Archive for February, 2012
Saint Germain Catering Loves Our Corporate Clients
Saint Germain Catering has been recognized as one of the top corporate catering companies in the Washington DC metro area. Not sure of the difference between corporate catering and social catering? The term corporate catering mean catering on a corporate level or catering to businesses and companies.
A company does not have to be an actual corporation to utilize corporate catering services. Corporate catering services are designed with employers in mind. Corporate caterers prepare, deliver, and present various types of meals including breakfast, lunches, snacks, dinners and receptions for groups of employees or clients. The events could be for a lunch meeting, in-house workshop or product launch.
Saint Germain Catering offers delivery services up to 40-plus miles from our facility in Northern Virginia. Delivery always includes setup at no additional charge for corporate clients. The idea is to make the meal as easy and stress-free as possible.
In general, it is a good idea to contact your caterer at least 24 hours prior to the event. The caterer can assist with what items to order and how much to order.Additionally we offer last minute services. Orders can then be placed via telephone or through our online website. Payment arrangements typically require full payment for the order upfront. Your company may requestfor a direct billing account to be established as well. Payment methods that are accepted usually include company check, cash, or credit card.
Corporte Catering perfect for small meetings or large groups. By using a corporate caterer, team leaders and managers can focus on more important things such as their employees and production. Contact Saint Germain Catering today to learn more about there services.
Saint Germain Catering Offers Tips on How to Reduce Catering Costs
Need to come up with fresh, creative menus for your next office meeting or event? Need something nicer than pizza but still working on a limited budget? Saint Germain Catering offers attractive catered meals for business customers that need to work within a limited budget. Menus such coffee and pastries for a breakfast meeting; gourmet sandwiches, sales, desserts for a working lunch; and hot and cold appetizers for an early evening reception or happy hour.
Food accounts for just a slice of the total cost of an event. Other cost components include venue rental, set-up and decoration; food presentation; food and beverage service; and clean up after the event. You may need to handle these details yourself, make assignments to your employees.
A perfectly catered meal makes a simple meal an event. The food should inspire people, lift spirits in the office, and get people excited and talking about it. When you want to make a good impression on your customers, Saint Germain Catering can save the day.
How do businesses and companies affordcatering in tough economic times? One word….Flexibility.
Businesses are working with smaller budgets than they have been in the past. The flexibility that Saint Germain’s offers our clients by working with them during these times, will keepthem coming back. We can customize a menu that will fit within your budget.
Here are a few ideasthat people are requesting:
- Having the main part of the meal catered, while the employees/guest bring desserts to share
- Having employees set up the event, decorations, tables, chairs, table cloths and place settings. The caterer brings the food and displays it, and then employees help with serving.
- Ordering less food or cutting portions during office functions.
- Ordering less expensive food, not as much seafood and higher priced items
- Scheduling office meetings later in the morning/late afternoon and provide a variety of snack items
Celebrate Mardi Gras with Saint Germain Catering’s King Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Preparation
Tax time is here again! For Washington DC accountants and accounting firms, this means increased work loads and longer hours on the weekdays and weekends. It also means that leaving the office to grab lunch is sometimes an impossibility.
That’s where corporate catering from Saint Germain Catering can help. We always have delicious cold salads, sandwiches, hot meals and desserts to offer.
Let us take some of the stress away from this busy time of year by taking care of your catering needs. We are also happy to make custom menus for your crew, and we offer pricing breaks for orders for 30 people or more as well.
Our New Catering Menu is Live.. Look for new meals that please all of your senses
Our New Menu is Here ! Having been a catering company in the Metro DC area for over a decade and having served tens of thousands of meals, several aspects of menu planning are incorporated in all corporate and special event menus. These include texture, color, and sizes. Incorporating these characteristics takes any menu from ordinary meal to an artistic presentation. When designing our new menu, we kept all of these aspects in mind.
Because people eat with their eyes first…looks do matter! If the menu isn’t appealing to the eye, probably the person eating the foods opinion of the taste of that meal will be average, if that. Food presented in style (like a corporate caterer would prepare) is expected to taste good, so the person is more than likely assumes it will also taste good. So, here are some aspects to consider when planning your next meal:
Food Texture
When deciding what to serve, write down your proposed menu. Are all the things on the soft side – meaning only need a fork or spoon? Entrees like our Portabello Mushroom Lasagna and Our Best BBQ are kind of both in the same texture category in that with just a fork, the meal can be eaten. On the other hand, are all your items crispy or crunchy? A plate of fresh vegetables certainly has the crunch but that’s the only texture offered, so consider serving your crunchy, crispy items with a soup or our homemade chili to add another texture to the meal.
Food Color
This is very important when planning a meal or function. Again, your eyes will take everything in first, and then the eating begins. If all your menu items are green, for example, it’s not as appealing if you have green as just one of the colors on the plate. For example if you’re serving spaghetti, you wouldn’t want to serve a tomato mozzarella caprese salad. Consider a classic cesar salad and some great Italian bread to round out the eye appeal. You’ll have the red of spaghetti, the green (not to mention the texture of crispy lettuce) with the salad and a white/golden color (and yet another texture) of the bread.
All Kinds of Shapes
A well rounded presentation includes different sizes and shapes of foods. Serving peas with rice or corn is a good example of about the same size food, though a good color contrast, they will get “lost” on the plate if served with a bite-sized pieces of meat. It’s just all too small or bite sized to create a good presentation. Peas with angel hair pasta as a starch, corn with asparagus or baby carrots incorporate size (and color) differences and enhance your presentation.
Recommendations
If you are looking for some perfect, eye appealing meals that incorporate all of your senses be sure to try out our Cuban Skirt Steak with flavorful strips of skirt steak marinated in authentic Cuban seasonings and served with our house chimichurri sauce, black beans and rice. Bueno!
Recently Engaged? Let our team help make your day memorable
Recently Engaged?Let Saint Germain Catering Plan the Perfect Reception.
Each year in early spring, we receive a lot of calls from couples asking for catering quotations for upcoming bridal showers, rehearsal dinners and weddings. To help keep you from getting caught off guard by the questions we ask and here are some helpful hints to keep you from getting overwhelmed planning your event.
We often find that our potential clients have not thought through certain details or are uncertain about location, size or services needed. Of course, this is our job as the event planner and/or caterer to worry about these details and help make your event a success.
Nonetheless, we do need some important information to provide our potential clients with quotes that are scalable up or down depending on the variables. One of our main goals is to insure there are no surprises for any couple on their wedding day.
The questions we ask and your answers help us provide you a quote that would be scalable based on guest count ranges. Please review this short list and have this information available so that our time together can be productive.
1. Bride and Grooms Name and Address
2. Expected number of guests at your wedding/reception. We know this will change and you will have until the week before the wedding to finalize your guest count.
3. What time is the wedding? Certain times of day may require a higher portion of food.
4. Where is the ceremony relative to the reception?
5. Do you already have a venue selected? If not we are able to help you find the perfect place to hold your event.
6. If yes, does the venue provides tables and chairs or other equipment?
7. What type of entrées were you planning? Example: If you say you would like chicken for an entrée, then it will be less then if you ask for Sea Bass or Beef Tenderloin. Also do you prefer a plated meals verses a buffet.
8. On food preferences, is there anything we should know about religious observances or food allergies?
9. How did you find us? Referral, Google search, wedding website, etc, etc…
The one question that everyone wants to ask us when he or she first calls, “Is how much?” We would be remiss if we gave you a number without qualifying your needs.
Do not be afraid to tell us what your goal budget is. This helps us make recommendations on where you can save money. We will explain the options as we go and give you lots of creative ideas on how you can get your event within your budget range.
There are other questions we will ask and each will help us develop your proposal. The more information we can gather, the more targeted we can make your quote to fit your vision. When you call us, not only will we learn about your expectations, but you will learn more about this process and all the decisions you will be making. This is your day and our job is to understand first, create, and then execute. On behalf of all our team, we look forward to working with you.
Helpful Tips When Selecting a Corporate Caterer
There is such a huge need for corporate event catering in the Washington DC area. It saves time, because everyone has to eat, and by conducting business during office hours, it helps keep people more productive. However it is a major undertaking to ensure that your corporate meeting goes smoothly. These are a few tips that I have learned over the years of booking and providing top level service in a business catering environment. It also may be a requirement, in order to get in front of clients that you’ll have to provide a meal. The reason we conduct business over meals is multifaceted but primary among them is that happy well fed clients are more receptive to doing business. If a client eats an excellent meal and receives top notch service one is more inclined to listen to the person that provided the meal. The meal is a reflection upon those that provide it. As caterers, we must remember this important fact. The meal in a corporate setting is a reflection upon those that supply it. If the meal is below quality and/or the service is bad, that is representative of those that provided the meal.
So we have determined the importance of providing an excellent meal with great service. How does one do this? You need to determine the type of event that you trying to create. Is this going to be a breakfast, lunch, dinner, or cocktail party? What type of service? How formal is the event? Will you need any type of décor? Are there dietary restrictions or specialized requests of attendees that need to be addressed? Are there Vegans, Vegetarians, Kosher, and food allergies such as gluten, or nut issues? All of these are important factors in ensuring that your Corporate Event goes smoothly and your clients are happy. It is important to address all of these questions ahead of time so that you are not surprised by them at the event and are forced to scramble at the last minute.
When you have determined the answer to all of these questions you then select a caterer. The selection of a caterer is of primary importance. The caterer needs to provide all of the components to fulfill your needs for the event. The caterer that will need to provide exactly what they state they will provide in their quote. The caterer needs to provide professional, unobtrusive yet friendly service. The food needs to be of high quality and fit within the dietary requirements of the client. The caterer needs to be on time. The caterer needs to be professionally attired and provide service per your requirements.
So how does one choose a caterer? You can search for your caterer online or through word of mouth. Regardless of how you locate the caterer there are several ways to vet the caterer to ensure that they will accommodate your requirements. Ask the caterer their level of experience, whether they have done the type of event your are looking to create, do they have catering testimonials or references that they can share. Also Facebook and Linkedin are also another online tools that often has posted recommendations on the caterer you are evaluating. Check for references, have they received any awards or recommendations, have they been reviewed or featured in any publications, what is there food style, and can they meet the needs of any specialized dietary requests or specialized service requests? That is an excellent starting point but if you have the time the best way to evaluate the capabilities of a caterer is to see them in action. Tastings presented by the caterer are another great evaluative tool in selective a caterer and it will be specific to your even.
Once you gain an understanding of the caterer that you will be working with, you will have all of the items in place in order to create a successful corporate catering event. So make it happen! Bring in more business through successful corporate event catering.
