London event caterer, Seasoned has recently reported that over the past year it has seen an influx in the amount of corporate clients requesting bespoke, tailored menus.
The caterer, who specialises in delivering a range of events including weddings, drinks receptions, sit-down dinners, corporate events and private parties for over 30 years has noticed that many of its corporate clientele are slowly moving away from set signature menus and onto personalised menus, a choice the caterer says is something that is usually requested by private clients over corporate clients.
Seasoned’s records show that over 75% of their corporate clients throughout the last year alone have requested personalised menus that are tailored around the event’s requirements and individual customer needs, consistently testing the caterer’s team by demanding them to be creative and flexible enough to accommodate for a range of factors including client briefs and event theming to the seasonality and locality of ingredients to ultimately create stunning dishes guests will enjoy.
Seasoned’s Executive Chef and World Master Chef, Chris Hawkins commented: “It’s a welcome change to see our corporate clients providing increased direction on what they require at events. It allows us to get a precise indication as to what exactly they’re looking for, while giving us the freedom to express our creativity by using ingredients they may have never considered as well as creating stunning presentation to match the event.”
The recent increase of bespoke menus has been accredited to several factors the caterer says, with the most prominent being dietary requirements, ethical constraints or a specific style of cuisine requested at the event.
Seasoned’s most notable bespoke event required the caterer to create an entire, customised vegan menu that featured no meat or animal products for cosmetic giants LUSH, this went hand in hand with the brand’s ethos of fighting animal cruelty and allowed Seasoned’s chef to shine by creating an array of sumptuous canapés followed by a freshly prepared buffet of seasonal vegan mains.
With their increased flexibility towards fully bespoke menus, the event caterer has seen a rise in corporate event bookings compared to last year and an increase in profit from corporate sector clients, showcasing that the gastronomy-led nature of Seasoned alongside their ability to compensate for various requirements, allows them to satisfy customer needs through imaginative food creation.
Colin Sayers, Managing Partner of Seasoned, commented, “Corporate clients have always traditionally wanted a somewhat ‘safe’ menu of classic favourites that appeals to as wide an audience as possible but as businesses’ grow and become more attuned to the needs of their guests and they want to extend their branding beyond event design, they enlist a caterer who’s able to successfully bring their ideas to life.
'We’ve found that over the past five years there has been a huge overhaul in how the average client views food, with so many new dishes, cuisines and TV shows showing the variety and scope of gastronomy, event bookers want to see some of their favourites brought to life. In short, more and more people are becoming foodies and we love it!”
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