4 Things to look for when you are ordering food for your SXSW event
Are you planning on having food at your event during SXSW?
Are your clients seeking to partner with a local brand that can make an impact through food?
We’ve listed out 4 Things to look for when you are ordering food for your SXSW event!
Since we opened our food truck business in 2010, SXSW has been an integral part of our growth. It’s an amazing event, our city is injected with adrenaline rush for about two weeks. There’s so much energy and so many inspiring people all over the city. Our town does not sleep during SXSW and local businesses generate a lot of revenue during these times.
We’ve catered a lot of events during SXSW. We’ve seen the trends and we’ve experienced what has worked for us and what has not.
If you are planning an event for SXSW to stand out, providing delicious food is a key contribution to its success.
There are four things to consider before you choose to go with your caterer:
- Experience Matters
We’ve made a lot of mistakes in the early days. We ran out of food, didn’t have enough staff, showed up to the event late due to traffic, and didn’t take external circumstances into consideration in our schedule. It’s SXSW and something is going to happen! An experienced caterer will ask you the right questions to help you navigate and coordinate the event, and you will be glad you hired them.
Ask this question to your caterers: What questions do you have for me to understand my needs for SXSW?
- Quality of Food, Service, and Cleanliness
From day one, we have made sure that quality was the most important thing that we deliver every day. There’s an experience I will never forget; we refunded our client thousands of dollars because we didn’t feel right taking their money. We didn’t produce the best service that we could and refunding the client was the right thing to do. Our honesty and accountability in this situation lead to the client using our services again the following year. A caterer’s standard should be very high in terms of how they make their food, keep their food warm, how they present the food, how they trained their staff to provide quality service, as well as how they keep their operation clean and organized.
Ask this question to your caterers: What is your quality standard?
- Speed and volume on the Street
For some clients, speed of the event flow and volume of people they attract are key to the success of their event. If giving away 1000 tacos to attract a few hundred hungry people is part of the goal, you want to make sure your caterer can handle the speed and volume.
Ask this question to your caterers: Can you share an example of an experience working with a brand partner?
- Being Flexible
Many unexpected things will happen at your event. You will have to change plans, times, and even increase the order amount due to the success of your event. Working with a caterer who can think outside the box, be creative, and understand your challenge will be very helpful in the end.
Ask this question to your caterers: I may have to change my plans last minute, can you be flexible?
