Food Presentation

Ritzy Bee Events used craft paper and chalk to label the passed appetizers for a rehearsal dinner at the Decatur House in Washington so guests wouldn’t be left guessing.

By squeezing fruit puree into containers of calcium, servers from Jewell Events Catering created fruit caviar on site.

The servers dropped the small pearls of fruit into champagne and offered mimosas-with-a-spin to attendees.

Creative Edge Parties in New York offers a cut-your-own pasta station with hanging sheets of handmade pasta in different flavors and bowls of sauces so guests can choose their own custom combinations.

At a March event at Gotham Hall, Elegant Affairs Caterers created “salad-tinis” made by “chef-tenders,” who mixed ingredients with oversize drink shakers and served them in martini glasses.

At a promotional event at Skylight West in New York in June, Great Performances showcased its house-made sodas, ice cream floats, and handspun milk shakes at a soda jerk station.

The Bee’s Knees Baking Company makes portable, single-serving cake cups presented in plastic cups or rentable eight-ounce glass cups. Custom screen-printed glassware is available (full color logos are an option), and gift bags are included so guests can take the glasses home as favors. Cake flavors include lemon raspberry, honey bourbon, and carrot. The company’s most popular package costs $10.50 per cup, and includes a custom flavor consultation, the rental glasses, delivery, set-up, and pick-up.

NoLIta-based  I Heart This makes colorful heart-shaped eating utensils. Part-knife, part-fork, the reusable Heart Parts are 100 percent biodegradable, and are made with 66 percent less plastic than standard disposable forks. Use them as a stylish alternative to toothpicks for hors d’oeuvres or as quirky cutlery for a summer picnic.  Wholesale pricing is $5 per box (each box contains 10 hearts) with a minimum order of 50 boxes; boxes of 100 hearts are also available.

R Cano Events used retro lazy Susans to help guests share family-style food presentations at a 2004 Safe Horizon luncheon in New York.

Waiters didn’t have to remember what they were serving (and guests didn’t have to ask) when now-defunct Match Catering printed T-shirts with food descriptions for a 2004 BizBash event.