Kauai Catering

[FutureMrsSharpe]

Can anyone recommend a good caterer that will do off-site catering on the North Shore?

[JayBee]

yes! Contemporary Flavors is awesome. We were also lucky enough to visit 6 months before our wedding and they set up a cake tasting for us, and reviewed our menu options with us. They did full service bar & brunch for us. Kept my champagne glass full, and used all natural and local ingredients as much as possible. My WC set everything up, Diana Gardner alohanaweddings.com.

[DolphinMareDVM]

My FI and I did a tasting with Contemporary Flavors. The food was great, but it was expensive. On our estimate they nickel and dimed us for everything. We're going with Ryan Fox. For our 50 person wedding, which includes finger foods for our guests during cocktail hour, a buffet with 2 meats and 3 veg, & dessert for half the price CC would have. That includes flatware, food, wait staff, and taxes. He's also arranged for a bartender at even though we're supplying our own alcohol that we'll be getting from Costco.

 

I'll let you know how we go.

[JayBee]

I found that getting the alcohol from Costco doesn't actually save that much money and takes a huge amount of time. Biggest cause of stress for the whole 9 days we were in Kauai! Honestly, it wasn't that much cheaper than the Stop n' Shop, but they did have a better selection of bubbly. I would've just had the caterer supply the booze, since they only charge you for bottles opened, and you don't have to worry about how much to buy. And remember, you still have to pay the caterer for the glasses used. Be aware that you can't return anything to Costco that has been chilled, or with damaged labels, not to mention anything that was cracked open. So the "stress-to-savings" ratio did NOT balance out, IMHO.

 

If you do supply your own booze, be sure the bartender is stocked with only one bottle of each at a time- keep the rest in a back-stock area. Our bartender (or someone) cracked open about 4 large bottles of rum that never got used, so we couldn't even return them to Costco, and we didn't have enough time to drink them :

 

Like I said, we did a brunch reception, 30 ppl, and including the cake, full service, and a waffle and omelet station it was around $4k. The food was something like $40pp, and soooo good. Contemporary Flavors did an awesome, awesome job... and their cakes are way better than Icing on the Cake, too

[DolphinMareDVM]

HaHa! We thought totally the opposite about Icing on the Cake and CC! Goes to show you how important it is to visit, if you have the budget for it. I wouldn't say either one was bad tho FutureMrs, so whichever you chose will be nice.

 

Thanks for the heads up about the alcohol. We figured Costco would be easier since we're there for a whole week and have to go there anyway to get food. I'll have to chat to my fiance and wedding coordinator about that one.

[Niedertobe]

So, my FI and I are staying at the St. Regis Princeville and currently have a wedding date/time reserved for 8/2. But, I was wondering if it might be cheaper and even better to have an off-site wedding. The catering will be super steep there, but the convenience would be nice. Also, I wonder if the hotel will honor the super group rate we got if we don't book the wedding there.

[JayBee]

Yeah, DVM, I would ask Ryan Fox about how much it'd cost to supply the booze. They should only charge you based on what you use, so you know you won't have too much. Also you'll be surprised how fast the week before your wedding goes by, with friends and family all coming together, and taking time to do some things before the wedding, then all the necessary things that you have to do before the wedding, like getting your license... you'll want as much free time as possible. Honestly, I thought if I had one more thing on my "must do" list for before the wedding, I would've totally cracked. lol!

 

Niedertobe, keep in mind that if you go off-site to do your wedding, like to a public beach or park, it doesn't cost much (just a permit fee), but you also don't get to have much of a set-up. Also you will need a wedding coordinator for some private sites, and also to help you w/ everything from flowers to the officiant. The one thing I may have done instead of hiring a caterer was to have the reception at a restaurant. I don't know how the prices would compare, but there are other ways to get your food budget down. Consider having the wedding and reception earlier in the day, or on a monday - thursday. And talk to the wc at the st. regis about all your options. I didn't know they let you reserve a date without putting down the deposit?

[DolphinMareDVM]

Thanks Bee. I left my FI in charge of that. He's Australian so I figured the one thing I could put him in charge of would be the booze. He's talking to Ryan about it now. I'm hoping everything on my to-do list is done by the time we get our license the day we fly in. I'll let my wedding coordinator deal with the rest! Besides, I have a Napali Boat cruise and a luau to enjoy!

[hads]

Hi, I am new here and already have found out tons of info. I have heard of Contemporary Flavors and Kauai Cuisine for catering, but not Ryan Fox. I know there are quite a catering companies that don't advertise on the internet. Dolphinmaredvm can you give me info on Ryan Fox? My fiance and I are going to visit Kauai in April, before our July 1st wedding there. And hope to schedule some tastings. Thanks for all your helpful info!

[DolphinMareDVM]

Hads, Ryan Fox is associated with Gaylords Restaraunt. His email addy is northshorecooks@gmail.com. He wasn't our first choice because he was off island when we visited in Sept and did our tastings. But our other caterer received a once in a lifetime job opportunity in San Fran so he & our WC highly recommended Ryan as a replacement. He's been great to work with ever since.

 

Hope that helps!