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Catering Trends for Spring and Summer

New formats, organic presentations, and a focus on fresh highlight the season ahead.

By Pamela Harding

To say that New Yorkers are food aware is an understatement—just look at the proliferation of food blogs, restaurant reviews and the whole concept of restaurants as entertainment venues. That fact isn't lost on the catering community, who has had to rise to the occasion of pleasing pickier clients.

"Catering is becoming more like the restaurant business because people are so sophisticated about dining out now they don't expect there to be much difference between the two," says Great Performances VP of Culinary Research and Development Katy Sparks.

Stephan Baroni, the Managing Director at Hudson Yards Catering, agrees: "People are looking for restaurant-quality food at catered events today." This wasn't always the case, and it is forcing caterers to become much more creative in practically all aspects of their business, from menu development to food and beverage presentation.

The food

Fresh and seasonal are today's watchwords, and what better seasons to have the best fresh food available than spring and summer. As Stephan Baroni puts it: "The type of food available in season often mirrors the foods people crave—heavier for colder months, lighter for the warmer ones."

Great Performances VP Linda Abbey sees a trend toward lighter food in general and smaller portion sizes. She's steering her clients more toward seasonal foods these days and they are very receptive. Since the company bought Katchkie Farm in Upstate New York last year, they have showcased the fresh-from-the-farm concept in salad buffets stocked with vegetables (fresh, pickled, or cooked and accented by different kinds and colors of coarse salt) and in salad bowls on clients' tables.

"Clients welcome it and it's a refreshing change from the traditional heavy gnocci, pasta and cheese," she says.

One idea Abbey says has gone over well is the make-your-own salad concept, where basic salad greens are pre-plated at each setting and guests help themselves to a centerpiece of glass blocks filled with an assortment of tasty add-ins like marinated mushrooms and roasted beets.

GP's Katy Sparks has noticed a trend away from the standard filet of beef, chicken, or salmon, toward more interesting fish—halibut, wild striped bass, for example—and more ambitious preparations with layers of flavor (i.e. her smoked chicken, avocado and pickled radish summer roll with cool melon and red-chile dipping sauce.)

"For me, spring is always about the amazing spring produce, the morels, the wild leeks, fresh herbs, fava beans, fiddlehead ferns, wild king salmon in their spring run—it's all very interesting to 'play' with," she says. In response to clients' requests for more salads at sit-down affairs she has risen to the occasion with such items as seared scallop and shrimp salad with zucchini ribbons with a curried coconut lime dressing or heirloom tomatoes with mango, red onion, and avocado served with a cumin-laced dressing. The brilliant colors also add to the appeal.

Chris Robbins, of Robbins Wolfe Eventeurs®, who caters many Hamptons events during the summer, also emphasizes the fresh theme—fresh, and preferably, locally grown, or in the case of fish, locally caught. In addition to crudités and salads, his company serves colorful, chilled soups for the summer, i.e. chilled minted sweet pea vichyssoise, or his popular "mangospacho" in v-shape glasses (not, he emphasizes, awkward-to-handle stemmed martini glasses).

Robbins too sees a high demand for fish and seafood. Ceviche, in several different preparations, has become more popular, since people are more willing these days to eat raw seafood.

"Any time we give a client the option to have a raw bar at an event, they go for it," adds Ed List of Trump Catering.

In keeping with the theme one of Hudson Yards Catering's latest concepts is the Raw Bar Moderne, a new twist on the concept where a variety of three or four seafood creations (small portions of tuna crudo, salmon sashimi, small crab salad, with maybe a tiny portion of fennel salad, for instance) are presented on a single small plate.

Clients are taking a greater interest in vegetables across the board. Even barbecue fans are requesting more vegetarian options, notes Flame Deal, of Brother Jimmy's Catering (the BBQ division) and Savor (broader-based catering). "We've even added smoked tofu and vegetarian chili—clients love it," she says.

But people still love good old-fashioned comfort foods too. What's the most requested item from her BBQ brand? "Mac and Cheese," across the board, she says, from college kids to socialites.

And for dessert? Light and summery creations with flavor-packed fresh fruits, fruit soufflés, fruit ices, even wine sorbets. Or, go for the gold and serve chocolate!

The Drinks

Custom cocktails, especially if they can be themed for the event, add a special touch to the occasion and are generally very popular with clients. They also tend to be visually appealing. Fresh juices are the mixers of choice for a lot of them. GP, for example, likes to serve signature cocktails with pomegranate or their special tangerine martinis.

More clients are choosing a variety of wines at cocktail events and sit-down dinners too, instead of one "house pour." Stephan Baroni says their clients are looking for great wine and food pairings with tasting menus.

Feast & Fêtes have more requests for actual champagne and wine tastings during cocktail hour, both indoors and out. It gives guests a chance to experiment with different wines and new tastes.

The Presentation

How food is presented depends a lot on the style of the event. Although chafing dishes are definitely out of fashion, sometimes they are the most realistic way to go and the best vehicle for the job. Not, however, for high-end cocktail parties or even for many buffets, where clients expect much more creativity in food display and service.

Increased client demand for variety also trends away from the chafing dish set-up. Small portions of a lot of different items are what's called for, from the passed hors d'oeuvre to several small plates or even divided plates for multiple mini-portions, such as in Hudson Yards' Raw Bar Moderne concept.

"Mini is in," says Flame Deal, who serves everything from mini burgers and mini pizzas to shots of soup at parties.

And the one-bite hors d'oeuvre is standard practice. "The real challenge is to pack a lot of flavor into that one bite," admits Katy Sparks.

Items to avoid at cocktail parties, besides foods that are hard to eat, are garlic, food with little green bits that gets stuck in teeth, and anything on sticks (guests don't know where to put them)" reports Bryan Jacobson of CEM (Corporate Events Manhattan), which often caters to a fashion crowd.

And, of course, eye-appeal is important too—it's got to look pretty.

"Catering is like a show," says Jean Christophe le Picart, Director of Feast & Fêtes Catering. "From the minute the caterer enters the room, it should be full of nice surprises," he said.

"We keep the food simple, but very tasty," he explains. "And no crazy presentations—it has to be appropriate to the place and the party."

Lately, the company has been using natural items from colorful beans and lentils to grated cheese to line trays for serving passed hors d'oeuvre. A simple but elegant tray treatment Great Performances uses is placing food items on a sheet of nori. They also use plexi-glass trays with food served in paper cones.

One style of presentation Feast & Fêtes Catering has developed recently is bringing the food to the guests, who often are engrossed in their own conversations during cocktail parties and don't want to break to get food from a table. A server might, for instance, prepare a little pasta dish on a portable cart brought to a cluster of guests and serve them right from there.

New Formats

Stand-up events are definitely gaining in popularity. Linda Abbey says that benefits still tend to be sit-down affairs, but one client they have has elected to switch to a more fluid format. Presentations or speeches are followed by a stand-up, walk-around cocktail party. The first time it seemed like a risky approach, Abbey notes, but they've elected to do it again.

"People are so busy, they like the fact that they don't have to sit there for three hours," she explains. "They can come in for the presentation, have some hors d'oeuvre, then leave whenever they like."

Great Performances is also offering little boxes or fancy bags with desserts to go, and the dessert doubles as a gift. "People don't have to stay through the dessert, they can take it with them."

And, for clients with guests who might not want to leave a convivial Hamptons garden party when the cocktail hour is over, Robbins Wolfe will prepare a series of tasting plates—larger that hors d'oeuvre—so people don't have to run off to a restaurant to catch a dinner reservation. (Arrangements for the additional tasting plates are made in advance, of course.)

The Upper Crust has also gone with a couple of new formats, according to proprietor Dan Fehlig. One is called the Supper Buffet, where seating is provided for only about half of the guests. "It works well when the client wants to have a fun party with guests mingling throughout the duration, yet they know they have an obligation to provide food enough for dinner," Fehlig says.

One way to make sure that the guests continue to mingle is to not give everyone a seat. "We pass hors d'oeuvre for the first hour and then quietly open the buffet or stations, he explains. They continue passing hors d'oeuvre after the buffet is open, and guests understand that they are not expected to sit down. All of the food on the buffet is "fork tender," and is easily eaten while guests stand up.

"This format is not as successful when you are moving guests from a cocktail area to another space for the buffet," Fehlig notes. "If you move to another room, people think that they are being directed to go to the buffet and sit and eat."

One advantage of this format is that it's a less costly arrangement than a seated meal.

Another Upper Crust format that has become more popular is the Stand Up Dinner. "It's a little bit more daring," Fehlig admits. "Many people say that their favorite part of a party is the cocktail hour, and this format is simply a great alternative to 'heavy hors d'oeuvre.' Guests love hors d'oeuvre, but six to eight hors d'oeuvre over three hours can get boring. With our format the menu changes three times in the evening," he says.

"We serve an entire three-course dinner, but it is all served in miniature and passed by waiters to the guests. Each course includes five to six items that are appropriate to the course being served—the fist course might be miniature soups served in sake cups, oysters, tuna tartar, etc.

After about 60 to 90 minutes that service stops and we go to the main course. We serve the main course on a large plate placed on top of a square that has been double draped to resemble a small dinner table for two. This course includes more hardy selections like filet of beef, baby lamb chops, etc. The fun is we also serve the side dishes like miniature baked potatoes filled with truffled cream, risotto in spoons, and miniature Caesar salads served in crouton cups."

The final course is miniature sweets. "We have even figured out how to pass coffee and tea," he says. "The trick was always the cream and sugar. On trays we offer black coffee, cafe au lait and tea in demitasse cups. Small sugar-coated sticks are offered if guests would like sugar."

And once again the budget is softer for the client. In this case the cost savings has to do with china, silverware and even the amount of seating that is needed for the event.

Both of these formats afford the client the possibility of a larger number of guests in any given space, since a room that can handle 100 for a seated dinner can accommodate about 150 standing guests.