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Don't we all wish we could find services that are cheap, good and delivered fast? This unfortunately is rarely the case, especially in hospitality, where margins are thin and when an operator is asked to lower their prices or to deliver food in a very short time, something's gotta give.
This is an important "Trilemma" that many couples and party organisers will face, and for us operators it is important to manage expectations and be honest. Good + Fast = Expensive. An operator will need extra prep time, extra staff and frankly extra effort and focus to achieve this, and they will charge a premium. Fast + Cheap = Poor quality. If you are on a very low budget and (true story) you are wondering whether a food truck can compete on price with Costco, you are asking yourself the wrong questions. Personally I would rather serve some store -bought premium sandwiches than a cheap hand-made pizza, at my party. Or instead of having a food truck on the premises, why not order some large pizza trays? Good + Cheap = Slow. This may be the case with local smaller operators or micro family run bussinesses (possibly doing this part-time). The food will be good, the price very reasonable, but it will take longer to get everyone served. They may cook fewer pizzas at the time and employ friends and family. A good option for smaller parties, and events where time is not a priority. In our case, we do this if for a living, we employ people and we are VAT registered. Unfortunately cheap is not one of our attributes (although if you are VAT registered yourself or your company is, we may indeed be cheaper than a non-registered operator). My advice would be to steer away from fast and cheap, especially for an important event. I would rather have a good product from a lower category than a cheap product from a higher one.
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To save your sanity when using marketplaces like Add to Event, Poptop, or Togather, you must avoid the "shotgun approach." If you request a general quote for "wedding catering," you will be flooded with dozens of generic replies that make comparison impossible.
Here is my advice, as an operator on how to get the most out of these platforms and their pitfalls. But first let me tall you how they work and how they make money. Poptop and Togather: will charge the operator a commission, which is typically between 12 and 15%, on top of this they will charge you a service fee. Operators will simply pass these costs on to you. ADD TO EVENT: will charge the operator per eqnuiry, the fee depends on the expected revenues and typically ranges between £6 and £11. Keep in mind that an operator may send several enquiries a week so costs will ramp up quickly. Hence quality operators will nit pick the enquiries they reply to. Hitched.co.uk: is free to use, unless operators want a premium plan (from £600+VAT a year) The Danger of Choice Overload Marketplaces are designed to give you options, but too many leads can become a full-time job.
To get the best vendors to respond and keep your workload manageable, follow these rules:
The "Three-Vendor" Rule I strongly suggest focusing on three to five quality quotes for any single category. Once you have three solid options that meet your specific cuisine and budget, stop. Adding a sixth or seventh quote rarely provides a better option; it just adds two more hours of admin to your week. In conclusion go for quality over quantity, be specific and remember going direct is awlays best ( and cheaper) I remember when I was a teenager a friend asked me why chefs start work at 8:30am if lunch is at 12:30? At the time blogging wasn't a think, so 30 years later here you have it. This is a typical Saturday.
6am: Walk the dogs...I take it some van operators won't have dogs, but hey... it's a 5000 steps walk! And this is after a busy Friday night. 7:15am: after a quick breakfast I head to the restaurant to make dough for the next day, about 50kg of it, which will yield around 180 dough balls/pizzas. This takes about 2 hours 12 noon: Start loading the van with logs for the fire, fill the water tanks and give it a clean if it hasn't been used for a few days. This from time to time includes washing the outside as well. 12:30: Start the fire. Because it's winter and the van is not in use every single day, and we have a biiiigggg oven (1m internal diameter and around 400kg in weight) it takes time to bring it to the ideal temperature, which is about 400 degrees. This means that once we arrive at the venue, we just need another 30 to 45 minutes to be ready to cook 1:30pm: After a quick lunch we head to the restaurant to pick up dough, toppings, sauce etc. Because once we are out, WE ARE OUT! we need to triple check we have got everything we need. The team at the restaurant will have done most of the prep, but everything needs to go into coolers and then be loaded in the van. Everything needs to be packed tightly, and all boxes need to be places on the floor, so when we arrive at the venue and open the van's doors it doesn't look like a bomb has exploded! My worst nightmare is finding the tomato sauce spilled all over the place. 3pm: If service starts at 4pm, we want to be there at least an hour before. Earlier if this is the first time at this venue, as in this case we need to ask where to park, where we can connect for electricity etc. First thing is always the oven. Take advantage of whatever residual heat we have left and start a big fire. Followed by preparing our station, folding boxes, organising pre orders and generally getting ready. 3:45: TA DA! At least in the winter, the service hatch only goes up 15 minutes before opening time. Why? because once we open it it's like being outside and it's cold... very cold :( 4pm to 8pm: We serve some cracking pizzas, chat to people and generally try to have a bit of fun. 8:15pm to 8:30pm: This is the disappointment and "oh no" area. We have started cleaning down and now the oven has got it's door on, which means the fire is dying a we can no longer cook pizza, even if we wanted to. This is when customers seem to arrive in numbers and ask the rhetorical questions "are you still serving" or "are you still open". 8:30pm: After disappointing more people in 10 minutes, than we have served in 4 hours, we start cleaning down in earnest. Put everything away, close the hatch, unplug all cables, make sure all sort of bolts and locks are closed tightly and then wish our goodbyes and drive back. 9:15: Get back to the restaurant, unload any left overs, store anything that can be reused in fridges, throw the rubbish away, reverse the van without hitting anything and finally drive home 10pm: Home time! This is a question we get asked a lot. Of course this is not a precise science and Google hasn't created an algorithm for this yet! But here are a few things to consider that may help.
35 ladies - 3/4 of a pizza each 35 man - 1 pizza each 10 kids between 5 and 12 - 1/2 pizza each 20 between gran parents, aunts and uncles - 3/4 pizza each Total: 81 pizzas |
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