Catering For Your Big Event

Event Catering Supplies to Consider for Your Next Barbecue

by Ella Rodriguez

Hosting a summer barbecue is always an exciting affair, but it's also often one that comes with a lot of mess. If you want to minimise the organisational hassles that come with throwing your bash or you know you don't have enough items to cater for everyone who's attending, it's worth considering the following event catering supply essentials.

Everything you need for serving food

Whether you're serving a single course or you expect your guests to request extras, you're going to need a lot of plates. If the eco-friendliness of your event is important to you, consider using biodegradable plates or paper/cardboard ones that you protect with napkins. Using napkins ensures they're not too greasy to recycle. 

When choosing your food essentials, consider what you're going to serve. For example:

  • Anything that features a lot of sauce or salad:  For the sake of minimising spillages, aim for generous bowls. Add extra for dessert courses.
  • Food your guests need to cut: Knives and forks are an obvious option but if the food is soft enough, you may need spoons.
  • Corn on the cob and kebabs: Hiring meat skewers and corn spikes will allow your guests to enjoy both.

A selection of alcoholic beverages

Unless your barbecue is an alcohol-free zone, your guests will probably expect a diverse selection of alcoholic beverages. If you want to make sure that every sip tastes as it should, select your glasses according to the drink you're serving:

  • Sparkling wine and champagne: Flutes are crucial if you want to maintain the bubbles and crisp taste.
  • Red wine: Supply wine glasses with a wide rim so the wine can aerate. Consider adding decanters to the mix if your barbecue is formal.
  • White wine: Glasses with a narrower rim are preferable.
  • Beer or lager: Provide a mixture of half-pint and pint glasses so guests have plenty to choose from. Half-pint glasses are excellent for non-alcoholic drinks, too.
  • Spirits: Aim for a combination of highball and lowball glasses so guests can choose whether to add mixers.

If you really want to impress those attending, add an ice machine to your event catering supply list. To reduce the risk of dangerous breakages, go for plastic over glass.

Supplies to keep everything warm

If you're expecting a high turnover of food or you want to give guests the freedom to munch through the night, hire warming plates and ovens. Provided you can extend your electrical supply outside, both are suitable for barbecues. Using them prevents you from rushing in and out of your kitchen to fish items from the oven. You won't need to dedicate precious barbecue space to keeping food warm. 

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