We didn't select Food for Thought (FFT), rather they came with the venue that we wanted: The Adler Planetarium. At the end of the day, I was happy with FFT as our caterer, but the process was extremely painful, so this is a mixed feelings revie...w. This caterer is VERY expensive, so keep that in mind. If you have a lot of money and don't care about the details and can operate on auto-pilot, then this vendor will be great for you. But if you're stretching outside your budget, then this will be a painful vendor to deal with. Or if you're a detail oriented person (like I am), it will also be very painful. I can't say other vendors are any different because obviously I've only gotten married once, but I will say that I felt like wedding planning was a nightmare.
THE GOOD:
1) The food was excellent. I was hesitant doing a buffet because we had a pretty classy wedding, but once we went to the tasting and actually tried the food, we realized the high quality of the vendor. It was definitely the best buffet food I've ever had, and ended up being even better than a plated meal because you could have more options
2) The tasting - this was the 1st time we got to meet Annie in person and get out from behind emails, and it was SO much fun. We had a blast with all of the wonderful food and alcohol.
3) At the end of the day, the wedding turned out FANTASTIC. There were no major hiccups, and the venue was everything we've dreamed of. We felt supported by the staff on the night of.
THE BAD:
1) Quoting process - this process was extremely painful. Things in the quote weren't explained well, the costs weren't broken out enough. I had a super complex spreadsheet and asked *literally* over 1000 questions in order to piece together everything we wanted. By the time we signed the contract with Food for Thought, I had invested about 40 hours into dissecting, analyzing the quote and asking questions. It was honestly too expensive for us, but after investing so much time I didn't have the time/energy to start researching other venues, so we felt stuck with FFT.
2) No negotiation / Inflexibility with costs - there were many times when we wanted to upgrade something but were dissuaded because of their pricing structure.
3) got the luxury bar (open/unlimited) and we heard they were out of some beer and other things. Also they only had cranberry juice for mixers....pretty weird when you're paying for the nicest bar package at a top-tier caterer
4) very expensive, and it feels like there is a lot of nickel and diming. You REALLY have to ask a ton of questions to understand what you want and what you're getting. Ex: wine we wanted was $80/bottle (in bulk direct from distributor) vs. $25 at a restaurant/grocery store
5) Painful communication & hidden costs - There were many changes in the quote that I only caught because I'm extremely detail oriented, otherwise it would slip past you. At our tasting we didn't like one of the dishes, so we asked for a poke bowl instead of a sandwich. She said "sure no problem!" Later on we realized our quote went up by ~$10/person, and when we asked why she said because of the poke bowl and something else. We would have appreciated her mentioning the price increase before agreeing to a substitution.
6) Assumed we understand how catering companies work
7) "Personal server" in quote, but nowhere to be found on wedding day
There is a lot more, but apparently I can't type anymore.