All In The Family

“Family-Style Dining” may mean different things to different people. It could be a backyard barbeque, Taco Tuesday or Thanksgiving Dinner while watching the Dallas Cowboys (lose the) game. It could be a casserole or a pot roast or a tofurkey, but the one central theme is that the food serves as a means of bringing people together through a shared dining experience. Grandma had that twelve person dinner down to a science, but what happens if your “family” is more along the lines of a close-knit group of 800?

Sometimes food stations and cocktail receptions are not going to be right for a large corporate event, and something a little more intimate is needed. We had the privilege of serving 800 guests a family-style dinner recently for one of our Bay Area tech clients that did the trick. This meant that dishes were served tableside and guests were able to help themselves to seconds, and thirds, from platters placed in the middle of the tables.

While being true to the family-style theme, we also wanted to kick things up a notch. Beverage carts made the rounds, with our trained mixologists serving up custom cocktails to event guests without them so much as leaving their seats. If you get that kind of service at home, you should invite me over for dinner. Seriously, I’m free next Thursday.

It’s certainly worth considering taking a family-style catering approach as an option when planning a not-quite-so-formal sit down dinner at your next large scale corporate event.