Affordable Catering: Stretch Your Corporate Budget

A well-organised corporate event can be professional, impressive and affordable. It’s all about making smart choices in the planning stage. 

There are plenty of overpriced catering companies out there. They rely on event planners who are too busy to shop around and find the best value platters.
 

However, plenty of affordable catering options are available, no matter your budget.

Let’s discuss the best ways to deliver top-notch catering on a carefully managed corporate budget.

Importance of Catering

A lot of planning goes into a corporate event and catering is often rightly agonised over. 

After all, your catering choices are crucial for creating an engaged positive atmosphere.

If people are still thinking about how rubbish the food was, they’re not focused on the next speaker, an important company message or Dale’s retirement. 

Good food puts everyone in a good frame of mind. It sparks conversation, renews attention and keeps your corporate event on track. 

Here are our top tips to ensure delicious and affordable catering. 

1.Start With Smart Planning

You’ve got to be smart when planning out a corporate event. Know your numbers and prepare accordingly.

Make sure you partner with an affordable catering company that offers a variety of platter sizes and portions so you only have to order what you need. Some corporate catering services are quite rigid in their size structures which can lead to overspending. 

It’s also important to identify any dietary requirements early on.

This will help you avoid some common planning mistakes. After all, there’s no need to specifically order vegan meals unless there’s going to be actual demand. 

Cutting back on catering waste, like ordering unnecessary meals, is an easy way to reduce costs and still keep everyone satisfied. 

Once you’ve got your dietary requirements sorted, you can use our easy filter function to find suitable platters. 

2.Choose Affordable Crowd-Favourites

Cheap catering can still deliver tasty crowd pleasers if you know where to look!

Take our Bread Project (per serve) platter, a popular choice for corporate event catering. It’s adaptable depending on your needs and very cost-effective. 

The platter features a variety of sandwiches, wraps, and sliders that are proven office hits. Another popular choice is our Mini Wrap Platter which can also be scaled up or down for different events. 

Tick all your different dietary requirements with delicious platters like these. They capture all sorts of great flavours in practically priced bundles.

These big meal platters truly offer the best value for money. 

3.Leverage Grazing Platters

Grazing platters are an excellent way to stretch the corporate budget while delivering flexibility and variety.

The original Instagram-ready platter packs a bunch of great flavours into one affordable cheap catering option. 

A beautiful spread of cheeses, charcuterie, fresh fruits and artisan bread are all on offer with our Artisanal Cheese Platter. Presentation is key at corporate gatherings and grazing boards are about as impressive as they get.

Grazing platters are also an effective way to reduce food waste and ensure value. Guests can take as much or as little as they like from these visually stunning displays.   

4.Stay Classy

Corporate catering can strike a balance between sophistication and affordability by selecting well-presented, flavorful platters that impress without breaking the bank.

Take our Savoury Parcel Platter, the ultimate blend of affordable price and classy appearance. Dishes like these are designed to impress and still deliver great value and plenty of food. 

Our Savoury Croissant Platter is another affordable catering favourite. Featuring four delicious flavours and dietary options, this platter is a truly tasteful choice. 

It’s possible to stretch your corporate budget without sacrificing a classy professional image.

5.Simplify Beverage Options

Beverage costs are often the most unexpected blow to the catering budget. People burn through drinks at corporate events and that quickly starts to add up.

If you’re set on serving drinks, then it’s still possible to lower costs. 

Switching things up with non-alcoholic options like our San Pellegrino Sparkling Water is a great first step. 

Reducing the range of your beverages is another simple step. Offering a limited selection, such as one alcoholic and one non-alcoholic option, is the easiest way to manage a tight budget.

For many corporate events, you can avoid alcoholic drinks entirely in favour of a far-cheaper coffee and tea station. 

Depending on the time of day, this might make more sense. Tea and coffee stations also allow your guests easy access to a warm drink (and some caffeine!) throughout your event. 

The key thing is to avoid an open bar or a wide selection of drinks. 

6.Include Shared Platters

The number one tip we can offer is to include big shared platters. It doesn’t matter what your catering budget is, shared platters will help you save.

Everything from our big croissant bundles to our iconic bagel boxes are better (and cheaper) when they’re bigger. 

Shared plates offer your guests the flexibility to come and grab food as they please. They’re also an easy way to snag savings and still offer plenty of popular platters.

7.Avoid Hiring Staff 

While service costs can quickly escalate at corporate events, they’re not always necessary. Waitstaff, bartenders and on-site chefs are common at corporate events but aren’t always necessary.

Keep your budget focused on the food and avoid these additional expenses. Instead of complicated on-site preparation and service, we offer affordable and fresh drop-off catering. 

Catering Project specialises in simply packaged, event-ready meals delivered to your most convenient location. 

You’ll save on staff costs and be able to offer more top-quality food as a result. 

And because your food is delivered fresh and ready to serve, you can focus on running your event without the hassle of coordinating expensive staff. 

Wrapping It Up

We know corporate events can be costly. That’s why our corporate catering delivers crowd favourites at affordable prices. 

We’ve got plenty of ways to stretch your catering budget and make every dollar count. From classy and grazing platters to simplified beverages and smart planning, we’ve got you covered. 

Our corporate event catering promises to deliver variety, affordability and plenty of fresh delicious flavours. 

Elevate your next corporate event without breaking the bank. Check out the Catering Project today for fresh deals and great offers!