Creating the menu when planning a party at a restaurant can be a daunting task. Everyone has different tastes when it comes to food and drink. Some guests drink, some don’t; some like meat and others won’t. Therefore, it is your duty to accommodate everyone’s palate. Stay away from the pitfall of assuming everyone has the same appetite as you. If we were all the same, life would be awfully mundane. Planning the right menu comes down to one word…VARIETY. Make sure your guests have options. Remember when your parents would say, “If you don’t eat your peas, you can’t have dessert”? We all hated that, right? Maybe not so much the peas, but the fact that we were being forced to eat something that we didn’t want to. This mantra applies to your guests as well. By not having a diverse enough menu, you are forcing your guests to either go without or to eat what you’ve picked for them. That being said, here’s how to send all your guests home happy and full!
- Whether you decide to go with a preset menu or family style, you should include staple dishes. Staple dishes consist of chicken, fish, beef, and some sort of vegetarian option. If you decide to go with a preset menu, the waiter will come around and ask each guest what he or she would like. A preset menu functions just as if the customer were ordering like any other time at a restaurant. Family style is the other menu option. Your selected food items will be placed on large plates and passed around by your guests. Think of it as Thanksgiving dinner. It has a warm, intimate feel to it.
- Don’t forget to order side dishes in addition to your entrees. I suggest having four passed around or served.
- Mmmm…let everybody sample each others desserts. Bananas foster, crème brulee, tiramisu, oh my! Have a dessert tray passed just as you did with the food. Again, this gives your party a warm hospitable feel since everyone is sharing. It positions your guests to mingle while they are sharing.
You’ve heard me talk about his before. Alcohol is often the most expensive part of a party menu. Here are a few options to curve a runaway budget…
- Substituting “well” alcohol (least expensive) with “top shelf” (most expensive)
- Have an open bar for the first hour or so and then turn it into a cash bar. Cash bar meaning your guest will have to pay for their own drinks. I would never suggest doing a cash bar entirely. The whole concept behind your party is being hospitable. Making your guests pay for all of their drinks is not very welcoming at all.
- Pay for “drinks per person, per hour” instead of paying “by consumption”. Paying “by consumption” can be the most expensive option because you can’t control how much your guests will drink.
- Make sure the wait staff and/or your bartenders tell your guests how the bar is setup before they begin ordering. The last thing you want is for the guest to get an unexpected bill because he or she upgraded to top shelf scotch.
By: Michael Bassolino
