Do you like eating out with your friends or family? How do you like to order your meal, in a package or À la carte items? You must be wondering, what these guys have to do with what method I use to order in restaurants. Well, we wouldn’t completely say that we have nothing to do with your ordering method but, we will come back to that in the end. Whenever we go out to eat we often come across two menus one is à la carte and the other is meal package offer. Now, this is something people often debate on. What is better Party Packages/ Buffet or À la carte? “Is it economical to go for packages while organising a party for a group?” Some say packages are good, some favours À la carte.
After much consideration, we finally decided to write about it. According to us à la carte is best for 2 kinds of customers. First, who is in a group of less than 3 – 4 people; second, who are looking for side dishes to accompany their drinks. If you are a group of 10 people, a package deal is best for you any day! Why may you ask? Let’s guide you through the pricing system of À la carte and package deal.
Talking about food ordering method, let’s look at some distinctive points which make party packages better than à la carte
À la carte is a big no-no for group parties
“Imagine you go to a restaurant for your birthday party with a large group of friends. Everyone wants to eat something light with their drink, so they order one or two à la carte item each. Party is going in full throttle and everyone is enjoying, you are happy seeing your friends having fun. When is everything going so smooth what could go wrong, right? After wrapping up your party you ask the manager for the bill and the payable amount is way beyond your budget.”
Having to pay more is still manageable but the complex part is when you tally the bill. Usually, the bill is super lengthy, if lots of items are ordered from à la carte menu. In a few cases, some malicious restaurant owners take advantage of having too many items of the bill; they add unordered items to the bill just to increase the bill. What can be done to check the authenticity of the bill? If at all you take the headache of rechecking the bill, it wastes a lot of your time.
Packages offer a variety of food, unlike À la carte
As the term suggests, À la carte is ordering individual food item without any combination. If you are ordering French fries, you will only get French fries. So, if you and your gang are hungry and planning to go out for lunch, go for package deal rather than opting individual food items. À la carte is best suitable for those who are not much hungry, and if you are hungry then it will empty your wallet rather than filling your stomach.
Package deals are best for more than 5 people group; you get to eat a variety of food with more quantity and less cost. Depending on your requirement you can always ask the manager what package would be suitable for your group and enjoy a happy meal without worrying about the money.
Packages provide longer serving period to customers
Let’s say you go to a restaurant with your friends and order some À la carte item from the menu. How long do you think you can sit there with your friends? Not long enough, we guess. This is where packages are better than à la carte. In a package deal, they give you a different course of meals which takes a longer duration to serve food on your table. This way you get to spend more time in the restaurant without worrying about the dotting eyes of waiters and manager that you get when you sit with empty plates on your table for long.
Packages have minimal or no additional cost
Packages often include are taxes in its cost, which means you are not required to pay any extra money in the name of tax money. It’s not the case with à la carte food items. The best thing about packages is that it does not surprise you with additional cost until you buy something out of the package. There are certain benefits which make packages better than à la carte. While booking a package you get to decide the final budget of your party beforehand. Next, you can zero down the venues depending on your budget and book that place well in advance. Wouldn’t it be fun to have unlimited food without worrying about the bill; this way you will be able to enjoy your party more.
Party packages are more cost-effective as compared to À la carte
As we discussed in the first point booking À la carte can become hectic if ordered by a large group of people. Keeping that aside, it does not even match the quantity which party package deals offer in much less budget. What do you think would be more economical, buying 5 À la carte fish fingers or a package which includes unlimited fish fingers along with other variety of food? We’ll let you figure that out for yourself. According to our experience, a lot of our clients demand party packages rather than going for à la carte because they find the later too expensive.
If you have come to the conclusion that means you are pretty much clear about what are the clear benefits of packages over À la carte. Now, coming back to what we said at the beginning of this blog! The question is, why are we so bothered about what method you choose to order when you go to the restaurant next time? We care about it because being the venue experts; we love to arrange to party venues for our clients with best available party packages in the market. We provide unlimited food and drinks packages – both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. The party packages start from as low as Rs. 800 for alcoholic and Rs. 500 for non-alcoholic.
