If you think the food served at a business meeting doesn’t affect the outcome of the meeting, you might need to rethink that theory. There are many reasons why the food served and everything involved in that process matters. Below are some of ways in which catering can help you seal the deal.
Setting the Tone
A meal that’s catered can include many elements that cannot be included if it’s not catered. For instance, you can have hors d’oeuvres served by the catering company as soon as the meeting attendees arrive. This is something that can immediately set the tone for the meeting. Despite what some people think, you can’t truly separate who you are as a professional from who you are as a human being. Simply put, most people enjoy eating at home and at work. The right selection of hors d’oeuvres will put a smile on anyone’s face. When this happens, you’re already batting a thousand.
Planning the Menu with Ease
Planning a menu for a meeting isn’t always easy because it’s hard to know what to serve. When you work with a catering company, they can provide you with different options and take some of the complex decisions off of your plate, quite literally. They can recommend menu items based on what has been popular in the past. They’re the experts and can provide you with information about food options that are usually preferred. As a result, you will have something on the menu that everyone loves and you’ll receive all of the accolades for getting it right.
Accommodating Dietary Restrictions
In a world where more people than ever are vegan or gluten-free, you need to accommodate dietary restrictions in the workplace. When it comes to business meetings, that’s not always an easy task. A catering professional can help you figure out how to plan in a way that everyone’s dietary restrictions are considered without wasting money. It’s always best if you have an RSVP with food choices, but there are options when that information isn’t available. This alone can eliminate a lot of the stress associated with planning food for a business meeting.
Delegating Responsibilities
The longer you’re in the workforce, the more you realize that you don’t have to do everything yourself for it to get done. Organizing a business meeting is a perfect example. There are so many components of a meeting that must be executed with precision, that it helps to delegate the responsibility of catering to experts. They can even help you figure out how to set up the food based on the venue where the meeting is being held. Sometimes it makes sense to have the food placed outside of the room so that it doesn’t interfere with any presentations. Other times it’s best to have food served during the meeting, especially when the participants are unable to take a break.
Leaving a Positive Impression
When you have a caterer that takes care of details surrounding the food provided during the meeting, they can make sure no stone is left unturned. Experts in catering know what works and what doesn’t. They can help you cultivate a positive impression that demonstrates the level of competence the client can expect. If you can orchestrate meals for the meeting with excellence, you can probably handle the account or project that’s the subject of the meeting.
On the surface, food provided for a business meeting is no big deal. However, given the idiosyncrasies of some people, you can take the chance that a botched lunch won’t matter. You want to do everything in your power to ensure the experience is nothing less that spectacular in every way. A great lunch can even save the day if other areas of the meeting aren’t going as expected.
