Over the years, catering has evolved from a transactional service into a personalized guest experience. But it can be a challenge for dining providers to meet the needs of today’s guests, creating a catering experience that feels customized and current without sacrificing consistency, operational practicality, or responsible pricing.
At Parkhurst Dining, we incorporate thoughtful menus, inclusive choices, and story-driven presentation, paired with strong operating tools and external sales strategies to help clients strengthen their brand, serve broader audiences, and create additional opportunities for growth.
Personalized Menus and Presentation
before we start planning a catering experience for our clients, we first must gain an understanding of their wants and goals for the event. Then, we can interpret those needs into a thorough plan for an excellent catering experience, incorporating relevant trends, menus, service styles and displays designed to fit the specific occasion. This allows our teams to tailor menus and presentations centered around each client’s culture, audience, budget, facilities, and goals while supporting polished execution and sustainable business growth.
During this process, our Parkhurst chefs create flexible and relevant menus that fit the specific needs of a client’s audience, brand, and budget, as well as current trends. For example, an elevated breakfast for a morning board meeting or leadership gathering may include mini breakfast bites, passed breakfast hors d’oeuvres, chicken-and-waffle stations, parfait flights, pastries, savory boards, and brunch beverage pairings. For an evening board dinner or donor event, global street food options may feature bao, dumplings, noodles, Mediterranean cups, Korean-style bowls, Indian-inspired vegetarian bites and Latin street food stations. Such menus are built upon the client’s wants as well as current themes or trends but can be modified to meet specific needs. This is often seen when catering events require plant-forward and inclusive menus. By building appealing options into packages, making plant-forward entrées intentional, incorporating vegan or gluten-free meals, and strengthening allergen and ingredient communication, we can transform ideas into catering experiences that are inclusive to all.
“Personalized catering solutions are essential because every event has a unique purpose, audience, and desired outcome. Whether a client is hosting a donor reception, student-focused event, admissions program, conference, or campus celebration, customized menus, service styles, and event planning support help ensure the experience aligns with their vision and goals.”– Katie Boyd, District Manager
Creative service and presentation can also be executed in different ways to achieve the client’s overall vision. If a modern occasion aims to create energy, conversation, and participation in the event space, catering can offer mini charcuterie cups, cones, interactive custom-item service, edible spoons, shooters, and skewered hors d’oeuvres. This type of presentation not only matches the client’s goals but encourages results. If a client is looking for ways to extend the experience or create additional points of distinction, beverage and non-alcoholic programs can also be incorporated throughout the event. By personalizing such elements, the menu and service style can seamlessly align with the event’s overall purpose, audience, and host organization.
Personalization Paired with a Practical Approach
In addition to personalizing experiences, dining providers must also provide the systems, culinary insight, and shared expertise needed to execute events consistently while supporting growth. At Parkhurst, we pair local knowledge and chef-driven creativity with the shared insights, tools, and peer learning of our Catering Council. This allows us to translate creative ideas into practical, site-specific adaptations.
Our Catering Council consists of a cross-account network of higher education and corporate catering professionals that share best practices, identify gaps, build tools, and translate operating insight into adaptable resources. In doing so, the council ensures that our local teams have access to peer-tested ideas and current insights while retaining the ability to tailor the program to local culture, audience, budget, facilities and service style. They also provide operational support through base menus and recipes, seasonal ideas, allergen and special-diet labeling, pricing guidance, feedback practices, signage templates, audit and vehicle checklists, smallwares guidance, bar resources, and training.
As a result, we can pair creative and personalized catering plans with a practical and coordinated approach to execute a successful event and help generate additional revenue for our clients.
Generating Additional Revenue For Clients Through Catering
When strong catering programs extend beyond routine internal meetings and events, they can support growth and generate additional revenue for our clients. At Parkhurst, we offer external sales resources, showcase and promotion ideas, technology and reporting practices, and the Catering Council’s cross-account network. This provides the client the opportunity to host local conferences, community events, weddings and celebrations, athletics or alumni events, summer programs, business meetings, and other external gatherings at their location, thereby driving revenue through catering.
“With Parkhurst, catering is much more than an event service. We also look at it as a valuable external revenue driver that allows campuses to maximize the use of their facilities, showcase their hospitality, and generate additional income beyond traditional dining programs. External catering can create opportunities for institutions to strengthen community connections while supporting their financial goals.” – Katie Boyd, District Manager
By viewing catering as a strategic extension of a client’s brand and a meaningful business opportunity, a campus can make better use of our culinary expertise and their own facilities to increase revenue.
Today’s Catering, Tomorrow’s Success
Catering is no longer defined by simply delivering food to an event. Today’s guests expect experiences that feel relevant, inclusive, and distinct. By combining thoughtful menus and personalized presentations with responsible practices, versatile tools, and local sourcing, catering providers can execute premium guest experiences while pursuing future opportunities for client growth.
Connect with our team and further discover how a personalized catering strategy can elevate your future events and identify new catering opportunities for building additional revenue.
