Buffets
Buffet catering with a chef's hand on it
- £18.50
- From, per head
- 25+
- Guests
- 3
- Menus
- 60 mi
- Travel included
The detail
Why most buffets are disappointing, and how this one is not
A buffet is the easiest thing in catering to do badly. Sandwiches cut at six in the morning, cling film sweating on a tray, everything beige and everything at the same temperature. It is disappointing because of when it was made and how it was presented, not because a buffet is a lesser idea.
Ours are prepped the same morning and finished on site. Bread is cut late, salads dressed at the last moment, hot food held properly in chafing dishes rather than allowed to stew. Then it is styled — wooden boards, slate, height, foliage — because a buffet is looked at for two hours before it is eaten, and a flat table of foil trays tells your guests exactly how much thought went into it.
The other half of the job is the topping up. Someone stays with the table, replenishes from the back, tidies the edges and clears empties, so the person who eats at half past three sees the same table as the person who ate at two. That is usually the difference people remember, even if they cannot name it.
The four o'clock test
Any caterer can make a buffet table look good at the moment it opens. Come back two hours later and you can see who stayed with it. That is the standard we work to, and it is why the buffets are staffed rather than dropped off and abandoned.
Benefits
What a buffet does better than anything else
It fits the occasions fire does not
Wakes, christenings, meetings, AGMs, retirement dos, winter events. Times when a hog roast in a car park would be entirely the wrong note, and a room full of people still need feeding well.
It works indoors, in winter, anywhere
No fire, no gazebo, no early access, no weather. A village hall in February is as straightforward as a garden in July.
People eat while they talk
No sitting down, no seating plan, no forty-minute break in the middle of your day. For business events and for wakes — very different reasons — that is exactly right.
The lowest entry price on the list
The Working Buffet starts at £18.50 per head from 25 guests, delivered, set up and styled, which makes it the most sensible thing we do for a modest budget.
Menus
3 buffets menus
The Working Buffet
For meetings, wakes, christenings and village hall afternoons.
- Sandwich and wrap selection on fresh bloomer and sourdough
- Sausage rolls, quiche and pork pie with piccalilli
- Two salads and crisps
- Fruit platter and homemade traybakes
- Delivered, set up and styled — or fully staffed
Minimum 25 guests
Get a price for thisThe Grazing Table
A six-foot table of food as the room's centrepiece.
- British and continental charcuterie
- Cheese selection with chutneys and honeycomb
- Warm breads, focaccia, crackers and crudites
- Marinated olives, antipasti and seasonal fruit
- Styled with foliage, boards and slate on arrival
Minimum 30 guests
Get a price for thisThe Fork Buffet
Hot food, served standing, no cutlery gymnastics required.
- Choice of two hot mains — curry, chilli, stew or pasta
- Rice, breads and buttered new potatoes
- Three seasonal salads
- Dessert table with two homemade puddings
- Chafing dishes, crockery, cutlery and service team
Minimum 30 guests
Get a price for thisThe process
How a buffet comes together
- The morning of01
Everything made fresh
Bread, sandwiches, wraps, quiche, salads, traybakes — all prepped the same morning at base. This is the single decision that separates a good buffet from a sad one.
- Two hours before02
On site and setting up
Tables are covered and dressed, boards and slate laid out, height built in with risers and foliage. Chafing dishes go on for hot menus and come up to temperature properly.
- Thirty minutes before03
Finishing touches
Salads dressed, breads warmed, dips and chutneys spooned out, everything labelled — including clear allergen labels on every dish, not just the obvious ones.
- Service04
Stayed with and topped up
The table is replenished from the back throughout, edges tidied, empties cleared. For fork buffets the hot dishes are managed and rotated rather than left to sit.
- Afterwards05
Boxed and cleared
What is safe to keep is boxed and left with you, hired crockery leaves dirty in our vans, and the room goes back the way we found it.
Suited to
What people book a buffet for
Funerals and wakes
Handled quietly and without fuss. We will deal with the venue directly, arrive early, and stay out of the way — you should not be managing a caterer on that day.
Christenings and naming days
Daytime, all ages, and a table that suits a grandparent and a five-year-old equally. Traybakes do a great deal of work here.
Business lunches, meetings and AGMs
Delivered to time, invoiced properly against a PO, and set up without interrupting the room. Working Buffet is our most-booked corporate menu.
Grazing tables for drinks receptions
A six-foot centrepiece of charcuterie, cheese and warm breads that doubles as the room's decoration for the first two hours.
Winter parties and village hall events
Hot fork buffets — curry, chilli, stew — when standing outside is nobody's idea of a good evening.
Requirements
What we need from your venue
- Space
- A table roughly 2m long for 25–40 guests, 4m for a grazing table
- Access
- Somewhere to park and unload within carrying distance
- Power
- A single socket for hot fork buffets; none for cold menus
- Water
- Useful but not essential
- Time on site
- Two hours before service
- Minimum guests
- 25 across all three buffet menus
Included in every buffet package
- Everything prepped the same morning, never the day before
- Delivered, set up and styled on boards, slate and dressed tables
- Clear allergen labelling on every single dish
- Salads dressed and breads warmed on site, not in transit
- Chafing dishes and proper hot holding for fork buffet menus
- Staffed replenishment throughout service on staffed packages
- Disposable service ware as standard, china and linen available
- Leftovers boxed for you and the room cleared before we leave
Questions
Buffets — the questions we get asked
Can you just drop the food off?
Yes — the Working Buffet is often delivered, set up, styled and left, which keeps the price down. The Grazing Table and Fork Buffet are better staffed, because both need managing through service to still look and taste right an hour in. Adam will tell you honestly which your event needs.
How is a grazing table different from a buffet?
A buffet is food to be eaten. A grazing table is also the decoration for your room — six feet of charcuterie, cheese, warm breads, antipasti and fruit, built with height and foliage and styled on arrival. It is what people photograph, and it holds a drinks reception together for two hours without any other entertainment.
Do you cater for funerals and wakes?
Often, and it is work we take particular care over. We will liaise with the venue or the funeral director directly so you do not have to, arrive and set up before anyone returns, keep the table topped up discreetly and leave without needing to be found and thanked. If you would rather not discuss menus at length, tell us the numbers and a budget and we will propose something.
Can you provide hot food in a village hall with one socket?
Yes. Fork buffets use chafing dishes that need very little power, and we bring our own gas where a hall cannot supply anything. We have catered a great many halls with less than one working socket.
Can we mix a buffet with something off the grill?
Frequently, and it is good value once we are on site. A grazing table on arrival with a barbeque later is one of our most-booked wedding combinations.
How much food is actually enough?
More than you think for a standing lunch, less than you think for an evening buffet after a big day. Tell Adam the timings and whether there is another meal in the day and he will size it — he would rather you had the right amount than sell you a fourth platter you will bin.
Alternatives
Might another menu suit you better?
Next step
Price up a buffet
From an £18.50 working lunch to a styled grazing table — build the quote online and see the per-head price, deposit and balance straight away.
Adam Skinner answers his own phone — no call centre, no sales team.