The office Christmas party is a highlight of the year. It’s important for office morale, for celebrating achievements and making sure your team have fun together. This means that everything has to be just right. You will need to make sure you sort your food options in plenty of time, giving everybody something delicious to eat and something to look forward to. Here are some important things to think about:

• Decide what type of food you want to serve. Will it be a sit-down meal or a buffet? This could also affect your choice of venue, as some will already have their own in-house caterers who have their individual specialities.
• Cater for everyone. Make sure there are options for everyone in your company, and that the caterers know about dietary requirements in advance. If you don’t have everyone’s dietary requirements on file, it may be worth getting them to fill in a form or send an email detailing their needs.
• Take suggestions on board. Members of staff will usually have strong ideas about what they want from their Christmas party. After all, it is for them, so try to listen carefully to what they would enjoy.
• Make sure there is a good selection of drinks. At the Christmas party, it is usually assumed that the drinks will be flowing. Not everyone will be drinking alcohol though, so ensure there is a good range available.
• Have an organised approach to your catering. Work closely with the catering company you are using to make sure they are fully aware of your requirements. Communication is everything in these situations – if everyone knows exactly what is happening, and when, you will end up with a highly organised catering experience that everyone is delighted with.

When it comes to the office Christmas party, many individuals focus their attention on the word “party,” completely ignoring “office.” This can cause major difficulties during the event. When you are organising a Christmas office party for your employees, you need to be concerned about what your employees are wearing to the event if you want to avoid potential attire blunders.

Corporate Clothing and Your Office Christmas Party

Without a metaphorical line in the sand, your employees may arrive in attire totally unsuitable for the occasion. They may try to show off a little bit of skin, or get overly excited about the holiday and appear decked out in reindeer sweaters and Santa hats. While this type of clothing may work well for a neighbourhood Christmas gathering, they do not keep up the professional appearance of the office, especially if your office is also entertaining corporate clients.
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Even the most successful companies need to market themselves to remain popular. You need to be continually reaching out to new customers and showing them what you can offer them, raising brand awareness and targeting key audiences. We have put together some tips for caterers wanting to market their services.

Make sure everything you use is high quality. Shoddy marketing literature or a poorly-designed website will just serve to make you look untrustworthy. After all, if you don’t pay attention to detail in your marketing campaigns, how can people know that your work will be any better?

Think of your USPs. This stands for unique selling points, and could include things such as the ingredients you use, the catering services you provide, the catering partners you work with etc. Make sure these are clear and people can see the benefits of choosing your services.

Show your catering experience. Include hi-res photographs of real catering jobs you have carried out to give people confidence in your abilities. If you have a website or use social media, you may also want to give people the ability to review your services and write about the excellent catering experiences they have had with you.

In the world of catering, you always need to rely on other people. From venues to suppliers, there are lots of people involved in the overall catering process. Here are some of our top tips for finding the right people to work with:

1. Research their reputation. Have they worked with catering businesses before? If they have, see whether you are able to read reviews from current customers.
2. Consider the impact on your PR. For example, if you work with a local farm shop who are well known for providing quality food in the area, you can capitalise on their existing success.
3. Make sure arrangements are set in stone. Get everything down in writing straight away so there can be no ambiguity in future. Take into account all of the prices and what they include, as well as everything that is expected from both parties.
4. Consider using a partner for a trail period. See how the working relationship progresses, and if it is good for the both of you, there might be a deal to be done.
5. Advertise your new partnerships. This can be excellent for business as it shows customers that you are progressing and growing your catering company. It will give them confidence in you and mark you out as a trustworthy business that is doing well for itself.

Gone are the days where caterers could get away with using low quality, low cost ingredients. People are beginning to focus more and more on the quality of food and where it has come from. Whether it’s down to a preference for better tasting food or a desire to protect the environment, customers want to know that caterers are using fresh, sustainable ingredients.

You may choose to use organic produce in your food to help please customers with this new focus. If you do, make sure that people know about it. This can be a big selling point for your business. Make sure you include this information on your website and on all of your marketing literature. It will help to draw in new customers, who are probably willing to spend more money for the right quality.

It’s also beneficial to shop for ingredients with local producers. Rather than taking a trip to a supermarket, visit farm shops and local fruit and vegetable markets to source fresh, ethically-produced food. If you can tell people about the free range eggs you use from the farm shop down the road, they will be impressed by your high standards. Again, promote this fact on your marketing literature and platforms like social media. It will begin to attract the right kind of attention to your business and your hard work in sourcing quality ingredients will pay off.