Set Catering

[Max Field]

Been wondering this for a while. Never been on an extended shoot of more than a few people (as most of my work is online); so I've only seen work catering maybe once in my life.

 

Understand that this relies on the budget, but what is the proper 'etiquette' for catering a set? I would assume pizza everyday doesn't go over well on bigger sets so I was just curious as to what's expected depending on a given project's size/budget.

 

The only thing I recall being discussed here was how Richard B said his crew was complaining about filet mignon lol.

 

Thanks.

Edited September 26, 2016 by Macks Fiiod

[Shawn Sagady]

Pizza will make some people walk off the set, its considering pretty insulting. Mixture of healthy food and good food, variety is key. And its important to separate craft from caterer. They are two different things and someone trying to do both will usually be overwhelmed.

[David Mullen ASC]

Most catering for film shoots, good and bad, have variations of meat and veggies, plus carbs (rice or potatoes usually) plus vegetarian main dish, a salad bar, and something for desert. At its worst, it's like high school cafeteria food but it gets the job done.

 

Pizza, or burgers, or other fast foods are more for second meals.

 

Variations from the meat and veggies entrée would be occasional ethnic cuisine, maybe a pasta bar one day, stir fry another, etc. just to break the monotony.

 

Truth is that over a long shoot, a crew will get tired of even the best caterer in the world - it's like going to the same restaurant every night and having gone so many times, you've had everything on the menu several times over.

[Phil Rhodes]

Sometimes, American filmmaking is just hilarious. Separate people just for the snacks!

[Adrian Sierkowski]

I'm always a fan on overnight shoots where they give you lots of good breakfast foods. Last night was a wonderful sausage and egg on a buttery croissant- fantastic, and simple.

 

It's important, Phil, to have catering and crafty separate, since the time to prep a meal for a cast/crew of say 25+ will seriously eat into the time of someone trying to keep coffee and waters stocked, as well as delivering them to set for those who can't walk off (op, acs, etc).

[Gregory Irwin]

OMG! We had the GREATEST caterer on FAST 8. Everyday was a five star experience. Breakfast boasted of waffle station, omelet station, breakfast specials of the day. Fresh juice bar. Fresh fruit station. Lunch was always exciting with so much to choose from. The desserts were ungodly and I gained weight! ;)

 

G

[Adrian Sierkowski]

You, Gregory, speak of the promised land i think we all aspire to. i just need to know, was there iced cream for the waffles? Because-- that, sir, might well be as close to heaven as I'd dare touch.

[Max Field]

OMG! We had the GREATEST caterer on FAST 8. Everyday was a five star experience. Breakfast boasted of waffle station, omelet station, breakfast specials of the day. Fresh juice bar. Fresh fruit station. Lunch was always exciting with so much to choose from. The desserts were ungodly and I gained weight! ;)

 

G

 

So THAT'S how those budgets rack up millions.

[Phil Rhodes]

Heh!

 

At the other end of the market, I tend to do one of several things when there's a need to feed several people.

 

Either:

 

- Find a sandwich bar or other place that delivers. Distribute the menu to people before the day, so they can make a choice and we won't be distracted while working. This once worked very well in New York. Obviously, strive to find somewhere that serves a decent selection of stuff. In a town of any size this could probably work for a longer shoot if you kept choosing different places, although you can't really get full blown hot sit-down meals like this very often.

 

- Find an enthusiastic friend or relative with a kitchen. Pay them something. This can work very well if you've access to someone who likes to cook, although watch out for any food hygiene regulations as regards required qualifications or equipment in your jurisdiction.

 

- Use a small, local catering company who do corporate events, weddings, and the like. They're generally about as good as most location caterers for the film industry, and way cheaper, though you may find that for the best price you get bits of over-ordered party food interspersed with your crew fuel.

 

- Just go buy stuff. Absolutely the best way to do it is to just lay out sandwich fillings and salad and a few kinds of bread, then people can have salads with or without meat, make up a sandwich containing whatever fillings, and so on. This is a trick I learned from the press buffets at NAB, where the best of them are organised like this.

 

Few of these ideas work well for situations where you need more than a light sandwich or salad meal, or where you're miles from anywhere, in which situations you're likely to have to bring someone in - but actually hiring real movie industry caterers tends to be very expensive and no better than non-specialists.

 

Phil