Caterer that literally just provides food?

This seems really strange to me and the fact that the email is riddled with grammar mistakes also would make me wary. Ultimately it's up to you to decide if the food is good enough to jump through their hoops but I would think it's easier to find a catering company that's all inclusive and charges per person.

I’ve never heard of a caterer like this. I would be cautious. Do you have other options?

This seems like a lot more work than it’s worth.

I was looking at a caterer that did something like this. You could hire them for food, no servers for $8.99/per person versus $12.99 if you wanted servers. We did find a company that provided servers, but after calculating the fee per server, plus the tips we would have to pay, it wasn't much cheaper to do the $8.99 option. The $12.99 option not only included servers, but linens, chafing dishes, silverware, etc. These might be things you want to consider.

I've never done this, except with drop off catering for a buffet style event, where they drop off, set up and the food is self serve. For me, I'd have to consider whether the food is worth the hassle of finding competent servers on my own and dealing with yet another vendor. The choices look great, though. It looks like you could choose three entrees, order proportionately and then finalize when you get your RSVPs back. A side note, the grammar mistakes to me only indicate that English may not be the person's first language.

So, you would be hiring cooks and chefs? That doesn't seem to be worth the effort.

The other concern is how is the food going to be handled at your venue. Do they have facilities to keep it at the correct temperature- in the kitchen and a hot buffet setup? Can you hire staff with food safe training who knows how to store food safely, not just serve it?

It's all vegan?!? Ughhhh jealous! I can't find a vegan caterer in Colorado...

I should mention there are grammar mistakes because the young man that owns the restaurant is from France, English is his second language, we go there often for lunch/dinner. And yes the food is amazing.

Our options are slim so far, not many venues and caterers will do a vegan wedding. The one caterer that I can afford and will do vegan food has quite a few bad reviews (good ones though too) and hasn't emailed me back in days.

The other one, is $140 per person and I cant afford that. I need like $85-100 pp.

This whole thing is not going well so far lol.

Thanks for letting me know this isn't normal lol

I know it’s not what you asked, but are your guests OK with this kind of menu?

Well, your explanation kind of makes more sense why you'd be entertaining this idea. While I haven't seen this before, you can maybe ask the restaurant what other catering clients have done in the past. I know in my town, there are bartending services that also offer waitstaff services. That may be an option. Good luck, sorry this isn't smooth sailing.

I wouldn't do this personally. Too much hassle. Also, the fact that they haven't taken it upon themselves to just find a company they can work with on a regular basis that knows how they operate is beyond me. It sounds like poor business planning to me.

Restaurants in the Pgh area will do this. A few I looked into were pick up only, which obviously was very cheap but the idea stressed me out. There are staffing/temp agencies that you can hire for wait staff. I was able to negotiate with my restaurant to provide chaffing dishes, set up and servers just for the dinner service. If you go with a temp agency just read the reviews. I have been working at a wedding venue on weekends and we request additional servers to help if our normal staff is unavailable... and some of them are totally unreliable. They disappear or never show up! They do not send a manager from the temp agency to the venue with the servers. And I used a catering company that was "family style" or portions for our engagement party and it worked out for 30 guests, but I wouldn't know if you would run out of food with more people. You definitely need wait staff or someone at your venue to set up and maintain your food. I think it can work out but you might pay more this way with staff, portioned food, etc than a caterer who provides all these things already. Weigh your options and try to streamline it, the more people involved may cause confusion.

I think it amazing that you are doing a vegan wedding. My dreams are coming true for someone!

Restaurants and some catering company don’t deal with servers or decor for it, just paying for food. One that we are currently considering offers just food. I ask and they said I can get a sever from the restaurant to work, but it was a separate fee as well, same goes for if I wanted them to provide the dinner ware. The other option was to find and hire someone myself. I love the food and the price so just do the math and see what it’s worth. The end consider the reviews, your personal love for the food and price, and if you can hire someone else to help without it going out of budget. If you have a wedding planner they can deal with this, if not and you want it to be less stressful, hire someone that it would come all inclusive with.

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The guests expect it, even though they're not vegan, they all say "its going to be vegan right?", they all know we would never pay for sentient beings to die so we can have a party.

Im also of the mind, "If you dont like it, dont come". lol

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SO far it looks like neither of our dreams will becoming true, unless I win the lottery very soon lol but thank you

View Quoted Comment Alas.... I feel your pain though. Good luck on finding something!

What you're talking about is exactly how we are working with our "food only" caterer. Its actually much more affordable for us to order large sheets of food to be dropped off (delivered for a small fee) to our reception. We will put the food into large chaffing dishes to keep them warm! As for portions, we have 2 food options, and with an expected 75 guests, we are getting 150 portions of each, so essentially double the food. It was much more affordable for us to not have servers and just put the money into buying twice the amount of food, so people can get seconds, and we can have a bunch leftover for family after the wedding. It sounds like this caterer you found really has a menu that suits your culinary needs as well as your budget! Score!

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Are you not having appetizers? So youre having a small buffet?