Here’s a crazy thought… If you’re hiring a caterer for your off-site, outdoor wedding, you will likely be building a restaurant from the ground up. Tents, lights, ovens, plates, serving trays, and so much more. This is why hiring a professional catering with experience at your venue is a 100% must. Your wedding day food can make or break your wedding, so why wouldn’t you do whatever you can to make it a memorable, delicious experience. In this episode, we talk with Chef and Owner of Bamboo Catering, Jason Takemura, about how to elevate your wedding day catering experience. (In other big news… Did you know that Tessa went to culinary school? 😂)
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How To Create The Perfect Dining Experience For Your Wedding

• Types of food service: plated vs family style, vs buffet
• Which one is right for your wedding depends on the formality of the program
• Plated is better for longer, more formal programs when you want guests to remain seated - downside is more staffing to plate and serve food. Better if you have a lot of dietary restrictions.
• Buffets encourage walking around, mingling, so better for more casual events
• Family style is a blend - interactive and seated, but can lead to a lot of food waste. Rentals are often a hidden cost - platters for each course for each table, plus serving utensils, and staffing.
• Off Site catering requires us to build a restaurant quality kitchen on location from the ground up - tents, tables, lighting, ovens, deep fryers, etc
• What foods do better at a wedding - foods that can hold up in extreme types of cooking. Fish examples - fattier fish like salmon or butterfish
• When planning your menu, especially a buffet, remember that you’re catering to a wide range of taste. Chicken is boring, but a safe, crowd-pleasing option. Not everyone will love having just duck and lamb (listen to Tessa’s story about this on the episode)!
• What menu item is sometimes tricky at a larger wedding? Prime rib because a lot of people like the end cut (there’s a limited amount of that), and well done pieces. Temperature is hard to manage at an offsite event so most people will get the middle section of a prime rib.
• What are some fun food options? Action stations like a whole pig or garlic shrimp station. Late night snacks like a donut station or french fry station are also really popular.
• What are some costs to think about when hiring a caterer? Staffing (cooks, back of house, front of house), rentals and also vendor meals.
• Final words from Jason? Trust your wedding planner to work with your caterer to bring your vision to life.

Find Bamboo Catering (and Jason) here:
IG: @bamboo_catering
Bamboocatering.net
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