From increased guest counts to gate crashing wild animals, top chefs share their worst catering horrors...
It’s a fact universally accepted that food is one of the most important parts of a wedding and hiring the right caterer for your nuptials can make a world of difference. While you may scroll the internet and hire the best wedding caterers in town, organize multiple food-tasting sessions and plan your D-day menu down to the last detail, sometimes even the best of chefs and caterers may find themselves helpless when fate has alternative plans.
From facing a shortage of crew members to the guest count multiplying during the event, some of the country’s top chefs reveal the ups and downs of their wedding catering journey…
“One of the most memorable events we hosted was in the USA. It was a wedding for my client’s son with all international guests. Since Tandoori Nights was an established name, the party had great expectations from me and my team,” recounts Chef Lalit Tuli, owner of Tandoori Nights Luxury Catering and co-founder at The Chaat Story, “To ensure we lived up to their expectations, we burnt the candle at both ends for days, organised multiple food-tasting sessions, and made multiple changes to the menu. But even after extensive planning and months of effort, lady luck was not in our favour that day. We faced an acute staff shortage as most of my crew members could not travel due to unforeseen circumstances. I thought hard and came up with an innovative solution. I decided to engage my guests in the cooking process. As I had done many high-profile weddings till then, the idea of cooking with a celebrity chef excited the guests at the venue. They willingly offered to make their salads, and pastas, and chaats at the live counter with a little help from me. This clever approach transformed a potential crisis into a heartwarming, interactive experience. It allowed me to bond with people of all ages from toddlers to adults.”
“I was entirely a newbie when I stepped into the role of a banquet chef. My Food and Beverage director showed faith in me, patted my back and said, “Buddy, you can do it”, recalls, Chef Ajay Chopra, founder of Zion Hospitality and the judge of MasterChef India Season 1 and 2.
He recalls, “One of the events I was doing was a 500-600 headcount event. I was the head chef to ensure everything went well and everyone was fed. But when the headcount doubled unexpectedly, my team was in a fix because letting anyone go hungry would impact the organisation’s reputation. So, I immediately looked into my walk-in-freezers and sought dishes that could be prepared within 30-45 minutes, like a pulao, a vegetable sabzi or a stir fry, as these preparations did not need much time. I ensured the quality standards were intact. Somehow, with the help of my team, I could get through this very tricky situation. My biggest learning from this was, “If I panic as a head chef, I will create more panic among your team members. Thus, one should always look at the situation from an observer’s lens and try to solve the puzzle for them. When the going gets tough, you need to get tougher”.
Chef Prateek Sadhu, founder of the restaurant Naar, says, “When I was supposed to cook for a wedding party in London, we were supposed to carry all the ingredients from India via the airlines. Due to airline clearance issues, our gravies, masalas and ingredients were directed to Zurich. I arrived at the wedding venue with absolutely no ingredients in my pantry. I explained my situation to the client and then went to New York with the help of a friend, and in two large cars, we bought huge quantities of ingredients for the dishes. The whole team did not sleep for two days and was exhausted at the end of the day, but in the end, it was a great learning experience!”
“People need to be more responsible while planning their wedding menu,” asserts award-winning chef, Manu Chandra, who also can be credited for creating multiple unique dining concepts in the country as he recounts his wedding nightmare, “Weddings are all about creating memories and when you have multiple dishes, it adds up to your expense and cannot provide you with a fine dining experience because most of them won’t remember what they had savoured at your feast. I vouch for the less is more theory while planning menus at weddings. Once, when I was cooking for a high-profile event in France, I was the only one cooking in the kitchen, it was a sit-down dinner with a pre-plated service much harder than a buffet. I was exhausted due to the intense work pressure. A few locals saw how stressed I was, took pity, and offered a helping hand. We managed to put up a good show, but that was when I understood how people can be more responsible while planning their wedding menu.”
“We were all ready for the event to begin, and right before the event began, we saw the doors getting locked and the gates being closed”, recalls celebrity Chef Jolly, Founder of Jolly Good Hospitality, London,“I could sense the panic in the situation, and the hotel managers were busy trying to calm the guests. The hotel where I working was adjacent to a wildlife sanctuary. Later, I was informed that two wild cats had arrived at the venue! The buffet was outside, and the guests were within. I trusted my instincts, put up a brave face and stepped out into the open lawn where the buffet spread was. Slowly, I, along with a few team members, gathered the nerve and brought all the dishes into the hotel banquet indoors and ensured everyone was fed. At the end of the event, we managed to tranquilise one cat, whereas its mate jumped the wall back to the animal sanctuary.”
Neha Karra is a junior writer, who loves to discover and try the latest trends in style, food and beauty. When she is not curating articles, you will find her playing with kids, reading books, painting and practising Mandala Art. View Profile
