Las Vegas Top Catering Chef, Michael Whitesides Offers Tips for Prom Planners

With Prom Season rapidly approaching, many students will be placed in the position whether by choice or by being assigned the task, of finding out how much it will cost for the food at their upcoming prom. Since preparing for a huge event such as a prom is not something they do everyday, they need a little preparation themselves before just picking up the phone and dialing all the caterers in the area for prom quotes and hoping to find the cheapest quote available.

The student or students who are placed in the position of getting information or making decisions may not have the skills necessary or training to make these group decisions . This article should give them some basic guidelines to follow to make their job easier and a lot more fun. Proms are supposed to be fun. The food should be a fun part of the event as well.

Since I'm not a caterer ,I called Chef Michael Whitesides, owner of Affairs to Remember in Las Vegas about this subject and asked what he's experienced with prom catering.

With 45 years of culinary experience, including running the original Hugo's Restaurant at Atlanta's Hyatt Regency, Caesar's Palace, and the Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa, Chef Michael Whitesides, has had many calls from those who just have no clue about how to work with a caterer or where to start.

The chef really made it clear that when people call caterers without any information it is very difficult, if not impossible, to give that person a good professional quote about what it will cost to cater the food .

I asked Chef Whitesides to take me through what he would consider an organized way for those who need to make plans for food for a group event to get professional help and not waste their own time or everyone else's by being unprepared.

For professional Las Vegas catering Chef Michael Whitesides http://lasvegascatering.com

Chef Michael Whitesides suggested that the person who will make the calls to the caterer be prepared with basic information, in writing, before making any calls.

"I don't want to skip information and details that you'll probably tell me seem obvious and yet, they are not provided on most of the inquiry calls I get from students or others looking to get prices for catering, said Chef Whitesides." .

"First, the person making the call should identify themselves, their name, and the organization they are calling for and they should speak clearly so as to be understood by the person on the other end of the phone. "

The details that the caller should have in writing, in front of them when they are making the call include the date of the event or possible dates, the hours of the event, the location of the event and the actual address of the location. It should be clear where in the venue the prom is going to be held. For example, are they going to use the cafeteria, the gymnasium, or an event hall?

On the list, the prom planner should have the name and phone number of the venue contact person.
Having the name an number of a person at the venue who can answer more detailed questions about the venue that the prom planners might not be able to answer will be helpful.

Chef Whitesides explained what information would be essential about the location and event needs. Questions such as, " Does the venue have their own chairs or will they have to be brought in for the prom? Are there linens on-site already or do they have to be rented? Will the caterer have to carry everything up stairs or is there an elevator or a back door for easy entry and exit with equipment? Who's bringing the plates and utensils and are there facilities to make food preparation easier? Who's bringing ice and how are you going to keep beverages cool?

Does the venue where the prom will be held have restrictions or requirements which must be met by the caterers? What type of requirements might be necessary for the caterer to provide?

According to Chef Whitesides, there are venues that restrict certain beverages from the event, other locations which require the caterer show proof of business license and insurances, and other venues which limit the service providers that can be contracted for the food at the venue. Not having the basic requirements as they pertain to the venue can make planning the prom frustrating and problematic, not fun.

I asked the Chef some of the challenges he has faced when trying to help prom planners figure out what to do about the food. Chef Whitesides told me that too many of those who have called him for quotes about catering don't know exactly or even close the number of people they want to feed. How can a person quote the cost of food if you can't be clear about how many people will be eating?

I like what Chef said about a rule of thumb of providing food to people at an event, "It doesn't matter what you call the items, if there's relatively good food, people will eat until they're full."

Prom planners need to determine how many hours they want to have food available.People are most disappointed if they go to an event and the food runs out much sooner than expected."

This can lead to a negative opinion of the event and if a caterer is hired and you don't tell that person how many people you are expecting to feed with any accuracy, it's possible to run out of food and upset attendees. The caterer takes the blame when it's poor planning and lack of correct details about attendance that creates the problems and disappointments about the lack of food." "

A caterer is usually hired for a specific number of hours, for a specific date, and to feed a certain number of people, for a certain amount of time. This information makes a difference on the quotes you'll receive for the prom food catering.

The biggest problems the Chef seemed to face with offering prom food catering quotes seemed to come from the inability of the prom planners to commit far enough in advance how many people would be attending and eating at the event. Prom planners should be prepared to tell the caterer how many people will have to be feed and if this information is not clear at the start, what the cut-off date for ticket sales will be for the prom that will allow them to have this information available.

According to Chef Whitesides, prom catering in his experience has not been like other catering because the students seemed to be more budget conscious than being hugely concerned about quality of the food and service. Proms in his experience have been about how to operate on an extremely tight budget.

In fact, according to Chef Whitesides, if prom planners are not able to really make good advance preparations to work with a professional caterer, they should consider large organizations which can provide various sized group platters on a short-notice.

For many proms, do-it-yourself- food planning will be the best and the group might consider shopping

Chef Michael Whitesides said that the type of food catering for prom events which would be more typical or more practical usually is for platters to be delivered from supermarket venues which offer sandwich platters or group party platters with items such as chicken or chicken wings. For supermarket orders in Las Vegas groups can contact http://www.Albertsons.com

Any last words of advice for prom planners I asked the Chef? "Yes, be prepared when you call the caterers with your information and a notepad with plenty of paper to take notes. Then, you'll be able to more easily share the information you receive on these calls to the caterers with others. You will be able to make better-informed decisions about your prom food. Make your prom a night to remember, and make it easier to plan."

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