5 Questions to Ask When Hiring a Caterer

Whether you’re planning a wedding or an intimate dinner party, the food and drink that you serve will be an integral part of your special event. Working with a caterer that truly understands your vision and has a passion for food will elevate your event, and provide your guests with food memories they’ll remember for years to come. 

Not all caterers have the same experience, service, and pricing, and if it’s your first time planning an event and hiring catering services, the process can be confusing. How do you know what you need if you’ve never done this before?

To help make the process a little easier, our team is breaking down what you should be asking when meeting with potential caterers, especially when it comes to planning your menu and doing a tasting.

What services are included?

Catering quotes can differ from company to company, so it’s important to have as much information about what services a caterer offers as possible. Beyond the food, what services are included in the quote and which need to be sourced separately? 

Services like providing tableware, centerpieces, menus, or even tables and chairs are services you might not think about but contribute to your guest’s experience. 

Peppercorn Events is a full-service catering and events company, which means we offer services beyond the food and staff at your event. Our team is also able to support you with beverage coordination, rentals, decor, and more.  Need wedding and event coordination or day-of planners and vendor recommendations? We can help you with these as well!

Where do you source your ingredients?

When meeting with caterers and collecting quotes, keep in mind everyone sources differently and has a different philosophy. Decide if sourcing is important to you, and ask questions! Caterers that source local and seasonal ingredients will be happy to share where they get their products from and will often know the farmers involved. If local and seasonal ingredients are important to you, make this a priority. 

Have you ever catered an event at our venue?

Having venue-specific experience is definitely not necessary when hiring a caterer, but it is a plus! If the caterer does have experience at your venue, getting their input on what has worked best for serving and set up is extra knowledge you can go into your special day with. 

If the caterer doesn’t have experience with your specific venue, make sure to ask what their plan will be for executing your meal at the new-to-them space.

Can you accommodate allergies?

When hosting a larger event, such as a wedding, having a caterer that can accommodate allergy and dietary restrictions for your guests can be a large deciding factor of whether or not you move forward. 

If the caterer is able to handle these restrictions, make sure to get any information about how exactly food is prepped to ensure guests who might have more severe allergies are accommodated. 

At Peppercorn Events, we offer gluten-free, nut-free, dairy-free, vegan, and vegetarian options although our kitchen is not gluten or nut-free.

What are your favorite dishes to include on an event menu?

This is one of our favorite questions to be asked! Not only will you be able to get to know the caterer better with this one, but you’ll also be able to learn more about any new, fresh ideas that the chef has that might interest your guests.

Ready to start planning the menu for your next event? Contact our events coordinator at Peppercorn Events today to learn more about our catering services and learn more about our chefs.