Consumption and Real Estate
I’m unsure of how I want to serve food at reception?
Question : I’m unsure of how I want to serve food at reception?
The banquet hall I rented for the reception is just big enough for the dance floor and all the tables and such. I had planned on doing it buffet style, but there’s not really enough room to have a buffet. However, there is a smaller room adjoining to the room I’m using for the reception. It’s an extra $ 200. I can either rent that room & have a buffet (my family is cooking, so I’d also have to rent the warming trays and such) OR I can hire people to serve the food (the venue has a kitchen & a large commercial warmer & refrigerator). Which is the best option? Also, if I hire people to serve the food, how does that work? I’ve only been to buffet style weddings in the past. Do they pass out an already prepared plate or do they roll the food around on carts & let people choose what they want? Thanks & God bless!
oh & my friend is a manager at a restaurant & can get me some servers there to do it for probably about $ 100. so it would definately be cheaper to have people serve it. i’m just unsure what the better option is.. like what would work better.
Kirstie — yes, i’m sure it’ll just be $ 100. I used to work at the restaurant, too. So they’re doing it cheap for me 
commercial kitchen floor plan
Best answer:
Answer by HIS!
Servers pass out an already prepared plate of food. Buffet is easier, but plated food is more elegant.
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#2 written by weirdiscomplimentary 1 year ago
Typically, when food is “served” it means that the servers pass out plates that have the food portioned out. I have never heard of servers bringing a cart and people picking out what they want. I think that would make things more complicated rather than less. However, if you want guests to have more of a choice in what they eat, you could also have a family-style meal. In this style, food is brought to the table by the servers and then the guests pass it around just as though it was a dinner at home. It can be expensive to do a family-style meal, though, because you have to rent or buy “intermediate” dishes (that is, instead of dishing the food right from the cooking dish onto the plate, you have to have some sort of serving dishes that you can bring to the table so that guests can pass them around). However, then again you don’t have to worry about paying someone (or asking a family member) to dish out all the plates with the right proportions of food and make them look pretty.
Something to be aware of with family-style and buffet meals, though….people tend to eat more food when they get to help themselves to seconds. I had the impression that with buffet and family-style meals people would only take what they wanted and there would be less food waste. According to people “in the business,” though, people tend to take more than a plate-full at family-style and buffet lines. Especially at buffets, people fill their plates more because they don’t want to have to go back to the buffet. Since your family is cooking the food, it would be terrible for them to have to make extras just so that they could make sure that the food wouldn’t run out before everyone has made it through the line. Family-style might be a little easier to control portion sizes, though….since you would just bring enough to the table for the people at that table to eat. For example, if you had 8 people at a table, you would only bring them 8 chicken breasts, etc.
Another thing to think about is the kind of food you are serving. Some food lends itself better to a sit-down meal versus a buffet and vice versa. Most “family-style” meals tend to be either Italian or Indian or Asian foods. I went to a great Indian wedding with family-style food service. It was AMAZING because you could taste a little of each of the dishes, and then have some more of the ones that fit your spice palate.
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#3 written by SmallTownGirl 1 year ago
Buffet is an easier option, but to have the servers pass out prepared plates of food would appear to be more formal and sophisticated. If you are getting such a great deal on the servers I would suggest that you use them instead, as you will have more control on this distribution of food at your wedding and make sure everyone gets enough. I would have the first plate be served, and if anyone would like seconds, they go up and get it themselves.
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#5 written by Dan O 1 year ago
The $ 200 bucks for the second room is going to be a lot cheaper and go over better than hiring a few servers and prep cooks to do full service!
Fully catered weddings bring out each course on a premade plate. Food is usually luke warm at best and selection and portion control is out of the guests hands. I prefer buffett myself.
Congrats, btw
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Are you sure it’s not $ 100 a SERVER? I’ve been a banquet waitress for many years, and I’ve never once gone an off premise job and left with less than $ 80 in my pocket. We start at $ 20 an hour per server, and that’s with a four hour minimum. That’s pretty much the going rate, too.