Ever been to an under catered party?

[Crunchymum]

Just back home from a party with a generous doggy bag and I remarked how I'd never been to an under catered party as the host was divvying up the leftovers. Cue lots of stories of horrifically under catered parties and weddings?

Other than a few occasions where I've known there won't be food, I've never experienced it? I've never had to share a burger at a BBQ or nip out for a super market sandwich at a wedding.

Is it really that common? What's the worst under catered event you've been to?

I didn't know the bride and would still struggle to recognise her. We were on the groom's side and he was happy as Larry. He was (and still is!) a vicar and when he gave his long long speech, he thanked everyone, then said he had one more special person to thank, someone he couldn't be without blah blah. We all stood expectantly waiting for mention of his new wife. Nope, it was God . Bizarre.

I've been to a wedding once where the food portions were SO TINY we were all the the nearest McDonald's at 2am trying to get Big Macs.

It was an incredibly expensive and beautiful wedding with utterly exquisite food (in minuscule portions) and eye-wateringly expensive wine. They'd just wildly, wildly misjudged the amount people eat.

There were very slim women in body-con dresses on my table practically fighting over the bread basket to get a fraction more sustenance.

"But a buffet isn’t instead of a main meal, it’s a social event. You don’t expect to eat as though you were at home

Sorry but if you are expecting people's company for over five hours during meal times, you either feed them or make sure your venue is next to a McDonalds

The problem is with buffets if you have too much choice you want to try everything so it ends up with you piling your plate up.

Um, no, you have consideration for other guests and refrain from behaving like a pig with its snout in the trough.

That is not behaving like a pig at a trough. I really think there are a lot of people with food issues and this often leads to under catering.

but with a buffet guests expect that it is 'reloaded' until everyone is fed.

"On the other hand, I went to a wedding, when I had been told that there wouldn't be much food 'as we are tight fisted' so you should eat beforehand. So I had snacks beforehand. There were stacks of food, and piles of thick ham. Over catered. Still puzzled about that one."

@Wauden - maybe this was their way of ensuring they'd have plenty of leftovers to freeze?

I went to a wedding once where the meal was a buffet, they did it in tables, ours was the last and there was nothing left 😂 it also looked like it had been ransacked, it was pretty grim to be honest! Still a really good wedding though!

Piling up a plate is pig behaviour. There's no need to 'pile up' food. Go back for seconds. I think you're right, though, a lot of people have food issues and behave like pigs in the sight of 'free' food.

Piling up a plate is pig behaviour.
Honestly it is not. Even where there is plenty of food, why would you want to go back and queue again to get a bit of food?

And seriously free food?? Who cares about free sandwiches, quiche and sausage rolls!! We are hardly talking about a cordon bleu meal. People are hungry and need to eat. That is all that is happening.

Honestly it is not. Even where there is plenty of food, why would you want to go back and queue again to get a bit of food?

Because oftentimes if you pile a plate with food you find you cannot eat it all, unless you're a total pig who eats massive portions all the time.

Polite message to everyone who says they have never undercatered...

I am a vegetarian and unless the vegetarians are called up first, or served separately, the vegetarian option will be eaten by a meat eater. It just will. So your polite vegetarian guests may well have been ravenous, even though you thought you had plenty of food left. Just so you know.

Yeah I think you have food issues. A plate of buffet catered food is rarely massive portions, and remember most people eat more if they are drinking alcohol.

Yeah, I think people who pile up a plate at a buffet have food issues, too, being greedy pigs with no consideration for anyone else. Piling a plate to me sounds like taking a large amount of food. Wasteful and greedy.

Very true, TheNavigator. As you can see, a lot of guests like to pile up a plate with food and will definitely scoff the veggie options.

I went to a wedding recently where I genuinely went to mcdonalds on the way home.

Wedding was in the middle of nowhere- like 18miles from any shop or sign of civilisation. No phone signal etc (but wifi). People had taxis and minibuses pre-booked for 11pm.

Invite:
11.30 arrive at venue
12.00 wedding ceremony
1-4 champagne, nibbles and light music
4.30 reception starts
7.00 hog roast
11.00 wedding finishes.

Most people left home around 9am for said wedding.
Nibbles consisted of FOUR bowls of peanuts and pretzels for 85 guests.
Everyone is ravenous by 7. Hog roast comes and everyone is allowed ONE pork roll.. no sides..nothing. just 1 pork roll.

Then the bride and groom buggered off on their honeymoon at 9.30 so everyone was expected to sit around for another 90mins waiting for taxis and minibuses with no signal to try and get it earlier.

I hope you didn't hand over a big present, Just.

Another perspective about piling up plates: I've been to buffets where the plates are ally small. A couple of sandwiches and a sausage roll would make the plate look crammed sometimes.

I am guilty of eating the veggie options. I don't eat pork so this actually rules out much of the meat stuff on buffets.

A plate of a greedy pig or just someone who is hungry? We don't all eat a third of a sandwich and some lettuce and feel full.

multicolour IME under catered buffets always use really tiny plates. I assume to try and get people to eat little.

It's just common courtesy not to pile up your plate at a buffet when you know there are other guests behind you and you don't know if there will be more food or not. You'll hardly starve to death if you don't snaffle a plate loaded with food . I love to eat and am definitely no skinny minny, but piling a plate with food when you're first up at a buffet is just rude and greedy. I'm not exactly sure WTF that is on the plate, abu. .

Unfortunately, I think that the 'pile your plate high' thing is a vicious circle - some people do it, other guests at the same function end up with little or nothing, so at the next buffet they go to, they get up quicker and pile their plates high, because they know that, if they don't, they could end up with nothing, and that there will likely be nothing left for seconds either.

Or people hear about under-catered buffets, and don't want to take the risk.

To be honest, if this is happening, people don't need to take a whole lot more than normal, for the buffet to run low - if most people in the earlier part of the queue each take a couple of items extra, that could leave empty plates for the back of the queue, even if there aren't any really greedy people there.

But I think that, if you are planning a buffet, you should plan for the worst case scenario:

Cater for more people than you are expecting.

Cater for more vegetarians than you are expecting.

Call the vegetarians up first to the buffet.

Make sure the caterers don't put out all the food at once, but replenish the buffet several times.

Have the buffet served, if at all possible.

Shoot anyone who takes a massive plateful and leaves more than half.

This last option may not be entirely serious.

I agree with pp talking about the difficulties of catering when people are greedy.
I had street food stalls at my wedding: 2 different stalls, each offering 2 varieties of food. 120 guests. 200 portions available at lunchtime. It all went within 35 minutes, with some people enjoying seconds and thirds and some people not making their way over there to eat because it was going to be available for a couple of hours.
The schedule was available to everyone. There was really no excuse.
Ceremony at 1pm,
Cake crisps and drinks all day from 1.30pm. (320 traybakes went in 30 minutes)
Street food from 2 (went in 35 mins)
Ice creams from 3 (lost interest 'stuffed' by 3.40)
sweet buffet, cupcakes from 4...still some left at 8pm.
Ploughmans buffet from 6: so much leftover we were eating cheese for weeks and had huge slabs of ham in the freezer for ages.

I think people who have been under-catered previously expect the food to be miserly so stuff their faces if they are at the front of the queue.

Of course it's greedy and piggy to pile up your plate like a mountain with no thought of just taking a decent amount and going up for seconds if you want to. What about the guests behind you when you hoover up anything onto your plate and treat it like a game of jenga. But with food.

My DD worked at one of those huge restaurants, buffet style, with different food stations. The stories she told me would turn your stomach. Greedy pigs literally piling the plates with literally anything they could lay their hands on, just disgusting