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Original poster

Ever been to an under catered party?

446 replies

Crunchymum · 14/10/2018 17:37

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?

OP posts:
MuffinMad · 15/10/2018 16:11

Went to a wedding,evening reception.
I had made the wedding cake as a favour for the bride.
The call was made at the appropriate time that the buffet was open and everyone got up to dive in.
I hate being in a cue, so decided to wait till it had died down. Big mistake.
I went over to the table,picked up my paper plate and proceeded to look for some food.
Nothing there. Not a crumb.

Feeling like a right idiot I placed my paper plate back and hoped no one had noticed me!

The cake didn't even get cut up either.

🙁

Madmarchpear · 15/10/2018 16:16

I hosted an under catered party. I graciously said siblings could come to a 5 year old party. Cue the annihilation of the buffet by big hairy teenage brothers and even cousins as parents looked on! Scumbags 😭

lalalalyra · 15/10/2018 16:17

We went to a wedding reception recently where a combination of greedy guests and the venue undercatering left a lot of people hungry in the evening.

There was rolls with bacon, sausage or potato scone and they'd done enough for everyone to have one roll - which is madness. But the people that piled their plates with 4/5/6 rolls really ruined it for everyone else.

Worst bit was a lot of them went to waste as after 2 or 3 folks were full. Such a waste of food.

thesockgap · 15/10/2018 16:22

Went to a wedding evening reception a few years ago where the day guests had in all likelihood not long finished their three-course meal by the time we arrived at 7:30, so the hosts probably didn't see the need for evening food. We, on the other hand, had (perhaps presumptuously) hoped there would be a buffet of sorts, and hadn't had any tea.
Nothing materialised, until around 10pm when waiters brought round trays of bacon sandwiches, cut into quarters. We got one quarter each.
The bar didn't even sell crisps, so we had to detour via McDonald's drive through on the way home!

thenewaveragebear1983 · 15/10/2018 16:50

Shirley well there was some food left at the end! Enough for our tea anyway.

I think it makes a big difference if it’s a small do, or a boozy thing like a wedding. Anyone who undercaters at their wedding has to accept that people will drink too much and the inevitable issues that will cause.

NeoClassicalBollocks · 15/10/2018 17:09

My own wedding! I had catered for all the guests but the portions were tiny, and it was a buffet. I also politely (stupidly) waited until last to serve myself which meant I got one miserly piece of smoked salmon and nearly fainted from hunger (and also got fairly hammered due to lack of food)

Andtheresaw · 15/10/2018 17:15

Some of these are shocking. Especially where a caterer has been paid to serve so many people and they still run out.
Years ago we attended a wedding at a conference venue where an external caterer had been chosen. Everyone was seated at long tables abutting the head-table but there was no way for the waiters to get between the tables to actually serve. Those of us seated near the toptable had to wait for our congealed chicken breasts to be passed hand over hand by another 20 or so guests down the table before it got to us. Then the veg and potatoes were served in bowls fro the centre of the tables...except none of them actually made their way down to us at all. Dreadful.

NightAndShiningArmour · 15/10/2018 17:30

Yep. It was my wedding. And totally my fault.

All you could drink! But nothing to eat except - seriously - cold chicken nuggets and PINK WAFFERS between the wedding at 2 and the hog roast being ready at 4:30. People had skipped lunch and were starving.

CurlyhairedAssassin · 15/10/2018 17:48

@thenewaveragebear1983 that was a really poor buffet you provided! I would expect there to be stuff left over because most people in that situation would take one look at the table and think, Jeez, I’d better take hardly anything, because it woukd be clear there wasn’t enough to go round. People don’t want to be seen to taking the last of the food So bizarrely in those situations you end up with people still hungry but stuff left!

Jaxhog · 15/10/2018 17:50

We went to an event once with 12 tables of people. The veg ran out on table 8 and the meat main course ran out by table 10. Apparently the chef had had a row and stomped off just before the dinner. The now unsupervised serving staff started opening tins of carrots and peas and serving them instead. It was a fiasco. Many didn't get to eat that night. We all stayed, because we were taking part in a speech contest after dinner!

The only upside was that tables 8 to 12 all got a refund.

formerbabe · 15/10/2018 17:51

hardly any salad, only a tiny pot of coleslaw and potato salad etc, and only one type of sandwiches (gammon ham) and a single portion of a vege dish for the one vegetarian visitor

Sounds pretty miserable.

Jaxhog · 15/10/2018 17:54

On another occasion, we were attending a sunday lunch event where tables went up one by one. We were second to last. By the time we got to the buffet, the food was stone cold. I asked for some hot gravy, they delivered it and poured it over my congealed roast lamb. It was even colder than the meal!

TesticleMeElmo · 15/10/2018 17:57

See, this is the sort of thing that always makes me massively over-cater! Better to have a bit left over than have guests go hungry... I helped with a friends daughters birthday party a few months ago and had awful trouble trying to get to her to buy enough food - thirty kids, party was 12 - 3... ‘Oh’ says she ‘the kids are coming for the party, they can eat when they get home or before they come Confused Thankfully after a rather long discussion (row) she changed her mind and actually laid on a pretty decent spread. This was after I told her all about the party we’d been to earlier in the year where the first few kids got half a strawberry because the host had bought one punnet to go around twenty five kids... the rest of the food was the same as well. One small bag of wotsits in a bowl. One pack of ready cooked sausage rolls (so one each). One cucumber cut into sticks...

Melamin · 15/10/2018 17:58

I travelled 2 1/2 hours as an evening guest. Got pointed to the buffet left-overs from earlier - can't remember what there actually was - just what no one else wanted. The people who had travelled from London were Sad

Ilikeknitting · 15/10/2018 17:58

I traveled nearly three hours to an evening do of a wedding. NO FOOD! We left after three hours (around 10pm) absolutely starving.
We still refer to it as “the wedding” , short for The wedding with NO FOOD!
We had to get a horrible greasy kebab from the town before we set off back home (another 3 hour journey)
Worst wedding ever! Please do not invite guests to you your wedding if you don’t want to feed them.

Heatherjayne1972 · 15/10/2018 17:59

We do buffet lunches at church every now and again
It sounds mad but even church folks have to be reminded not to take too much first time around and make sure no one has seconds until everyone has had something
People are people I guess and people need telling

Melamin · 15/10/2018 17:59

(I thought we were a bit late but the London guests said not)

Runningishard · 15/10/2018 18:04

I went to an wedding evening party. Wasn’t going to stay long, more of a show our face so hadn’t planned on eating there. The couple had got married on a cruise ship but held a blessing for family once home. It seemed like the blessing event was as long as a wedding and none of the days guests had been fed. The buffet was chaos when it opened, then the DJ announced everyone was to sit down as the couple wanted to be first at the buffet. Needless to say it ran out before many were fed

CurlyhairedAssassin · 15/10/2018 18:06

The worst is when you know the host has food or diet obsessions and eats like a bird. So assumes that everyone else is like them and will be happy with a bread stick, a mini quiche, a mini sausage roll and a carrot baton.

Tinkobell · 15/10/2018 18:12

Once went to a conference and there was no water available or drink. People had to leave the conference centre to buy bottled water to soothe their aching kidneys.

FishesThatFly · 15/10/2018 18:12

ShirleyPhallus

I intentionally under catered for DS’a and dh’s joint birthday last month
Excellent- no waste, everyone ate but no one went hungry

How miserable... What's the point of having a party if you can't put some effort in.

I wouldn't have eaten that as l don't like gammon.

I can assure you, your guests would not have been impressed

Runningishard · 15/10/2018 18:13

I always over cater at my parties. For bigger parties its usually chilli and curry with rice or pulled brisket rolls with sides and little roasted spuds. Lots of nibbles and a cake of some sort. Never come close to running out of booze either. Everyone loves my parties.

starfishmummy · 15/10/2018 18:14

Party for a relative of dh's. We expected a cash bar and were right, but there was no food because they'd decided that "people would have eaten" before going There was no music or entertainment either.

So basically they'd arranged a room in a club. And that was it.

Seafoodeatit · 15/10/2018 18:16

Friends of the family are notorious for this, always leave their place starving and they never cater for adults at their kids birthdays despite hosting it at home - they expect everyone to stay for hours too! A recent bbq consisted of 2 sausages each or a burger and some salad - it was an exact amount so you had to pick, no cheese or sauces for some weird reason either.

LillianGish · 15/10/2018 18:18

I once went to quite a smart wedding and there was no food. Wedding was at 12 we went to the hotel and there was a drinks reception, but no food at all - and the party went on until the evening when there was a calypso band. Everyone was starving. A group of us went out for a curry and came back later for the band - it was most odd.