The process of assembling the right promotional event for your brand – whether that takes the form of a product launch, trade show, conference, or something else – is doubtless one that calls for serious diligence and attention to detail.
The date, the time, the venue, every last aspect of the décor, the overarching purpose of the event, and – of course – the staff that you hire… all of these elements will feed intricately into the event being a success or a failure.
So, what about the food? Well, that’s something else that could make or break the entire event. It can hardly be surprising, on such a backdrop of circumstances, that so many brands organising promotional events feel serious pressure to get their approach right.
So, in our latest blog post here at BrandWarriors, we thought we would assist you a little in this process. Yes, we’re picking out some of the things you should strive to avoid when you come to decide on your event caterer.
Choosing a company that doesn’t pay particular attention to ingredients
You might imagine that when it comes to the process of picking out a caterer, most such firms would be immaculate in their approach to the food, but might lack in some aspects of planning and presentation.
But actually, the opposite can easily happen. You could end up with a caterer that hugely impresses with the responsiveness of its service and how it presents its dishes, only for event attendees to tuck into their gastronomic creations and be left a little… underwhelmed.
So, whatever you do in the process of selecting an event caterer, you will want to be sure that they have a reputation for food that event attendees remember. That means choosing a caterer that dedicates itself to sourcing the finest and most appropriate ingredients for every dish.
Choosing a company with staff who don’t seem well-trained
While our above point is certainly true, it is also the case that the catering business is exactly that – a business. And in order for a catering business to be as successful as it ought to be, it needs to take the “business” component as seriously as the “catering” one.
You might have had a few experiences in the past as an organisation, of engaging the services of caterers where the staff do not seem to have been as professionally trained as they should have been.
So many processes – the transportation of the food, the setting-up of vital equipment, and the most intricate aspects of preparing and serving the dishes – run so much more smoothly when the staff involved have received highly professional and disciplined training.
There are good reasons why, here at BrandWarriors, we are a promotional staff training academy, as much as we are an agency with the utmost expertise in sourcing staff in the first place. The sourcing and the training have to go together, in order to make the best results possible from your brand’s work with catering professionals for its next event.
Choosing a caterer on the basis that they are the most expensive… or the cheapest
Placing too much emphasis on the “headline” cost of a particular caterer’s services – and certainly judging the suitability of a given caterer with price as the almost exclusive reference – is a mistake that all too many brands continue to make.
Hopefully, you will already appreciate the dangers of venturing too far towards the “cheap” end of the market when you are attempting to decide on caterers for your brand’s next event. After all, something has to “give” in order to make eye-catchingly low prices possible.
However, you should be no less vigilant about the risk of choosing a pricey, high-end caterer, without due consideration as to whether they represent the best match to the full range of needs your organisation has for its event.
To return to a theme we explored above, many an “expensive” caterer can be guilty of investing extra pounds and pennies in almost everything except the food. Or your chosen caterer might simply be out of synch with your brand’s uppermost priorities – for example, by serving “fancy” dishes that too few of your event guests are actually likely to be interested in.
Even when it comes purely to the catering for your brand’s next promotional event, then, it is clear that a great many things can go wrong. It serves as another reminder of the imperative role the right specialist event staffing agency and promotional staff training academy can play.
Our BrandWarriors are ready, waiting, and fighting fit to make all the (positive) difference to your brand’s upcoming promotional event. So, why not enquire to them today, to learn more about how they could work alongside you to help deliver the best possible impact?