Food and beverages are an important part of business meetings. Keeping the food choices nutritious and appealing while keeping them within budget limits can be a daunting task when placing an order.
At Cafe Riva our corporate catering requests over the past four weeks revealed a number of interesting statistics! 82% of all our orders contained requests for fresh fruit. This was supplied in Whole Fruit Baskets, Sliced Fruit Platters and in Fresh Fruit/Berry Kebabs. An astonishing 96% of all orders contained Fruit! In addition to the Fresh Fruit ordered and supplied Fruit was also supplied in many other ways/forms e.g. Freshly Squeezed Fruit Juices, Smoothies, Dried Fruit (served on all our Cheese Boards) or as individual snacks, Dried Fruit in Freshly Baked Scones and Cookies; Fruit Coulis.
There are practical benefits for serving Fruit when supplying food for business meetings. Fruit is very versatile, is easy to eat and is very appealing. It can be supplied ready to serve on our very high quality disposable plates or platters. Fruit is a good meal choice when catering for Vegetarians, Vegans and Coeliacs. It can be included in many diets including Low Fat/Low Cholesterol diets (most fruits). Of course there are numerous benefits for Fruit in the diet. Fruit is a good source of Vitamins and Minerals. It is high in Fibre and low in Calories.
Fruit can be served as a light refreshment or it can form part of any meal. Fruit juices, sliced fruit or fruit skewers and granola parfaits are very popular requests for breakfast meetings. Fresh Fruit Salads are frequently served as part of a lunch offering.
Other considerations to note when ordering catering are:
At Cafe Riva food can be provided on platters or packaged separately for individuals. Consider which would work best at your event.
It is good practice to inquire from the participants and let us know about food allergies, dietary restrictions and religious or ethnic food practices.
If breakfast meetings are held early and participants have travelled long distances it is worth including something more substantial like filled mini bagels or croissants or breakfast baps.
For lunchtime meetings Sandwich platters can be made healthier by requesting that only brown bread and wholemeal wraps are used.
Crudités and dips are a good alternative to sandwiches. They are colourful and healthy. The dip can be low-fat or made with fat-free ingredients. Salsa, Bean dip or Hummus are popular choices.
When planning light refreshments consider individually presented portions of dried fruit like raisins or cranberries and a variety of nuts.
Cold water is a refreshing drink during a meeting. Order small bottles of still or sparkling water for a simple beverage solution.
Our chef’s at Cafe Riva choice of Dip to serve with Crudités, Pitta bread or Crackers is Chickpea Dip.
Chickpea Dip
- 3 cloves garlic
- 125g plain low-fat yoghurt
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp olive oil
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp paprika
- ¼ tsp pepper
- 1 400g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Put all ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth.
If you have any questions about corporate catering or want to place an order contact Cafe Riva here.