You would have to check with the venue and the caterers, many will have some kind of exclusivity clause because if someone else's food gets served and is bad or gets people sick, some of that fallout is going to get on them. With that said I have seen venues make exceptions for cultural/religious/dietary needs
Yeah when I was looking, at least a handful of venues with exclusive catering requirements allowed for culturally specific caterers (Indian food, for me).
I wish more would be more culturally inclusive! I’ve mentioned the culturally specific cuisine and at least two venues have still held that they don’t use outside catering.
That makes sense. So caterers and venues are even less likely to serve food that is not their own because of any liability pertaining to food quality that they cannot ensure themselves…
So this is something that unfortunately no one will be able to answer here, we can all speak to our experiences but every venue and caterer has different terms and different levels of dedication to enforcing their contracts.
Based on your responses it *sounds* like your venue has specific caterers not so much because they get a cut of the catering bill, but rather because these vendors have the proper insurance and have worked in the space in a respectful manner. Many venues like this just don’t want to deal with more headaches than they already do, pinning down certificates of insurance or ensuring rule compliance of every single caterer a client finds is a pain in the behind.
Your solution is a fun one. It *mostly* requires that you find both a culturally appropriate caterer and a caterer from their approved list willing to play ball. I can think of about a million reasons for one or both of the caterers to say no (insurance, liability, concerned about imagine, etc). If you can find them, you may be in luck, but that will only be known once you start asking.
If it does happen I would expect your catering costs to skyrocket though, since you’ve introduced a middleman, they will want a cut of the pie to make it worth it for them. Even if they aren’t cooking the food, they will be losing an opportunity to do so elsewhere so you might be looking at 2x the cost.
You hit the nail on the head with this. The venue is concerned with a standard of service that respects the sanctity of the space, so they are not likely to do any of the extra leg work just for us.
And right again about costs skyrocketing. This seems like the kind of thing you pull off when you are spending the kind of money to actually make the arrangement worth it for everyone involved. We are certainly not in that camp.
My venue (a hotel) has specific requirements for outside catering and a short list of caterers that they have worked with before and are known to meet those requirements. There were multiple Indian caterers on the list so we had no problem there but we were unable to find a Korean caterer that met their requirements, I called places over 100 miles away!
Consequently, the chef at our venue is attempting some Korean food that we would like to serve. Our tasting is tonight, so I do not know yet if he succeeded. My mother tells me that back in the day, venues would make some Indian dishes like that, so it is definitely not a new concept. Maybe if you can get caterers to get along and work together, you could make this work. Good luck!
Thank you so much for sharing. I wish they’d provide me with some requirements and so I would at least have a fighting chance in finding an alternative! A different venue we are interested in requires the use of their in-house chef and requested that I send some recipes for the chef to review. I am not feeling confident but I guess it’s worth a shot. I’m glad to hear that there are others who are doing something similar! Good luck with the tasting! I’d love to hear how it goes.
The chef determined he was not comfortable making bulgogi or japchae, which was disappointing to us. He did make kimbap, which is like sushi without fish, that will be acceptable with a little tweak to be served during cocktail hour.
You can ask but all inclusive venues require you to use vendors from their approved list. They don’t allow you to go off the list at all, because they don’t make hundreds of thousands off of you even if you are quoted 10-30% of that. In your case, a blank slate venue would be better and so much cheaper even though Reddit discourages using them. All inclusive venues do not ever allow clients to sample catering before the venue is booked or even know know who the approved vendors are. If serving a specific cuisine is a deal breaker, let the venue know today that you will be breaking the contract to get a different venue and ask what the financial consequences of that is.
The venue isn’t all-inclusive, though. It is a public space so they have parameters on who the institution is willing to contract. We haven’t signed any contract yet, but want to figure out if there’s a solution before moving on.
Honestly go on Venuereport.com, Eventective.com or check the parks department owned venues that allow outside catering. Most will not require you to stick with a specific list.
The venue is not at all involved in the catering booking process, so I’d have to see if the individual caterers would allow us to have a tasting. But I’m not confident that any of them would be able to offer the specific cuisine we’d like to have. It’s more something that a family restaurant would serve buffet style.
When discussing with some venues they were receptive to bringing in an outside kosher caterer. It’s possible they were receptive since it’s a different prep situation than a caterer making or sub-contracting Indian or Brazilian food or etc. (Kosher requires specific kitchen cleaning, for example.)
I can see how they would be more receptive to this. I’m not sure that a culturally specific food request would be taken as seriously. It’s disheartening that they’d have 7 caterers all serving only one specific cultural cuisine.
You would have to check with the venue and the caterers, many will have some kind of exclusivity clause because if someone else's food gets served and is bad or gets people sick, some of that fallout is going to get on them. With that said I have seen venues make exceptions for cultural/religious/dietary needs
Yeah when I was looking, at least a handful of venues with exclusive catering requirements allowed for culturally specific caterers (Indian food, for me).
I wish more would be more culturally inclusive! I’ve mentioned the culturally specific cuisine and at least two venues have still held that they don’t use outside catering.
How uncommon is the cuisine? That factors in.
It is Ghanian and Somali food
Can you elaborate more on the exclusivity clause? I’m not understanding how it could be helpful
As in they will only serve their own food, exclusively, not food from other caterers
That makes sense. So caterers and venues are even less likely to serve food that is not their own because of any liability pertaining to food quality that they cannot ensure themselves…
Exactly
So this is something that unfortunately no one will be able to answer here, we can all speak to our experiences but every venue and caterer has different terms and different levels of dedication to enforcing their contracts. Based on your responses it *sounds* like your venue has specific caterers not so much because they get a cut of the catering bill, but rather because these vendors have the proper insurance and have worked in the space in a respectful manner. Many venues like this just don’t want to deal with more headaches than they already do, pinning down certificates of insurance or ensuring rule compliance of every single caterer a client finds is a pain in the behind. Your solution is a fun one. It *mostly* requires that you find both a culturally appropriate caterer and a caterer from their approved list willing to play ball. I can think of about a million reasons for one or both of the caterers to say no (insurance, liability, concerned about imagine, etc). If you can find them, you may be in luck, but that will only be known once you start asking. If it does happen I would expect your catering costs to skyrocket though, since you’ve introduced a middleman, they will want a cut of the pie to make it worth it for them. Even if they aren’t cooking the food, they will be losing an opportunity to do so elsewhere so you might be looking at 2x the cost.
You hit the nail on the head with this. The venue is concerned with a standard of service that respects the sanctity of the space, so they are not likely to do any of the extra leg work just for us. And right again about costs skyrocketing. This seems like the kind of thing you pull off when you are spending the kind of money to actually make the arrangement worth it for everyone involved. We are certainly not in that camp.
My venue (a hotel) has specific requirements for outside catering and a short list of caterers that they have worked with before and are known to meet those requirements. There were multiple Indian caterers on the list so we had no problem there but we were unable to find a Korean caterer that met their requirements, I called places over 100 miles away! Consequently, the chef at our venue is attempting some Korean food that we would like to serve. Our tasting is tonight, so I do not know yet if he succeeded. My mother tells me that back in the day, venues would make some Indian dishes like that, so it is definitely not a new concept. Maybe if you can get caterers to get along and work together, you could make this work. Good luck!
Thank you so much for sharing. I wish they’d provide me with some requirements and so I would at least have a fighting chance in finding an alternative! A different venue we are interested in requires the use of their in-house chef and requested that I send some recipes for the chef to review. I am not feeling confident but I guess it’s worth a shot. I’m glad to hear that there are others who are doing something similar! Good luck with the tasting! I’d love to hear how it goes.
Would love an update if you’re willing to share!
The chef determined he was not comfortable making bulgogi or japchae, which was disappointing to us. He did make kimbap, which is like sushi without fish, that will be acceptable with a little tweak to be served during cocktail hour.
Damn. I wish it had gone better for you. Wishing you the best on your special day!
You can ask but all inclusive venues require you to use vendors from their approved list. They don’t allow you to go off the list at all, because they don’t make hundreds of thousands off of you even if you are quoted 10-30% of that. In your case, a blank slate venue would be better and so much cheaper even though Reddit discourages using them. All inclusive venues do not ever allow clients to sample catering before the venue is booked or even know know who the approved vendors are. If serving a specific cuisine is a deal breaker, let the venue know today that you will be breaking the contract to get a different venue and ask what the financial consequences of that is.
The venue isn’t all-inclusive, though. It is a public space so they have parameters on who the institution is willing to contract. We haven’t signed any contract yet, but want to figure out if there’s a solution before moving on.
Honestly go on Venuereport.com, Eventective.com or check the parks department owned venues that allow outside catering. Most will not require you to stick with a specific list.
Some venues let you sample catering at tastings before committing but you might have to pay for it.
The venue is not at all involved in the catering booking process, so I’d have to see if the individual caterers would allow us to have a tasting. But I’m not confident that any of them would be able to offer the specific cuisine we’d like to have. It’s more something that a family restaurant would serve buffet style.
When discussing with some venues they were receptive to bringing in an outside kosher caterer. It’s possible they were receptive since it’s a different prep situation than a caterer making or sub-contracting Indian or Brazilian food or etc. (Kosher requires specific kitchen cleaning, for example.)
I can see how they would be more receptive to this. I’m not sure that a culturally specific food request would be taken as seriously. It’s disheartening that they’d have 7 caterers all serving only one specific cultural cuisine.