We have an events planner who knows her stuff.

Special note: none of our articles are written with AI. We're determined to keep our business as human as possible. This website, all interactions with our team and all social media posts come from the expertise we've earned the long, hard way.

Pizza Alfresco is one of the few catering businesses that has a professional events planner as their customer service representative. Kerri has been planning parties, services and events since her teens, and has a deep well of ideas to share with our customers. Events planning training only goes so far; you need decades of experience watching how guests circulate, converse, eat, and move around the venue. Some guests can smash 3 pizzas others may be watching their diets and we want all of them to enjoy the experience. This is the expertise Kerri can bring to your event.

We're happy to share some advice. No AI generation here, this is straight from the professional.

(1) Where possible, we recommend starting your pizza food service 30 mins after your invitation time. Why?

• We've found most guests tend to arrive within this time.

• Those guests who do arrive on time, by the time they grab a drink and say hello, 30 minutes have passed anyway.

• If you have some guests who arrive after that, they may start with the mains. People still eat the same amount of pizza even if they miss the entrees.

• Most parties last around 4 hours. By pushing the food start time back slightly, it puts the meal in the middle of the event.

(2) A good meal is more than just food.

From a corporate business lunch to a birthday party, or even a wake to say goodbye to a loved one, food brings us together. It is a social lubricant and a shared experience for all humans. The meal you serve is what makes your party memorable for your guests, who are there to socialise, celebrate, be appreciated, and have a great feed. When you present a great, filling, tasty meal, people remember it.

When budgets are increasingly tightening up, it's tempting to cut corners on the food you offer your guests. But when you consider the time it takes to plan the food, go to the supermarket, stand in the kitchen and cook, cook, cook, then clean, clean clean, your valuable time and energy can be directed towards taking care of yourself while at the same time, having a great party that brings people together.

(3) Guest quirks

Every party and event has its nuances. We've catered for raucous parties for big footy players that smashed almost 3 pizzas each, to intimate gatherings of friends gathered around a big table, sharing stories over hand-made pizza. Nevertheless, a few things remain consistent.

• People settle when they've got a few slices of pizza in their belly. If you are doing formalities, speeches, cake cutting, etc, we recommend having them at least 75% of the way through the function because they're more likely to listen and enjoy. This especially applies to weddings where we've had some of the guests come to the truck to order pizzas because the speeches were too early in the schedule and went for too long.

  
  

• Groups shift and change. This especially applies to private or family functions. While seated affairs make a lovely party, guests rarely stay put and will shift and move according to what person they can talk to. This is why our banquet service is so perfect for most parties, because guests are not limited to a seat and the same company; rather they can move freely, grabbing pizza as they walk past the table, grazing until they're full. The introverts can sit where it's a bit quieter and the extroverts can mingle until their social cups are filled.

  
  

• Grumbles. It's true that you can't please everyone, and if anyone is going to grumble, it's usually about the quantity of food available. The vast majority of grumbles we get are within the first 30-40 minutes when the pizzas are being ripped off the paddles by hungry guests (what I've termed 'seagulling'). As every pizza is hand-made from scratch, there is a natural delay in the service, but the trade off is amazing pizza. So when we hear someone grumbling they haven't had much pizza and it's only been 30 mins, we reassure them the food isn't going anywhere until they're full. And we don't. Without exception, the grumblers become happy guests at the end when the food quantity surpasses even their limits.

  
  

• A wide variety of flavours are always a hit. Who doesn't love going to a party and there is a wide variety of flavours to choose from? Not just food types, but flavours and textures. When you're cooking for just yourself or your family, we tend to have a list of recipes we re-make over and over. So when you go to a party and there are combinations of flavours you wouldn't normally make for yourself, it's a delightful experience. That's why our menu is so big, so your guests can try slices of all those different varieties. Who knows, they might find a new favourite pizza topping!

(4) Be prepared, but then go with the flow.

No matter how expertly and thoroughly you've planned for an event, there is always a variable that surprises you every single time. We advise to have a good plan with the venue layout, where the food will go, general timing, decorations, etc, but, when the party is happening, it's best to just go with whatever happens. You've done a great job to get this far, take a breath, a sip of wine and then get some help to clean up the dropped dish, or push the cake cutting back by a few minutes, or plonk an entire pizza in front of your grumbling uncle, or hand your well-intentioned mother a drink and she can sit down and enjoy having the catering done for everyone. You've got this and so do we. We've seen it all, and fortunately our pizza service is flexible, filling and delicious. All your guests will be sated and content by the end of the meal and that's the important part.

(5) Nominate one person as our contact!

For any event with one or multiple vendors, we strongly recommend having only one (maximum two people) to liaise with them, whether it's you or someone else. This way the instructions are coming through clear and direct. Even a customer has hired us ten times before, every person spends time with our events planner on the phone where we run through the format and the operational plan for the event. Other guests or helpers have not been part of this conversation and may be unaware of how it operates, so if they try to guide the chefs at the party it causes confusion. It also means if someone else comes to the chefs, our staff can politely say that we've been asked to only liaise with [person's name].

These safeguards mean your party catering runs smoothly, and there is a low chance of discomfort due to miscommunication or instructions that don't match the agreed serving style.

This is just a few pointers that may help with your party planning, but there is still nothing like having an events planner on your team. So, send us an enquiry if you'd like your party in our hands.