Are Food Stations a Thing of the Past?
For this week’s Clover Chats video, Katherine sat down with our friend Elinor Harton, who works for one of our favorite caterers in the city, Blue Plate Catering. We wanted to sit down with her to chat about the impacts she sees in the food service world due to COVID-19, aside from the obvious effects of the virtual shutdown of the events industry over the last few months. Blue Plate has been able to continue offering their food-to-go services, but all in-person events have either been postponed or cancelled.
Photo courtesy of Gene Yoon
While we all love a robust food station or buffet at an event, there is a strong possibility that those are a thing of the past. Elinor is seeing her clients moving towards seated, plated meals to decrease the risk of spreading any germs on-site. When and if stations do come back, they may look different, with a requirement that all stations are fully staffed or offering grab-and-go options for guests.
As we begin to see in-person events start taking place, we could be looking at an impact on dinner service timing and flow, particularly if we’re still dealing with guest count restrictions. As we move into Phase 4 of reopening in Chicago, we will be able to hold events for 50 people or less. It’s important to remember that that number will need to include your vendor team who will be on-site with you and your guests for the duration of the event. One of the largest teams present at an event is typically the catering team - kitchen staff, servers, bartenders and event managers. In order to keep the vendor count low to allow the event hosts to use most of that 50-person limit, catering teams will need to be reduced and this has the potential to extend dinner service timing. If we’re talking one server per table, as opposed to 3-4 servers per table, we can all see how that could have an impact.
We may also experience a shift in the way floor plans are made to accommodate for additional spacing between both chairs and tables. It may be that fewer guests are seated at each table, greater space is allowed between each dining table, and seating is more spread out for ceremonies. Elinor made a fantastic suggestion about varying the types of tables used in the floor plan, beyond your typical rounds and rectangles. It could be fun to have 2-tops and 4-tops sprinkled in as well!
Ultimately, the decision should come down to what is going to make you and your guests feel the most comfortable being the same room together to celebrate!
Take a look at the full video below and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don’t miss a thing!
