Whether it’s a boardroom meeting, a training program or a VIP visit, it takes savvy to serve five-star quality food at the workplace while saving time and money.
Corporate catering is designed to enable people to savor a dining experience and still concentrate on their business. It also aids productivity since executives don’t have to deal with traffic going to a restaurant.
When entertaining guests at the office, a delectable menu with an attractive presentation and proper table service can leave an impact. Quality food can help influence a company’s reputation.
The Bizu restaurant chain has launched its latest service, Boardroom Catering, for 10 to 20 people. Depending on the menu, corporate catering can be as low as P1,000 to P2,100 per person—if the main course is a 10-hour US roast beef or Norwegian salmon.
Three menu choices
Clients have three menus to choose from to suit their budget. The catering can be booked online. Instead of a Bizu representative making an ocular inspection of the office, send a picture of the venue through the email.
Bizu will provide the table service and warm meals which are prepared in the commissary. Two waiters will set up the tables, serve the food—buffet or plated—and clear up the dishes. They will take care of refilling drinks—be it water or coffee— or replenish tea-infused beverages in bottles.
Audrey Tanco-Uy, Bizu director for catering, says clients would book Bizu for big events such as product anniversaries, cocktails for clients, corporate anniversaries. When it came to smaller events for less than 20 people, such as holding negotiations or board meetings, entertaining foreign principals or honoring executives, the catering efforts and the expenses were no different from the major company activities.
An intimate event could cost as much as P3,500 per head because it would entail the services of a chef, several waiters and a truck driver, and the use of extensive tableware. There would even be bouquets of flowers.
The other alternative would be for the secretary to order the food, which usually arrives in boxes. Sometimes, they would be cold and soggy because they had been delivered late due to traffic. Moreover, the secretary might have to double as the waitress—in setting the table, using the company’s dinnerware and tablecloths.
“It’s stressful for the secretary to do all the work. Sometimes these offices would borrow plates and glasses,” Tanco-Uy says.
Served in style
She says Bizu’s Boardroom Catering has been designed for economies of scale. “We’ve reduced the manpower by eliminating the chef on site and trained two waiters for the service. The flowers were downsized and logistics companies have made delivery cheaper. I could easily dispatch 10 small-sized corporate lunches at the same time.”
The meals are served in style, replete with a uniformed staff, fine china, cutlery and linens.
For Bizu’s plated service, the Snacks menu consists of a salad or pasta, one Bizu signature dessert and one savory pasta and a savory pastry or sandwich.
The Premium menu includes a salad, a main course such as Norwegian salmon, lime cheesecake for dessert and cinnamon-orange spiced infused-tea in a bottle.
The pricey Exemplar menu highlights a slow-cooked (as in 10 hours) US roast beef for those power meals.
The buffet covers a salad, three choices of pasta or rice and vegetables, three main courses, a dessert and a beverage.
The cobbler fish is a common denominator in these buffets but served with different sauces.
The main course for the Eminent menu includes roast chicken, cobbler fish with almond romesco sauce, and beef osso buco.
The Stellar menu offers roast chicken, cobbler fish with saffron cream sauce, and 10-hour US roast beef.
The Elite menu presents the cobbler fish with tahini cream sauce. Menu includes Moroccan chicken and Beef Bourguignon.
Clients can specify dietary restrictions and the meals will be plated accordingly.
Uy explains that for the health-conscious market, Boardroom Catering carries the menu from its sister restaurant, Happy Garden Café, which is vegetarian-friendly and is famous for gluten-free and dairy-free desserts.
She cites the organic shiiratake chicken noodle soup, a low-calorie option, while the Annie’s cauliflower fried rice with tinapa, shrimps and eggs is ideal for those who are on a keto diet.
Vegetarians can also enjoy the tofu sisig, cold buckwheat soba salad, diet-busting burrata salad.
“Our Boardroom Catering is our office solution,” says Uy. “It eliminates the need to order those boxed lunches since we have chafing dishes and the plates are warm. We make sure the food is served fresh, and everything organized by our butler service.”—CONTRIBUTED