Ever had “hangry” guests at an event? Well, it ain’t pretty.
Trust us, you don’t want to have your guests feeling like the minutes are hours and the headline act is torture for their bellies.
So having great food is a must.
The catch: Catering costs can spiral quickly. If you’re not careful, food and drink can eat away at a huge chunk of your event budget.
Eventbrite is home to hundreds of thousands of event creators always figuring out new ways to feed the masses without breaking the bank — and we want to share some of those affordable catering ideas with you in this guide.
Table of contents
3. Make sure your guest numbers are precise
4. Choose a cost-effective cuisine for your menu
5. Portion your food like a sushi master
7. Scale back the drinks menu at your open bar
9. Use seasonal ingredients to glow up cheaper dishes
How much should you budget for catering costs?
When you think of “event catering,” the first image that probably springs to mind is a plated dinner in a big banquet hall.
You know the drill: 150 people chatting away loudly while a never-ending stream of serving staff bring out identical plates one table at a time. On average, caterers say a three-course plated dinner like will cost you $70–85 per head.
But there are tons of different types of catering and different factors that impact cost:
- The type of event you’re hosting
- How many guests will be eating
- Your event location
- The menu
- The serving method
- Staff requirements
- Venue facilities
- Your audience’s expectations
To create a successful food and drink event, you need a firm understanding of these requirements so you can communicate your needs to catering teams and get a reliable quote. To get the cheapest catering options, you’ve got to be flexible, plan carefully, and not be afraid to tinker with your event format or management a tiny bit.
10 Affordable catering ideas when you’re on a budget
Even if you’re already halfway through organizing your event, there are plenty of ways you can reduce the overall cost of your event catering so it doesn’t blow your budget.
To help you get started, here are 10 pro tips proven to make catering costs more affordable.
1. Rent out food trucks
Hiring food trucks is one of the easiest ways to feed a large crowd on a tight catering budget.
Food trucks carry a quirky vibe because they’re out-of-the-ordinary, which translates into a fun and festive atmosphere for your guests. Just look at Purple Oak Events & D Fake Chef’s Test Kitchen- Holiday Taco Edition for how to do food trucks the right way.
They brought three of New York’s top food truck chefs to one event and added some holiday flair to their event.
But, from an event creator’s perspective, food trucks are also super practical.
They have all the food prep equipment onboard, eliminating the need for your venue to have catering facilities and drastically reducing your staff requirements.
According to the Food Trucks Association of Los Angeles (FTALA), the average food truck charges $15–40 per head. Even if you’re on the high end of that scale, you’ll still probably come in at less than half the price of a traditional plated dinner.
2. Set up a buffet
To plate up tasty dishes for your event guests without the formality of a seated dinner, host a self-serve buffet.
At anywhere from $25–70 per head, buffets cost you less than a plated meal. Buffets require fewer staff and resources, as you can prepare food offsite.
You also empower your event attendees with more food choices, and buffets are great at any time of day.
That’s what event creator Ms. L’Tanya did with her CONYERS Grown Folks Senior Saturday Day Parties! LIVE Show! Buffet Brunch! By combining live music, cool vendors, and a tasty brunch buffet, this event ticks all the boxes.
3. Make sure your guest numbers are precise
You know exactly how much food you’ll need when you’ve got accurate registration numbers. That means you can order fewer ingredients — reducing expenditure and also reducing the amount of waste you’re generating in uneaten food.
That’s where a ticketing partner like Eventbrite comes to the rescue.
Eventbrite’s dynamic dashboard provides real-time access to your event numbers, so you can see exactly how many tickets you’ve sold. When you use the Eventbrite Organizer App, your team can also see who’s checked into your event on the day.
4. Choose a cost-effective cuisine for your menu
Fancy dishes, like filet mignon, always sound great on a menu. But if you want to feed a crowd without breaking the bank, you need to find the balance between a simple cuisine that costs less without cheapening the experience for guests.
For example, you can focus your catering on comfort foods or tailgating BBQ staples.
If you need inspiration, look no further than the Women’s Council of REALTORS® San Diego County. Their BBQ and Chili Cook Off was an ace example of how you can use mouthwatering comfort foods to feed the masses — they even turned the catering into a competition for a bit of entertainment.
Other easy catering ideas are Indian and Mexican food. They often use less meat and cheaper ingredients. You can also bulk these foods out with accompaniments like bread and rice so that guests feel full and experience the exotic flavors of these cooking styles.
5. Portion your food like a sushi master
One of the easiest ways to waste money on catering is by dishing out oversized portions. Sometimes, less is more, so you should bear in mind the recommended serving sizes for meals and portion them accordingly.
For example, the US Food and Drug Administration recommends a typical adult has 2–3 oz of meat per meal. That means you can forget the 12 oz steaks. By reducing your portion sizes, you reduce the amount of food you need to order and reduce food waste.
Need a hand communicating with ticket holders? That’s where Eventbrite’s integration with Mailchimp makes things easy. You can streamline your communications by seamlessly shifting data from your registrations list to create slick, automated emails before and after your event.
6. Introduce food in windows
Another way to reduce catering costs is to scale back your food service by limiting food availability to one or two time slots.
This reduces catering expenses and builds a sense of excitement around the food. It’s also practical when you’re planning your event schedule. For example, you can build your lineup around your serving times to give speakers or entertainers a break while food is served.
That’s exactly what creator Dei’jah Christine does at her 5th Annual All White Classic: To be Resilient event. By limiting brunch to an hour slot in the middle of the event, guests can enjoy a complete meal without it overshadowing the event.
7. Scale back the drinks menu at your open bar
Open bars can be a lot of fun for guests — but costly for event creators. Fortunately, there are several party planning hacks you can use to limit your bar menu to lower costs without being a party pooper.
First, limit your wine menu to three house options, for example, red, white, and rose. You could even send out a pre-event email to run a poll on what your guests prefer to drink and only stock up on their choices. This allows you to buy in bulk rather than stocking a wide range of expensive bottles nobody will drink.
Finally, scale your spirit offerings back to one or two signature cocktails. Not only will this save you money, but it’ll add some flair to your event.
8. Set up self-serve stations
If you’re worried about staff expenses, self-serve stations are a great way to feed guests without hiring waiting staff.
Set your delicious food up in one or two signposted corners of your venue and let people help themselves. It gives your event a more relaxed atmosphere and often leads to jovial conversation and mingling while guests stand around the stations.
To make it more fun, you can group foods together so that each station offers a different cuisine or type of meal. This is also really helpful for crowd control as it spreads people throughout the venue.
9. Use seasonal ingredients to glow up cheaper dishes
Sometimes, the most affordable catering menus aren’t the most exciting. But an easy way to elevate your dishes is to add some fresh and succulent seasonal ingredients, like fresh fruit or aromatic herbs.
You can add certain herbs to your signature cocktails, cook inexpensive dishes like fries in a specialty oil, or serve up autumnal staples like pumpkin or parsnips rather than broccoli and mash. That adds a seasonal element to your event, making it more fun and quirky.
If you collaborate with local farmers, you may be able to buy seasonal ingredients in bulk. You often get cheaper deals because you cut out the middleman, and it’ll excite your guests because they’ll get to enjoy local produce.
10. Set up grazing tables
Instead of setting up a huge hearty meal for your guests, you can set up grazing tables filled with many smaller snacks.
This eliminates the need for catering staff or plated dinners and gives your event a casual and homey feel. Plus, if it’s a family event, the kids will love you for this.
For lessons on how to do it, look at event creators like Grin and Graze It and their recent Holiday Charcuterie Workshop. They put together unique and exciting grazing tables with their guests, creating gorgeous event centerpieces at the same time.
Hungry for event success?
There are so many affordable catering ideas for you to choose from. If you’re smart about your menu, portioning, and setup, you can create fantastic meals, even on a humble budget.
By partnering with Eventbrite, you’ll always have accurate guest numbers, and you can easily communicate with guests to ensure everybody’s needs are met. Plus, you can set up your event page for free, which is great if you’re on a budget!
