Be a Guest At Your Next Party:

How to hire a little—or a lot of—help

By Jennifer Matthews

Think catered affairs are only for the rich and famous? The reality is that if you can afford to have a party, you can probably also afford to have at least a portion of it catered. Whether you’re looking for someone to take care of the side dishes, or a personal chef to cook the entire meal in your kitchen, sharing your host duties can make a huge difference to your own enjoyment of a special occasion. And the good news is that this kind of “home entertaining support” is available in every community.

A helping hand

	Finding help near you Not surprisingly, the best source of new business for restaurants, caterers and personal chefs is word-of-mouth. Ask your favorite restaurant if they provide party food, and if you’re impressed with the food or service at a party or reception, contact the host after the event for a referral. To find U.S. Personal Chef Association and Canadian Personal Chef Association trained and/or Certified Personal Chefs in your area, visit www.hireachef.com *TIP: For holidays and other special events, book early, advises Michelle Wolfson. Reputable personal chefs are typically booked four to six months in advance, and caterers for large receptions can be booked more than a year ahead.

Many local restaurants and gourmet delis offer a range of catering options, from sandwich platters you can pick up, to complete Super Bowl chow delivered to your door by half-time. Mel Groom, a busy investment adviser and mother of three, loves to entertain but says her expertise “isn’t in the kitchen.” After attending a dinner party catered by a local restaurant, she opted to have a family barbecue for 18 partially catered. “I think the most expensive part of a meal is the meat, so I do that myself,” explains Groom. “My husband cooked shiskabobs, which we bought ready-to-go at the butcher shop, and I ordered all of the side dishes.”

Groom and her guests were so impressed with the salads and their artful presentation that she decided to enlist the restaurant’s help again with a dinner party for eight. “I gave Wolfgang [Sterr; executive chef at The Wildflower Restaurant in Fonthill, Ontario] the numbers and the meat I was planning to serve. He prepared appetizers, salads, vegetables and gravy for eight. I went to the restaurant on the morning of the dinner and picked everything up, already in serving dishes and ready for the table. All I had to do was return the cleaned bowls the next day.”

Adds Groom, “The best part of the experience was that I got to spend the day outside with the family and wasn’t running around like crazy before my guests arrived.”

The full deal

For larger events, catering can take many forms. For weddings, funerals, bar mitzvahs and other receptions hosted in your home, you may need everything from dishware and table rentals to wait staff and bartenders, in addition to food. Maybe you simply need lunch brought in for your team event or meeting. Or you might want to host a family reunion picnic at a local park, with someone else doing the setup and barbecuing.

When a party is of a larger scale than you can or want to handle yourself, hiring an outside caterer to prepare the food off-site, deliver and possibly serve it to your guests can be an ideal option. The plus for the host or organizer is that once the details are sorted out ahead of time, the caterer typically takes care of everything during your event.

	Asking the right questions To avoid any unwanted surprises come party time, it’s important to do your homework. The larger and more involved your event, the more preparation you should do in advance. Be sure to ask a prospective caterer or personal chef about his or her: Background and training National organization affiliation Licensing (everyone should have food safety certification at a minimum, and catering businesses – not personal chefs, who prepare the food in your kitchen – need to be licensed like other food service establishments) Insurance coverage Sample menus (you should be able to do advance tastings as well, and if your food will be prepared off site, you should tour the kitchen facility) References (check with at least three recent clients whose events were similar in scope to your planned party) Price range per person (with specific details about what the price does and does not include) Personnel costs (typically an hourly rate per server) and insurance coverage for employees Payment terms and tipping policy   *TIP: Once you’ve worked out all of the details, be sure to confirm everything in writing.

The star treatment

Let’s say you’re having a 40th birthday party and want to celebrate it with a few friends. Rather than going out to a great restaurant, why not bring the fine dining experience in? For less than you’d pay to go out for dinner, you can have a personal chef help you plan the dinner of your choice, shop for groceries, cook the meal in your kitchen, and clean up afterward.

Michelle Wolfson, a personal chef working in the Beach community of Toronto, describes her clients as “busy people who like food. Many of them are good cooks in their own right, and are interested in learning more.”

For groups of six to 12 (which Wolfson describes as the range that works best for most home dinner parties), Wolfson works with the host to plan a four-course meal, for which she then shops and prepares on-site on party day. “All the client has to provide is an empty kitchen, and the dishes to serve the meal on,” explains Wolfson. Drinks are also the host’s responsibility, of course—a substantial savings over ordering from a restaurant wine list or paying a corkage fee—but Wolfson will make wine recommendations for the meal. (See also Wine and Food and Beer and Food for help, or search our database for cocktail recipes).

In some cases, a personal chef can become a focal point for the evening, as well. “While some people certainly want the chef cooking behind the scenes, what I found was that at 90 per cent of my dinners at least some of the guests would be in the kitchen with me the entire time I prepared the meal,” says Wolfson. That’s why most of Wolfson’s dinner parties also now include a cooking lesson. “The guests might want to learn about making homemade ravioli, for example, or working with phyllo. We might make all the appetizers together, then, or nibble on our first course while we make the pasta.”

After dessert is served, Wolfson exits, leaving behind a tidy kitchen.

What you’ll pay

The cost of having some or part of your party catered depends on the foods you choose and the labour involved. Most full-service caterers will quote you an average price per person based upon the menu you choose. Costs can range from $5.00 per person for a simple box lunch up to $250 per person including drinks, appetizers, dessert, and wine or champagne with your dinner.

For the side dishes for her 18-person barbecue as well as the sides for her dinner for eight (all of which she picked up herself at the restaurant), Groom paid a grand total of $140. For the “chef in the kitchen” option, Wolfson charges an average of $65 per person for a four-course dinner (excluding any alcohol) for six to 12 people, which includes her signature cooking lesson, if requested. If you’re planning an intimate dinner for two, however, remember that the labour involved is nearly the same as for a few more, so expect to pay $350 and up.

Know your needs

If you really enjoy making your signature homemade ravioli or baked pavlova, you don’t need to give that up to enjoy the benefits of a caterer. In fact, enlisting help with some of your entertaining might just be the ticket for finding time to focus on the parts you really love.

---------------------
Related Articles:
Party Themes
Party Planning: Tips and Hints
10 Ways to Make Your Backyard Party-Perfect