We’re looking for full-service catering ideas. We have reserved an event space in Chatsworth with an on-site kitchen. The event will include about an hour long cocktail portion during which we’d like to serve appetizers. For dinner, we intend to do a buffet style for the kids (I’m thinking taco bar from Eduardo’s Border Grill in W. LA – as we’ve ordered catering from them before and they do a fantastic job and the price is on point). For the adults, we want a sit-down dinner. We have no particular cuisine in mind but need something that will appeal to a wide variety of eaters. We had our hearts set on Chichen Itza/Holbox but they recently did away with their catering program.
We’ve reviewed the existing on-topic posts, but nothing jumped out at us. We’ve also explored the web and note that Border Grill has a nice catering option (I think the food is fine but not memorable) and Wolfgang Puck also has a built out catering option but don’t want to blow the budget. For adult’s (probably about 110-125) I’d like to keep the price point around 50/person (excluding appetizers).
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. TIA.
Having nearly gone to contract with Wolfgang Puck Catering (WPC) earlier this year, I’m pretty sure WPC for any type of meal configuration is not an option at that budget.
Correct. For adults we’d like a served dinner. My gut told me that WPC was a budget buster. If we bleed a bit over 50/person excluding drinks apps we’re okay but want to avoid a $90+/person charge. Thanks.
While I think WPC is expensive, to put this into perspective, the plated and served meals started at > $150pp. Don’t think the fees includes tip and such.
I am not an event planner, but I think your budget is very unrealistic. Even $50pp is really pushing it for a nice-ish, family style meal at, say, Socalo (I’ve held events there, too).
We used them for our wedding years ago when Patina was still around and they were on the expensive side, but less than WPC with good quality.
I would consider talking to an event planner and getting a referral for a caterer they like and have used in the past. You might be able to find something that matches your budget there. That’s how we ended up with Patina. There are a lot of options though, and it’s very YMMV
Outside that you might try talking to small/mid size restaurants that you like. You’d basically be paying them to shut down for the day and only serve your party, and it would cut down on logistics. They can use all their own staff. Even there you should expect it to cost more than a meal at their restaurant per person as there is overhead to setup for an off-site venue.
Edit: agree with other posters here, your budget may not be realistic in the current day. Like maybe you can get there with family style service and individual place settings, but you’d probably have to compromise on menu/food quality to hit the desired price point.
Thanks for the replies. I think my prior posts have been a bit unclear (my bad) because the quotes we’ve received break down items by category (dinner, appetizers, servers, etc.). As a result, I was focusing on the cost of the served dinner only. To clear up confusion, for the adult dinner (so everything minus buffet for kiddos and bar/bartenders) we’re aiming to keep things around 10K. I hope this adds needed detail. And thanks again for the suggestions.
You might get away with a taco cart but $50 per won’t get you much, let alone a coursed, sit down. I’m guessing you’re looking at closer to $100 as a starting cost for something basic. Good luck.
We’re thinking there will be 110-125 adults for a sit-down, served dinner. We will need to accommodate a wide variety of eating preferences so will need to keep spice and heat levels in check. While we don’t necessarily have a type of cuisine in mind, I think given the wide variety of palates we need to accommodate, nothing too exotic so Thai, Korean, Indian, etc., won’t work for us. With respect budget, I may be missing the mark in terms of cost, but all in we’d like to keep the dinner around 10K. I roughly translated this to ballpark of 50/per person (could be a bit more) plus the add-ons (servers, tip, etc,). All suggestions welcome as we’re currently vetting potential option. Thanks in advance.