Boston Event Catering: 7 Questions to Ask Before You Book a Venue
Boston’s food scene consistently ranks among the very best – and not just in the United States, but in the world. Conde Nast Traveler, in fact, ranked the city as one of the 10 best places to eat, sitting beside the likes of Crete, Seville, and Hong Kong. In a city known for its restaurants, guests at any Boston event expect good food and drinks.
Regardless of if you’re preparing for a corporate reception, a fundraiser, a wedding, or a milestone celebration, the catering can make or break the experience. And that catering experience is frequently closely tied to one of your most important decisions: The venue.
Before signing a contract, ask yourself the following questions about a venue’s food and drink offerings. Along the way we’ll show why one of Boston’s most dependable solutions is a place you probably know for hot dogs and popcorn: Fenway Park.
7 Questions to Ask About Event Catering
1. Does the Catering Team Work Hand in Hand With the Venue?
Choosing a venue while simultaneously bringing in an outside caterer can bring two teams, two sets of rules, and plenty of room for miscommunication. Yet when catering is a part of the venue’s own team, the planning is simpler, and one group can maintain responsibility for everything running smoothly.
At Fenway Park, Evergreen partners with Aramark, the ballpark’s food and beverage provider, for all of its event catering needs. Evergreen and Aramark work in lockstep on floor plans, the run of show, and menu development, handling all operational aspects. By event day, everybody knows the plan, and the two teams work together to make sure everything goes according to plan.
2. How Customizable is the Menu?
Though a fixed menu can work for a quick lunch, many events require more flexibility. Look for a team that can service your specific needs, regardless of their intricacies. Are your guests foodies who want to try something new? Are there allergies or dietary needs to plan around? Is presentation the priority, or is the food there to support a bigger moment?
At Fenway Park, the creation of every event menu starts with those questions. Guests can customize and curate from Aramark’s extensive catering menu, which ranges from premium entrées to classic ballpark fare and everything in between. Along the way, the catering team takes a “yes, and” approach, seeking creative ways to make your idea work within your budget.
3. Who's Actually Doing the Cooking?
Ask about the chef behind the menu. Even if your guests won’t meet them, they’ll all get acquainted with the chef’s work. Experienced chefs with a range of backgrounds bring more ideas and, most importantly, more reliability.
Fenway Park’s award-winning culinary team is led by Senior Executive Chef Ron Abell, who oversees food across the entire ballpark, including its restaurants, clubs, and events. Each club has its own designated chef, and many of the team’s chefs come from Boston's restaurant scene. Instead of one vision, your menu can draw on many. New dishes often initially get tested in the ballpark’s restaurants and clubs, so the team always knows what plays well before it reaches your event.
4. What About Dessert and Drinks?
The details at the end of the night are often what guests remember most. Ask whether the venue has pastry expertise in-house and whether it can create custom cocktails. Or check in on whether there’s a culturally or regionally specific dessert that could leave guests with a good taste in their mouth.
Fenway Park has an entire pastry department, so good luck proposing a sweet idea it hasn’t executed. For one memorable gala, the catering team turned the final meal into a highlight of the night with a dessert parade, as staff marched through the room with tambourines and themed dessert trays. On the drink side, the team regularly creates custom cocktails, including ones tailored to VIP guests’ preferences.
5. Where Do the Ingredients Come From?
More planners and guests care about sustainability and locally sourced food. Ask where a venue's ingredients come from and how it handles food waste.
At Fenway Park, you only need to head to a stairway to get a big piece of that answer. The Boston Red Sox, Aramark, and Green City Growers came together in 2015 to create Fenway Farms, a 5,000-square-foot organic rooftop garden on the ballpark’s third level. Located directly next to the vineyard vines club, its produce shows up in concessions, clubs, and events throughout the ballpark, and any excess is donated to a local food rescue partner. You won’t find farm-to-table catering quite like this at any other Boston event venue.
6. Can It Scale to the Size of Your Event?
Some venues are great for 50 guests but struggle with 500, or the other way around. Make sure your caterer can handle your guest count.
Fenway Park’s catering team handles everything from a midday coffee break to an entire ballpark buyout feeding thousands of guests. Whatever event you’re planning, you can bet they’ve done it before.
7. Can the Food Become Part of the Experience?
The best event catering can seamlessly add to the atmosphere, theme and moment, going well beyond just feeding guests. Ask potential venues for examples of how they've done that.
At Fenway Park, the mystique of the event space can’t be matched, and our catering team works hard to complement that. For example, event guests who began their evening elsewhere headed to an afterparty at Fenway Park. It featured custom small plates built around specific dietary needs, a creative dessert bar, drinks tailored to the stars, and fireworks over the ballpark.
Why Fenway Park Surprises Event Planners
The Boston Red Sox enter the minds of anybody who thinks about Fenway Park, and for good reason. It has been their home since opening in 1912. An increasingly large number, though, also recognize it as one of Boston’s most versatile event venues, with catering as elevated or customized as you want. The catering team is often busiest when the Red Sox are out of town and the ballpark opens up additional inventory for private events.
Plan Your Boston Event at Fenway Park
Fenway Park built its catering offerings to ensure you have everything you need to make your event unforgettable – custom menus, rooftop-grown ingredients, a pastry team that loves a challenge, and much more. Contact Evergreen to start planning.
