caterer to manage your event, you pretty much have to give them this.  Most caterers, including us, will allow you to provide some foods and/or beverages; but, will charge handling and corkage fees to compensate for the loss of food sales.  It's often not worth it in terms of cost savings, but if you really need to feature Aunt Gertrude's famous fruit cake, what can you do?

CAN YOU HELP ME FIND A SITE?
Yes.  Established caterers both have relationships with venues where they work frequently and can quickly be approved to work at new venues.  Some sites may present you with a limited list of approved or suggested caterers.  Ask if you can use your own caterer.  Usually the answer is yes although the site may wish to interview your caterer and/or charge you a special fee which you can ask your caterer to pay.

Also, there is an excellent soft-cover book entitled "Chicago Special Events Sourcebook" (Chicago Review Press) which lays out many traditional and non-traditional event sites in Chicago and the Suburbs.  Major retail and internet bookstores should have it.  You are also welcome to stop by our shop and look through our copy.  Recognize that high-profile sites book up long in advance, often a year or more.

Also don't hesitate to place phone calls to your local church, fire hall, veteran's hall, art gallery, florist, park district, etc.  Most sites are happy to rent space.  Check also with your town hall for suggestions.

SHOULD I DO BUFFET OR PLATE SERVICE?
When serving a meal, and assuming that you have ruled out boxed lunches and dinners, there are 3 formats to consider: buffet service, plate service, and family-style service.  In our opinion, this call is more one of style and aesthetics than cost.  That is to say, the cost for each option is so close that you should make your decision based upon preference and not cost.  Sometimes, though, venue may dictate one style over the other.  For example, buffets require more floor space (although plate service requires more kitchen space).

Plate service is the most elegant and formal of options.  Nothing quite matches the style of having a prepared plate brought to you.  This option entails the highest rental costs owing to the need to rent full table settings, including bread plates, water glasses, butter knives, multiple forks, extra wine glasses, et cetera.  Some of this cost can be offset by a lower food cost to the caterer as the food quantities can be precisely planned.  For example, the caterer will know how many green beans they plan to put on each plate.

Plate-service menus by definition are concise, usually involving the same menu for everyone, maybe with slight amendments for vegetarians.  If you wish to offer guests a choice of entrees, you can save some money by asking for their entree choice with their rsvp as, again, you allow your caterer to precisely plan food quantities.  Allowing your guests to choose entrees at the event is not recommended because it slows down service and requires that your caterer bring a lot of extra food and charge you for it.

Buffet service, while less formal, is more fun.  You can offer an array of dishes allowing your guests a variety tastes and options.  For reasons discussed above, the food cost is a little higher (~20%) but this is usually more than offset by lower staff costs and possibly lower rental costs.

Family-style service, where food platters are set in the middle of each guest table, is like a buffet service in style and cost, but requires a somewhat limited menu which will fit on the table.

CAN I USE PAPERWARE?
To ask this question invariably means that the answer is yes.  It also suggests that you have a limited budget.  Who doesn't?  (By the way, we're looking for more customers to whom money is no object.)  Our advice is always to put the most money you can into the food and drink, and less into all of the rest.  Paper/plasticware with real linen and maybe some real glassware is a nice compromise.  Ultimately, you and your guests will most remember the time they had and how good the food was, and not how elegant the place settings were.
 

HOW DO WE STOCK A BAR?
We have a form which lays out the requirements for a fully stocked bar for a given party size.  This includes beer, wine, hard liquors, mixers, nonalcoholic beverages, ice and fruit.  Call and ask for us to fax or mail a copy to you.  We can adjust the recommendations to your party size.  Recognize that the beverage consumption characteristics can vary significantly from one group to the next, depending upon various demographic factors, so the form should be viewed as a starting point in planning a bar.

In certain cases, your caterer will take back unused beverages.  If you are providing your own alcoholic beverages, you may find that your liquor store will take back unopened cases of beer and wine, and unopened bottles of hard liquors.
 

HOW DO WE SELECT WINES?
We're knowledgeable about wine and are comfortable matching wines to food.  There are a lot of good values in wine offering terrific taste at modest prices.  If you are providing your own, you can ask us for general recommendations but what's most important is what's good and in stock in your price range.  Our best advice is to use a liquor store you trust.  (See stocking a bar, above.)  Probably you have one in your area.  Our favorite in our neck of the woods is Randolph Wine Cellars at 1415 W. Randolph.

DO YOU HAVE INSURANCE?  DO I CARE?
You want to know that your caterer provides insurance coverage on top of your own homeowners or business policy.  Any real caterer will have insurance, and $1-2 million in coverage.  Most venues will require it.