Setting Event Budgets

A meal is an opportunity to bring guests together for a culinary experience and a chance to make a statement at your event. Choosing your caterer is as important as your keynote speaker and more important than the centrepiece. Sub-standard catering due to budget restraints can have a huge impact on your event.  You need a caterer you can trust, who is passionate about food, explores cultural trends and can provide fun, interactive food and beverage ideas.

Make finding the right caterer the first thing you think about when working out your budget, not the last.  Don’t ‘guess’ what your food and beverage budget is going to be. Get quotes, work it into your budget, then set your ticket price. You want your guests to be asking who the caterer is, not complaining they didn’t get value for money.

Guests are never aware of the food and beverage budget.  The only thing they are aware of is that they paid $xx for their ticket and they want value for that.  This perceived value is always reflected in the food, beverage, and service standard, not the flowers and balloons.  Yes, styling and presentation is important however food, beverage and service should be the main event. Think about conversations you have with people after they have attended an event.  I can guarantee it will be about the food, beverage, and service standard, not the decorations.

At Michels Catering and Events we work with our clients to help create successful events. We understand our clients have budgets and we try to work with them from inception to ensure the budget is spent in the most successful way. Well thought out budgets create successful events!

Michels Catering and events is a fully licensed, event management and catering company. The only company of its kind in NQ. If you are looking to create a sensational event with exceptional food and beverage service that leaves your guests excited, explore our website www.michelscateringandevents.com.au or Contact the team info@mcenq.com.au. 

Event catering is just getting exciting!

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Gin Generation

Well…if you are not drinking Gin, especially Gin from a boutique Australian distillery, you are seriously out of the loop. The current trend is Boutique Australian Gin, which can only be drunk with boutique flavoured tonic water and other forms of very special mixers made only for gin.  

My husband and I were enjoying a gin from Western Australia recently, with…yes, a very groovy specially brewed tonic and noticed “London Dry’ on the label. Why would an Australian gin have London Dry on the label? London Dry is simply a category of gin.  Contrary to what the name suggests, it does not have to be produced in London.

TYPES OF GIN
Basically, there are three categories of gin. London Dry (the best), Distilled Gin (the middle) and compound gins (the…I will find that on the bottom shelf of my local bottleo).  Compound gin is basically flavoured vodka – Distilled gins can have flavouring added after distillation and London Dry gins cannot have any flavourings added (except for a tiny amount of sugar) after the distillation process. You could say London Dry is gin in its purest form.

Flavourings are what we refer to as Botanicals, which is anything that grows out of the ground and what gin is essentially about, apart from the juniper berries of course.  Gin is a neutral spirit, flavoured predominately with juniper berries and various seeds, roots, herbs, fruits, and berries. Distillers are pushing the boundaries with botanicals these days and Australia is leading the charge.

WORLD CLASS AUSSIE GIN
Australian gin seems to be on everyone’s lips now and we are producing world class Gin. In 2013 there were 10 domestic gins on the market. Now there would be more than 700. I do not want to play favourites and I have not tried every one of the 700, but I am very partial to Archie Rose Signature Dry Gin or Four Pillars Rare Dry Gin. However, if you have not had the pleasure of tasting the North QLD Gin from Wolf Lane Distillery you are missing out.

I stopped into Shaw & Co this week and was recommended the Wolf Lane Tropical Gin. It was served to the table in a beautiful glass, with plenty of ice and was delicious.  The ice is important, trust me.

So next time you are ordering Gin ask for an Aussie Gin with bottled tonic add plenty of ice.

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