Choosing a Holiday Caterer

As the busy holidays rapidly approach, our free time becomes filled with various gatherings and events that take time and planning. It's not at all uncommon to be so filled with the need to arrange parties and get together's that we're simply stressing over the holidays instead of spending time enjoying them. Why permit our holiday to become more full of stress than it needs to be?

One way that we can avoid this type of stressing is to hire a caterer to assist us in planning the family get-together or the office party that we may be responsible for. If you're a small business who has to put together something to offer your thanks to your employees for their efforts throughout the year, the simple truth is that with running the business and keeping things humming along smoothly, the time may be in short supply.

Deciding on a caterer to handle your event should not be a spur of the moment decision. Selecting the right caterer, needless to say, can make or break your holiday celebrations, whatever their nature. How do you best select a caterer for the holiday party that you are planning? How do you choose the best catering company and assure that all of your holiday party needs are well cared for. Leaving it in someone else's hands isn't always easy to do.

One of the best ways to get the right caterer is by thinking back to other holiday or family gatherings that you may have attended. If those events were catered, ask questions of the host and find out who they used to offer their holiday party. When choosing a holiday caterer, it stands to reason that word of mouth is going to be the best way in which to attain a qualified and cost effective caterer for your party.

Choosing your catering company based on cost alone is nearly always going to end in disaster. Select a caterer for your holiday gatherings based upon the quality of the food, the efficiency of the service, all coupled with the cost for the meal and other items that you will be receiving.

The holiday season is a time for laughter, fun and friends. Make yours a lot easier by using a qualified catering service who will give you the kind of service that you want and excels at the type of foods that you might want to have served. Each catering company will have their own specialty and will be well spoken of by the local businesses or groups in your area.

Source: Ezine Articles

Choosing a Name for Your Food and Catering Business

Name Your Food & Catering Business

Do you serve up bland, boring buffets and mediocre meals? No, of course not. But if your name is bland, boring or mediocre, potential customers may well draw the conclusion that your food is too. The words Fresh, Tasty, Gourmet, Supreme, Bon Appetit and Upper Crust are all overused in business and have become meaningless. They tell people nothing about your business; after all, wouldn't you expect a catering company to offer tasty, fresh food?

A catchy, original name can help your business stand out from the crowd and distinguish you from the hundreds of competitors. A name that indicates what you specialize in will ensure that you don't waste your time dealing with vague enquiries, that may or may not lead on to a sale. No-one who doesn't like Chinese food would think of contacting Oriental Express and someone looking for a caterer for their wedding is not going to phone Working Lunch. Those companies' names are acting as advertisements, attracting the right sort of customer.

So, before you decide on a name you must identify your unique selling point. Perhaps you offer a particular country's cuisine. Your name can indicate this. You don't have to use a real Italian word if you specialize in pasta and pizza; you can tag a suffix like -issimo or -eria to an English word, or a made-up word, to come up with a name such as Delissimo (which will make people think both of 'delicious' and the Italian 'bellissimo') or Feasteria (on the lines of pizzeria). Think about common suffixes or letter combinations in the language of the country concerned. Anything ending in -ski or -sky has to be Russian or Eastern European, -ito is a typical Spanish ending, and -aki suggests something Japanese.

When we hear or see particular words and phrases they conjure up images in our mind. Aunt Jessie's Kitchen suggests that this is a business offering traditional home cooking; a name based on slang, abbreviations or informal language, such as Big Bite, Tuck In or Buffets2Go, suggests that you cater for informal events, not society weddings. Don't expect any calls from Muslims or Jews if you call yourself Piglets Catering (an actual name that is in my local phone directory) or The Flying Hog.

Catchy names are often based on alliteration, assonance or rhyme. Pesto Parties and Kids' Cuisine are alliterative names because both words begin with the same sound (note that it is the sound that is important, not the spelling). The names Top Nosh, and Nice and Spicy have assonance, in other words the same vowel sounds appear throughout. Snappy Snacks combines alliteration and assonance. Posh Nosh, and Menus and Venues are examples of rhyming names.

The letter M is often associated with delicious food, as it's what we say when something is tasty -- mmmmmm! It also features prominently in related words such as yummy, scrummy and nummy. That is why M is a popular letter to begin chocolate brands: Maltesers, Munchies, Milo and Milka. Don't rush into choosing a name. Do your research -- a dictionary and a thesaurus will help you with this. A winning name will attract the right sort of enquiry, can save you money on advertising and will create a positive image.

Resource: Ezine Articles