OFF-PREMISES CATERING

Introduction: Off premises catering is a highly specialized business. It is the service to

the offices, clubs, homes or wherever meals are served off the premises where they are
planned and prepared. Off premises catering covers everything from take home meals to
the most elaborate parties and weddings.

Qualities of a good party caterer:

1. He must have the proper contacts with the people who are able to make use of the
services.
2. He must possess ability to perform these services satisfactorily and to engage
courteous, efficient and capable staff.
3. He must be able to serve tasty, eye appealing food and deliver at its destination on
time, hot when it is supposed to be hot and cold when it is supposed to be cold.

Complexity of party catering:

Party catering like other skilled technical jobs is a highly specialized operation. While
profit is an interesting part of the catering industry, the multitude of activities throwing a
challenge to the caterers forms the other difficult side of the coin. If careful consideration
is given to certain small details, and people concerned take active participation, it will
increase turnover, improve the profit and generally brings out the reputation of caterer.
There are no set standard practices and formulae for a party catering to be successful,
procedure and techniques vary from job to job, place to place, according to the
requirements of the occasion for which the party is hosted and the facilities and the
amount of cash available to the caterer.

Menu Planning and Theme Parties:

The arrangement of an acceptable menu, perfect from all points of view is very necessary
for any successful party catering. The caterer must have novel ideas and be able to
prepare them profitably for the company and attractive for the client. The dishes chosen
should be faultless in quality, tasty and attractive in appearance. Equally important is the
cost of the dishes. Nothing could be disappointing and irritating to the customer as being
served a dish smaller in portion size then he was told at the time of booking the party.
This could be avoided if the price of an item is given along with its portion size.
Every party whether for 15 or 1500 must be a specialty and different from anything that
has gone before. Clients seldom come to caterer and ask him to arrange a party like the
old so and so had; usually suggestions are wanted to make the party different, something
that their friends and relative or their customers will talk about and remember for along
time to come.
A thoughtful planning of the menu by the following points is of highly important in the
food organization:
1. Planning well in advance will ensure minimum amount of repetition of food.
2. Planning a menu for definite cycle of time have been found as an efficient means.
3. Variation must be produced by serving different vegetables or meat having a
colour contrast.
 4. Seasonal availability of food is very important as parties are booked well in
advance.
5. Nutritionally adequate and balanced.
6. It must fit within the budget of customer and to his satisfaction.
7. Are personnel and equipment adequate for the party?
8. It helps to procure stores in advance.
9. The occasion for which the catering is done is an important factor so the pattern
of food will change accordingly.
10. To be successful, the menu must reflect the eating habits and expectations of the
market.

Equipment:
These may include an assortment of good china for special occasions like weddings and
anniversaries. Good hallo wares and flat wares, attractive glass wares and silver wares,
serving dishes for all kinds and sizes, good quality linen and all kind and type of buffet
service equipment should be there. These are the items that guest sees and judge a
catering establishment.
For storage and transportation of these equipment, it is important to have special boxes,
where the equipment will fit. Necessary kitchen equipment such as insulated carriers for
soups, coffee and other beverages, containers to carry ice cubes, portable hot case to keep
food hot are required. Also portable griddle, Tandoor, roasting chambers etc, plays an
important role.