26 New Catering Ideas for Events and Meetings

Vietnamese-inspired eatery BonMi caters for parties of six or more. The Complete BonMi package costs $15.65 per person and includes bánh mì-style sandwiches (with a choice of vegetarian or non-vegetarian filling), green salad with pickled vegetables, a variety of bagged crunchy snacks, and healthy sweets made with dates, almonds, and dried fruits. Summer rolls and house-made beverages are also available.

New York-based Luke’s Lobster has arrived in Georgetown. The seafood purveyor’s namesake lobster rolls, along with its crab rolls, shrimp rolls, chowders, and new menu additions like the Blue Monster blueberry ice cream sandwich, are available for in-house events at the two-story restaurant, as well as for delivery in the area with orders of $200 or more.

Kale is having a moment—the leafy green vegetable is making its way onto many restaurant and catering menus. For health-conscious clients, Design Cuisine has crafted a new “super foods” catering menu that features roasted kale chips, caramelized cauliflower, and bison meat.

The Roots’ drummer Questlove has launched his Philadelphia-based catering company, Quest Loves Food. Available for catering nationwide, Quest’s menus highlight Creole- and Korean-inspired soul food, including the musician’s signature origami-wrapped fried chicken drumsticks.

San Diego chefs Brian Malarkey and Antonio Friscia have launched catering and event company Campine. One fun idea: fresh shellfish cooked in a galvanized tub over a propane burner. The chefs fill the tub with potatoes, corn, carrots, and Old Bay seasoning. Everything is poured onto butcher paper and served with craft brew.

Executive chef Domenic Chiaromonte of T2 Resto-Lounge now heads the kitchen at C2 Catering Couture, a Toronto catering company that creates customized, playful, and artistic dishes, like the Sugar Bubble, filled with a fortune cookie and chocolate mousse; it’s served with a hammer to crack it open.

A great solution for B.Y.O.B. locations, Taps From Scratch offers the Pub-Hub, a portable, refrigerated unit that can hold two to four types of draft beer and also has space for glasses and other beverages. A three-day rental for a two-tap Pub-Hub costs $250, which includes delivery and set up anywhere in the Orlando-Tampa area.

Orlando-based Bedazzle My Bonbons is now offering a new display option: The Bonbon Pyramid displays 84 glitter-coated chocolates on all four sides. It can be placed on a lazy Susan to create a rotating display.

Baked by Melissa offers a giant gumball machine that dispenses pods containing the company’s signature mini cupcakes at events. The machine can fit 2,000 pods, with a minimum order of 1,000.

As an interactive alternative to a stationary raw bar, Oysters XO equips its servers with buckets of oysters on ice hanging from their waists as they make their way through a crowd, shucking oysters on the spot. The servers also carry containers of various sauces, as well as buckets for empty shells. The oysters come from oyster farms on the East and West coasts.

New macaron purveyor Dana’s Bakery is putting an all-American spin on the French classic, with flavors like red velvet, thin mint, s’mores, and cookie dough. In addition to custom colors and flavors, Dana’s offers macaron towers and dessert bars. The cost is $2.25 per macaron for orders of 61 to 200 and $2 for each additional cookie over 200.

Esprit Events is offering chocolate truffle-rolling stations. Guests pick either a citrus chocolate or lemon cognac truffle-on-a-stick and then dip it in white or dark chocolate and roll it in their choice of toppings such as crushed pretzels, wasabi peas, potato chips, coconut, cocoa, or cinnamon. The station can also offer pre-rolled truffles.

Deliver Lean is a healthy meal-delivery system that offers a menu of low-fat, high-protein foods, including egg-white omelets and pork chop entrées. Deliver Lean will cater ready-made meals for office luncheons or events from Jupiter to Miami, starting at $8 per person.

Fonuts are made using different methods of steaming and baking at high heat to replicate the texture of a doughnut, without the use of a fryer. Available for large orders and pickup for events, with varieties that include wheat-free, vegan, sweet, and savory, the cost is $38 for a baker’s dozen or $16.50 for an assorted bag of mini Fonuts.

Austin-based food truck Coreanos relocated to Houston in 2012, and its Mexican-meets-Korean fare is available for event catering. The mobile truck can show up on site at events to serve just one item—such as short-rib-topped cheese fries or Korean barbecue burritos—or it can offer guests the entire menu. The cost is $12 to $18 per person, with a $500 minimum.

Putting a playful spin on the dessert of the moment, Petite Sweets can cater French macarons—$1.75 per piece—in creative, seasonal flavors like pumpkin pie, candy cane, and mint chocolate chip. Event trays can be customized by color, and the bakery also offers whoopie pies, cake pops, marshmallows, and mini cupcakes.

Ice Cubed specializes in small-batch ice cream, handmade ice pops, and other frozen desserts in flavors inspired by savory dishes. The Prix Fixe ice pop features layers of flavors inspired by a five-course Italian meal including prosecco, lemon-beet salad, bresaola, veal ragout, tomato confit, and tiramisu. The Cubed menu offers frosted cubes in flavors such as hot chocolate biscotti and burnt milk with peach jam and cloves. A truck is available, and staffers can create custom flavors.

A food truck specializing in Vietnamese bánh mì sandwiches, Duck n’ Roll can deliver food to offices and events in the city and suburbs. Chef Amy Le’s menu draws on her own family recipes and includes baguettes filled with fresh herbs, veggies, and meats such as five-spice duck, miso-braised short ribs, and Thai chicken curry. Depending on the menu, the average cost is $7 to $40 per person, and Le can serve groups of 25 to 400.

Revae Schneider, a former mixologist at Chicago’s Gilt Bar and Union Sushi & Barbeque Bar, launched her bar-catering and styling company Femme du Coupe with the aim of making mixology accessible. She offers a variety of liquor-related services, including guiding guests as they create their own drinks. Schneider also teaches private corporate groups of as many as 50.

Brittany Ferrin and her husband and co-executive chef, Vaidotas Karsokas, launched catering company Truffleberry Market in 2008, with the goal of making everything by hand with artisanal ingredients. They recently added savory ice cream cones to their offerings: Handmade wonton cones are filled with creamy burrata cheese and drizzled with aged balsamic vinegar; a sun-dried tomato stands in for the cherry on top.

Everything Bagel hors d’oeuvres from Bakers’ Best Catering are ideal for a brunch event or meeting. A toasted bagel cup is filled with salmon cured in toasted and dehydrated milk powder, plus sesame and poppy seeds, onions, and garlic, topped with spiced cream cheese, pickled red onion, frisée, and Meyer lemon pearls.

Popular Washington, D.C.,-based bakery Georgetown Cupcake has opened its first Boston outpost in Back Bay. The shop offers catering for meetings and events, as well as gift boxes of seasonal assortments. Treats cost $15 per half-dozen, and $29 per dozen.

To feed a crowd quickly, catering company 86 This has a line of bulk family-style meals, available from $40 for 12 to 14 people, that include dishes such as “messy Sicilian lasagna” delivered ready-to-eat and serve. The company also serves box lunches, trays, and plated meals.

Lisa Messelt of LM Cocktail Catering can create an array of high-end Jell-O shot cocktails. Push aside thoughts of the jiggly, college-era snacks stuffed in Dixie cups: Instead, flavors like blackberry bramble and Pimm’s cup are presented in elegant hors d’oeuvre spoons and paired with fruit. The shots can even be designed in the shape of corporate logos.

Italian restaurant Tony Boloney’s has launched the Mustache Mobile. Available to cater private events throughout the South Jersey area, the truck can serve anything on the restaurant’s menu (think pizza topped with fresh herbs, homemade marinara, and hand-pulled mozzarella, and subs stuffed with hand-rolled meatballs or 10-spice steak). Catering fees start at $1,000 and include two hours of serving time, food, plates, cups, napkins, cutlery, and garbage cans.

Catering company A Divine Event creates eye-catching food displays that make a statement, including its Sticks, Spoons, and Shooters option for cocktail hour. The concept involves bite-size sweet or savory hors d’oeuvres served in shot glasses and on sticks or spoons.