5 Tips to Consider When Deciding a Menu

Planning an event means covering each and every aspect related to the event whether it is deciding the right location, booking a venue, inviting the required number of guests, allotting tasks and choosing the menu. An event planner has to do a lot of research before finalizing anything since things can go wrong and people can get disappointed, especially when it comes to the type of venue and menu.

Food and beverages are nearly important to the guests as the purpose of the event itself. Therefore, to simplify things, it is better to opt for a venue that provides catering services as well. Whether you hire catering services or have the catering manager of the venue itself, they will present you with the 100% flexible menu options. Moreover, they will allow you to confirm the menu two to three weeks prior to the occasion.

Here are important things to keep in mind when deciding a menu for your guests-

1) Whether it is for breakfast, lunch or dinner-

It is important to incorporate food items that depend on the time your function will take place. You cannot just feed your guests items of dinner in the breakfast because that will look inappropriate. Here are different options for different meals-

• Breakfast- Food options for breakfast are usually light and packaged menus are mostly cost-effective. Packaged menus are easy to select and can include continental options, hot buffets, and breakfast stations.
• Lunch and Dinner- These two mainly include heavy food options depending upon the type of food your guests will enjoy. Lunch and dinner could be in the form of a buffet system with some light starters.

2) Know your guests and their preferences-

How is it like to offer continental food when your guests were expecting chinese? Therefore, before concluding the dishes of your menu, it is important to know the type of people you are inviting. If they are coming from your country then, contemplating the choice will be easier. However, if the event involves an international conference and business sessions, then the menu must be filled with variety.

3) Offer them variety-

Select the caterers or the venue where the catering manager provides a wide variety of menu option for the event. The sole purpose of the occasion or a function is to please the guests and make them feel comfortable; therefore, it could be done by incorporating a menu that addresses every guest with different food items to feed on.

4) Anticipate special needs-

With issues like health and religion, event planners must anticipate the special dietary requirements of their guests. There may be people present in your event who are allergic to certain food items, vegan, vegetarian, non-vegetarian, fitness freaks and someone who follows diet according to their religion. Therefore, you must find out the special needs of your guests so that you can create a flexible menu enjoyed by everyone during the function.

5) Enough food for the guests-

Before you finalize the menu, you must ensure the number of guests on the list to estimate the quantity of the food required. It is always better to have more supply as compared to the number of guests since you have no idea how much each one will consume, especially when it comes to the buffet systems.