How to Style a Buffet Table

Whether you're a caterer, hosting a large party or simply serving a serve-yourself-style meal, you know how important styling is to a buffet table. Most of the time, you won't simply lay out all your food in any old fashion when you're serving others. You want there to be some structure, some order, and some style to the way you serve your food along a table.
When you're starting to plan, consider all that you're choosing to serve. First, the logical part of setting up a buffet table is in what order will people want to place things on their plate. Typically a buffet is laid out in the order that people eat. For example, your salad may be first, followed by the sides, followed by main options, finished with deserts. Some people may choose to separate their salad and appetizers on one table and their desserts on yet another table. It's truly a personal preference as to how many tables you set up, but keep the logic intact throughout the tables. You don't want to have cookies for desert next to the salad, it doesn't make sense. You also don't want to have your salad dressings or condiments at the beginning of the table which causes people to backtrack and disrupt the flow. Logic to a buffet table is the key to it running smoothly.
When you have a buffet table it often means there is a lot of people eating at one time. Having a poorly set up buffet table will cause it to take a while to get through the line, causing events to take longer and people at the end to become irritated with the time it took for them to get their plates.
Once you have your order of items, now you'll need to structure them. Think of all the different pieces of the table. Where you'll set the flatware is something to consider, though obviously the plates will be at the beginning. Placing flatware at the beginning might cause more people to pick it up as their picking the plate up, but they then have to worry about holding on to it while also holding the plate, while also serving themselves. The possibility of them dropping a fork or spoon rises, which will cause them to get out of line, go back to get another, and then go back to where they left off. Next, think about whether people will be more comfortable using a serving fork or a serving spoon or even serving tongs for the food, and especially make sure there's a utensil for every item. It's never good when you see a missing utensil and in turn, someone using their fingers to serve themselves.
If you have a full table, consider risers and other objects to create height differences. Risers not only add dimension and style to your table but also create more space on the surface of the table. The circumference of a bowl takes up more room than a square bottom of a riser, allowing you to put more dishes and in turn, more food options. If your table is the opposite, not full and instead has bare spots, consider using decor items to fill the space, fake flowers and beads are often used around the dishes to create style.
Also consider title cards for each of your food items, making sure to label what each of the dishes contain. Labeling will help people know exactly what they want, eliminating waste in the end and prevents possible allergic reactions. Which brings us to an important point,  make sure you label allergy information. If a dish contains one of the eight most popular allergies (peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish, dairy, egg, wheat, soy, and fish) then it should be labeled when served to a large group. When food is unattended, these labels are the best way to save people from illness. While there are an assortment of ways to display labels for your food, you could consider using number stands that will hold a card in place, especially for those items that are up on raisers.
It truly is important to know how to set up your buffet table when you're serving a large group of people. A poorly set up table can cause people to get cold food, disrupted lines, dropped food or flatware, and ultimately irritation. None of these look good on the organizers. If you know you'll be serving a buffet, start planning early. Think about everything you'll need, and everything that you MIGHT need. Always have backup flatware, serving utensils, title cards and more to ensure everything goes smoothly. Backups can save a lunch or dinner. For any item you may need for a successful event, check out our website www.PublicKitchenSupply.com.