Category — Published Articles
Working with off-site venues, caterers and restaurant buyouts
Typically, in my Monthly Morsel advice columns, I talk about hotel catering. But for this Best Practices column, I want to go over what you need to think about when booking off-premise venues or restaurants for meal functions…
May 5, 2010 No Comments
March’s Monthly Morsel
The step by step experience I have with banqueting managers across this country is pretty much the same everywhere. And, banquet managers: There is room for improvement. Time and time again, this is how things go…
March 11, 2010 No Comments
February’s Monthly Morsel
…I am getting out my own personal ice pick to dig a little deeper into this subject. For starters: No matter what type of ice display you are using, people always get a kick out of ice sculptures….
February 11, 2010 No Comments
January’s Monthly Morsel
Throughout the years with this column, I have written about weddings, all types of corporate parties and given tips about entertaining in the home. This month, I am going to discuss something that no one is ever really prepared for and which I’ve never seen any event professional discuss: a funeral….
January 7, 2010 No Comments
November’s Monthly Morsel
Buying out fine dining restaurants is something I am a big fan of for several reasons. But lately, I am a bit frustrated. I negotiated a buyout of a big-name chef restaurant in Orlando and very clearly told the catering manager up-front that I was going have some menu tweeks. The catering manager said, “Fine, no problem. We will be flexible.”
They were … until last week, when it was time to honor the menu tweeks…
November 5, 2009 No Comments
Octobers’s Monthly Morsel
I am currently negotiating menus at a downtown property and my client is doing lunch buffets. What a buffet is all about is choices, that is why many clients prefer this option of food instead of plated. Here is my problem: This particular property has a hefty price buffet with only ONE choice of dessert…
November 5, 2009 No Comments
September’s Monthly Morsel
As the earth is rotating into fall and we are diving in harvest season, I started thinking heavily about farm to table. After all, I was raised in a farming community and I get asked this question all the time. In searching for an answer, I decided to visit Google, and this is what I learned…
September 10, 2009 No Comments
July’s Monthly Morsel
One thing that is so important to event planners, but that we tend to glaze over, is the timing of an event. When doing an event timeline, we need to take into consideration our guests and how this timeline will affect them and their experience…
August 3, 2009 No Comments
June’s Monthly Morsel
I am sitting here writing a box lunch menu and shaking my head at the price. I know this is a four-star property, but how much does a sandwich, potato salad, chips and brownie cost, for goodness sakes? At this particular property, $32. And don’t think for a second that includes a drink, because it doesn’t.
Recently, I went to a comparable hotel and asked them to give me the cost of the various box lunch elements separately…
June 11, 2009 No Comments
May’s Monthly Morsel
May’s Monthly Morsel
Folks, this is probably one of my most important morsels to-date, so I encourage every one of you to learn from what I have to tell you.
When you are doing site selections, be sure to ask for copies of the menus. Why? Because planners tend to miss a lot of negotiating opportunities when they are focusing on the rooms portion of their contracts. Include culinary in the contracting big picture.
Sure, you may have gotten a 10 percent discount, bartender fees comp-ed or a couple of chef/attendant charges for free. But because the economy is down, there are many additional charges being added to banqueting menus…
May 4, 2009 No Comments
