Jacksonville, Florida Caterers

DEAR reader, this may be the first, but probably not the last, column I will write connected to my son’s coming bar mitzvah.

Well, it is coming in the way the 2008 presidential election is coming. In fact, we will have elected a new president a few weeks before Ben commemorates his special day.

Nonetheless, the planning has begun. We are now on to the caterers.

And if you think we are just talking salmon or steak, get your head out of the chopped liver. Hiring a caterer means putting an army on the move.

There are ways to avoid this, aside from converting. Many of my friends have their events at country clubs or other places where they must use the on-site caterer and virtually all the necessities — from the servers to the silverware — are included.

But if you are simply renting a hall and have to search for your own caterer, the undertaking suddenly becomes far more complex.

Most people get their caterers by word of mouth, so we asked around.

We met with Yvette Shandel of Yvette Shandel Fine Catering Inc., who is based in the Bronx and does many events at our local temple and all over New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

She started talking about what color tablecloths we might want. For an occasion 13 months away? I did not even know what I was giving my children for dinner that night.

We began with buffet versus sitdown, children’s menu versus all-adult, number of appetizers, number of entrees, number of servers.

My head was spinning. An hour had passed, and we had not even gotten back to linen colors.

But Ms. Shandel has been in the business for 27 years and knows how to soothe nervous first-timers. I was ready to hire her on the spot. My husband thought we should wait for the estimate.

Of course, price is one of the most significant factors in choosing a caterer but a good rapport is also crucial, said Mara Routh, a partner with Michael’s on East in Sarasota, Fla., and president of the International Caterers Association. “If you’re going into an event or party and you don’t have a relationship with the caterer, don’t do it.”

Ms. Routh had other, more concrete suggestions. Make sure your caterer has a business license, insurance and a health-inspected garage or kitchen.

“It’s a business — they need to know about food safety as well as the logistics of transporting food safely,” she said. “Just because someone in some neighborhood makes a great meatball does not a caterer make.”

Ms. Shandel said that she had a $1 million insurance policy in case, God forbid, someone should get food poisoning and sue her.

It has never happened to her. But she still remembers long ago when she was wedding catering an event and the cleaners had polished the silver, but failed to wash it. People started complaining that something was wrong as the polish dripped into their meals. She had to dump all the food and wash the cutlery. Fortunately, she had enough food to serve again.

“If someone had gotten sick, I could have been sued,” Ms. Shandel said.

I asked Ms. Shandel to provide an estimate of the cost of a dinner buffet based on some figures I gave her.

It looked surprisingly inexpensive for an evening event: $50 an adult, $30 a child. I read further. Add 11 workers, rentals, beverages (which most off-site caterers do not supply), taxes and gratuities, and we are looking at more like $110 a person. And that’s without alcohol.

That is well within the average price of a catered event for the costly Northeast, and people can spend far more. I just did not realize all that goes into pricing a caterer.

In this I am not alone. Caterers say people realize that they have to pay for food, but many are surprised to find not only tables and chairs but linens, glassware and even salt and pepper shakers itemized on their bills.

So make sure you understand what you are getting early in the process.

First of all, take the time for a face-to-face meeting. Find out whether the person you are talking with is going to be your point person during the entire process, including the day of the event.

“The last thing you want is to go through the whole planning process and then get passed over to someone else,” said Thomas Preti, whose company, Thomas Preti Caterers Inc., has served the New York area for the last 20 years.

When you do get a price, make sure you get a detailed letter and really comprehend what it covers. Does the final tab include service? Tax? Is the service fee the same as a gratuity?

“Don’t be embarrassed to ask, ‘What is the appropriate tip?’ and, ‘Who do we tip? The chef? The event planner?’ It’s nice to know,” Ms. Routh said.

What about liquor? Most off-site caterers do not provide it, but they should have the insurance to cover serving it. Whether you are buying from a caterer or a separate vendor, however, inquire whether they charge by how much alcohol you purchase or by how much is consumed, said Mr. Preti, whose services for a bar mitzvahs average $30,000 to $50,000 for around 150 people.

Here are other suggested questions: How can you sample the food? Can you see an event the caterer is doing?

And here is one I would not have thought of: Ask when you have to submit the final number tally and whether there is any wiggle room.

“One thing that has always bothered me as a consumer is that many caterers ask for a final number way in advance, even before the R.S.V.P.’s because they want to lock in a higher number,” Ms. Shandel said. She is willing to wait until two weeks before. If people drop out, your food costs can drop a bit.

The biggest mistake, Mr. Preti said, is to seek the star caterer rather than the one who is right for the event.

“I couldn’t feel more strongly about this,” Mr. Preti said. “This is not a showcase for us. People get too caught up with what friends have done, especially in the bar mitzvah world.”

I also checked with Chris Curtin, owner of the Catery. Based near us in Larchmont, N.Y., he has catered for 15 years, and a friend reported good results with him on her father’s 80th-birthday party.

The photocopied note stapled to the front of the menu spells out that service is billed at $35 an hour for the chef and $25 an hour each for all bartenders and servers. He recommends one server for each 10 guests, although I was quoted a somewhat lower ratio by some caterers.

“Some people say, ‘I’ll just have the kids help,’ ” Mr. Curtin said. “Well, they just get in our way, and they don’t know how to describe the food. It’s my job and I want people to say, ‘It was great, who was the caterer?’ ”

Although you should be very involved and inquisitive when hiring a caterer, once you decide on one, “then let it go and step back,” Ms. Shandel said. “Don’t call every day.”

But do not leave your caterer out of the loop. Mr. Curtin recalls showing up at a house to cater a party only to learn just then that the oven was broken. He improvised with a barbecue grill.

There was also the time the host ordered food from Mr. Curtin for 25, but invited 50 guests.

Now, that is an innovative way to cut costs. I’ll have to remember it.