Summer Lovin’ | Catering a Picnic for Summer

Pig Island Catered Event NYC; Neuman’s Kitchen – Brooklyn Waterfront September 2013

Neuman’s Kitchen dished up a delightful and seriously delicious item menu for the 2013 Pig Island outdoor hog-fest. Featuring 25 local area chefs, people arrived from all locations to taste pork heaven recipes. The outdoor event wrapped up with exciting news as Neuman’s Kitchen won “The Best Ménage” category with our Pork Ménage à Trois of roasted pig, crispy pig ears, bacon vinaigrette, frisée salad and apples.

Summer means warm weather, late sunsets and outdoor entertaining. Picnics are a great way to show your employees, clients or prospect how much you appreciate them. Who doesn’t love spending a pleasant day or evening outdoors enjoying fresh, delicious food?

Here are some of our top suggestions for making sure your picnic is successful.

Know your audience:
Before you lift a finger, ask your people, ‘What do you want our company picnic to be or include?’ Make sure you get opinions from different groups and then bring them together so you have a consensus. There is nothing worse than throwing a picnic that no one wants.

Decide on a location and time:
Before you start planning the details pick the place. City parks, local beaches, a lakeside campground or a rooftop in the heart of the city are all possible picnic sites. Your ideal location and event time will ensure everyone enjoys the scenery and food and are not overly hot or too cold.

Know the limitations of each location – Can we serve alcohol? Can we grill and have an open flame?  Is there a curfew? What is our rain plan? Are we allowed to play amplified music? Know what you can and cannot do before you commit your resources to the location.

‘Design’ your time well:
Make sure your time together has a variety of activities for your guests and that if you are together for four or five hours there is plenty to fill the time. You can have a variety of unstructured activities or ask your guests to enjoy team building exercises. Well planned outdoor games can help employees break down barriers and develop stronger bonds across departments.

Match the activity level to the culture of your organization.

Make sure the food changes as well. Don’t serve the same food for the duration of the event. Have plenty of beverages and snacks all day.

Choose a great catering partner:
When planning your company picnic select a caterer who offers fresh, delicious food and can transport and serve the food safely to your guests.  Be sure to select a caterer who is experienced dealing with large outdoor events as this will be essential to your picnic’s success. Ask for references and a tasting.

Ask your caterer what is new and interesting that your guests may not have seen before. And listen to what will and will not work in a picnic environment.

Have plenty of food options:
Your menu should have a wide variety of food to make all guests feel welcome. When inviting families, be sure to have child-friendly food in addition to delectable creations for the adults on your guest list. And remember, no one eats more kid’s food than the adults so have plenty!

Fruits are always a crowd pleaser as are plenty of cold beverages, so be sure to have enough to keep everyone hydrated, especially if you have activities planned. Ask the caterer to make a custom flavor of iced tea or lemonade to please your crowd. Our clients have fallen in love with our basil lemonade.

Provide enough seating:
Provide enough comfortable seating for picnic guests.  Whether you are providing tables and chairs or just blankets and spreads, make sure everyone will be comfortable. And take the sun into consideration. There is nothing worse than having an unrelenting sun on your guests for hours at a time. If your event will go into evening make sure you provide lighting when the sun goes down and enough to get guests safely back to their vehicles.

Hire a photographer:
Get pictures of the kids. Parents never have enough photographs of their children. Create an online album and let guests pick their favorite shots and print them.

Have fun and games:
Empower a group of employees to plan the day of activities. Have some competitive and some fun. All must be safe for the kids and the parents. No tackle football or rugby. Have funny gifts and awards for the winners, especially the kids.

Give a gift, create a lasting memory:
Send everyone home with something to remember the day with. Branded flip-flops, umbrellas, beach balls, games or clothing will remind your guests of the wonderful time you spent together. Don’t be surprised if years later a guest shows you the gift they still use.

This summer show your employees, clients and prospects how important they are to the company’s success.