Food leftovers from reception?

Question

If you have extra food from the reception...can you request for it to be given to you to take home? I don't want the food to go to waste and it can be frozen and eaten as leftovers at a later time or given to close family members. I really don't want the caterers eating all the leftover food that I paid for, as selfish as it sounds.

Answer 1

Check your contract.  In some cases you pay for X meals and you are entitled only to food that did not get eaten because someone didn't show up.  In other cases you get any leftover food, as long as you provide containers to take it home.  Sometimes they expect you want the extras, so they include take-home containers in the cost.  If it's not in the contract, ask.  If you pay for it, you're entitled to keep it.

We had a PILE of leftovers at our reception (it was a buffet, and we wanted it to look well-stocked so we had LOTS of food) which we packed up in foil trays and dropped off at a homeless shelter that we'd made arrangements with in advance.  They were delighted to get our extra food.

Answer 2

Likely depends on your caterer - ours will definately do this, but we are having a relatively casual bbq reception.  Just tell them ahead of time so that they can bring the appropriate containers and things.  If this is something they don't do they will tell you, but I would guess that this is not an unusual request.

Answer 3

I know where I live there are really strict laws about giving food to homeless shelters, simply because you do not know how it has been stored and you could make people sick.  It seems a bit stupid as no one wants to waste food but on the other hand you don't want to be responsible for making loads of people sick.  We had a load of left overs and because we did our own catering we knew that it had been stored correctly so we gave away loads of steaks and beautiful smoked salmon.  No point in it going to waste.

Answer 4

It is in your contract....you paid for the food.

if it is a reputable caterer service, no matter what the costs.

a REPUTABLE service will pack it up for you but most likely

a family member to take it with them for the intention of a

gathering back at home to share.

and the kegs too

uhmm.. cajun style...

weddings are celebrations of life

life goes on..

so the food and the kegs ..

part-ay for the weekend.

celebration

Answer 5

I had a caterer and all the left over food was put in containers for me to take home.  I paid for the food, so all leftovers where mine.  Just let your caterer know that is what you want done.

Answer 6

A lot of catering contracts specify that they get to keep the leftovers. This is because they prepare a lot more food than is required, so you're paying for x number of people to be fed, not y amount of food. Pick your caterer carefully, there are different requirements.

One way that you can get to keep the food is to buy the food itself. Have a resturant provide it, or get a local church group (doesn't need to be your own, my FSIL had the local Laotian church provide food) to cook it. You'll need to hire servers and rent your own linens etc., but the food is yours, free and clear.

Answer 7

It depends on how your contract is set up. If you have paid your

caterer to serve 100 ppl, and they did - their job is done. There are no

leftovers. When the caterer leaves, they leave the place clean.

If you've ordered x amount of food that was delivered and left for you to serve, then you may have leftovers to worry about.In which case, have

some "take away" containers ready.  

Answer 8

Sometimes you can take food home if it's set up that way in the contract. Ask your caterer. The cake of course is yours to take home.

As for leftover alcohol, you can check with the caterers or whoever is in charge of alcohol to see if they will take back unused liquor. Some places do that.

Answer 9

yes they'll box it up for someone to take home if you ask them

Answer 10

This totally depends upon the caterers. Sometimes they will let you serve some of the things at the late lunch - like salads, etc. along with whatever else you have planned for it.

Sometimes, too, you can use the food for the gift opening lunch the next day.

But find this out ahead of time from the caterer. If you are paying per plate, they probably would not allow it. With a buffet, you may have a better chance.

There are usually food safety and food handling issues they have to watch for - keeping cold food cold and hot food hot.

Answer 11

I understand not wanting the caterers to have it, but freezing it and re-serving it at parties?  That just seems weird.  I can't imagine whatever you're serving at a wedding would keep that well anyways.  I guess if it's rididculously expensive you could do this.  If there's lots of leftovers I doubt you'd use them all anyways, if this turns out to be the case I think you should drop some off at a shelter.

Answer 12

You have paid for the food, it's for to do what you want with it.  ask ahead of time if your should bring some containers or if they are supplied.  I do know that some places bring unopened or uncooked food to shelters..