This is a practical page. If you are arranging a reception after a service, you probably have a short list of things to organise and very little time, and catering is one line on it.
Short notice is the normal case here
Most of what we cater is booked weeks or months ahead. Memorial receptions are not — they are usually arranged in a few days, often by someone who found out about the date the same week.
That is workable. Dessert platters and trays can often be confirmed within the same week, depending on what is already scheduled. A fully styled table is the thing that needs longer notice, and it is not what this occasion calls for anyway.
If your date is tight, ask rather than assume. The answer takes one message and is often yes.
What to order
The useful format here is a platter or tray rather than a styled display. It sets out quickly, it does not need anyone to manage it, and it suits a room where people are standing in small groups and coming and going.
- Plan the lower end of two to three pieces per person. People eat less at a reception after a service, and attendance thins within the first hour.
- Fewer varieties, not more. Three or four is plenty. It is not an occasion that benefits from a long menu, and most items carry a minimum of ten pieces, so a small order spread thin just means ordering more than you need.
- Formats that hold. Tarts, cookies, and small cakes sit comfortably for a couple of hours at room temperature. Anything that needs to stay cold adds a problem the day does not need.
- Consider individually boxed. It suits a room where people arrive and leave at different times, and whatever is left can be sent home with guests rather than thrown out or handed back to the family.
If there are dietary restrictions among the guests, mention them when you ask. Nut-free, vegetarian, halal, and gluten-free options exist across much of the menu, and it is far easier to plan a menu around a restriction than to pull items from a tray on the day.
Delivery and setting up
Delivery and setting out are included across our GTA service area, including funeral homes, church and community halls, and private homes.
Two things make it go smoothly. Give us the time the reception starts, not a delivery time — we work backwards from it, which absorbs parking, the walk in, and setting out. And give us a contact who will actually be at the venue, which should not be a member of the immediate family. Whoever is receiving the delivery will be asked small questions, and that is a job for someone with capacity for it.
What we need from you
Four things, and none of them require decisions about the menu:
- The date and the time the reception starts.
- The venue address, and a contact who will be there.
- An approximate guest count — a range is fine.
- Any dietary restrictions you know of.
Someone other than the family can arrange all of it. A friend, a workplace, or the funeral home's coordinator can order and pay, and the contact for the day and the contact for the invoice do not have to be the same person. If you tell us who is who, we will keep the logistics away from the people who should not be handling them.
Dessert catering covers the platter and tray formats and what delivery includes. If it is easier to talk it through than to fill in a form, say so in the message and we will call.
