Jennifer W.
Yelp
***Catering Review***
I really, really wanted to love B Sweet and it pains me to write this review because I've had the opportunity to meet Barb in the flesh and take a tour of her company's kitchen. I'll admit, I let my guard down on protocol that my company normally wouldn't let slide, truly my bad.
Here's the 411... There were SEVERAL indicators that should have been red flags for what was to come ahead.
SHORT VERSION
1) No pricing for our order before/after our catering order was complete
2) $20 delivery charge & 20% service charge (this one was waived)
3) Not being reachable day of/interfered with on time delivery
4) Food not having ALL of the listed ingredients (plain pasta salad vs. Italian pasta salad)
5) "Full" pan of salad was actually 1/3 pan full
6) Quality of bread sucked (pieces of bread chucked off as people were eating sandwiches)
7) Average price per sandwich was $9
8) Unsatisfactory customer service & unresolved problem with our receipt
LONG VERSION
1) Not getting pricing per tray/individual sandwich before confirming our catering order. The order was taken verbally with a promise of details by email. Owner said these were sent, but never responded with the invoice until after payment was taken by credit card. Cost break down had the following: flat charge for food, comp for service charge, deduction for problem item, and charge for delivery --no indication of how much each tray or individual item costs.
2) 20% service charge (waived for our first time order) and $20 delivery charge. Most places that we order over $600 with don't charge us these fees. Not a huge red flag, but something to be aware of if you regularly order catering.
3) Delivery was running late and they called us, no problem! But what wasn't acceptable was when we went to meet the delivery person, didn't have a phone number and couldn't find them in the agreed upon location. My group of 4 walked up and down the valet area while calling the only number we knew (B Sweet's business number aka Barb's cell phone) for a good 30 minutes before the delivery person realized that she should get out of the car to look for us. To top off the nonsense, she was dressed inappropriately for deliveries (given it was Halloween, but she was in a revealing cop dress).
4) The Italian pasta salad not having ALL of its ingredients inside is a huge problem. Without the red/yellow/green bell peppers, red onions and black olives, our pasta salad was NAKED. The upsetting part was that Barb said she personally made the pasta salad herself and that ALL of the ingredients were in there. Unfortunately I have 70 people who ate that pasta salad who can attest that there were no such delish sounding veggies in said Italian pasta salad. A $30 deduction was taken off our bill to cover the Italian pasta salad --in all of my previous catering orders with other companies; I have never had a pasta salad that was less than $70.
5) A full pan of organic mixed greens should fill a full pan, not a third of a pan at best. Compared to the pan of pasta salad, there was only 1/3 pan of salad. Oh and the cucumbers and tomatoes were sparse as well.
6) Quality of the bread was subpar. Since our food was handed to us 45 minutes late, delivery of the food was late to our meeting. As the meeting is going on, imagine 70 people eating their sandwiches and suddenly chunks of bread break off and fall to the floor (no joke). Now that's embarrassing!
7) Cost of salad and 65 sandwiches being $620. We ordered 3 types of sandwiches (Bird Bird/turkey, Chicken Pesto and Athena/veggie). After deducting the $30 for the pasta salad, let's assume that the full pan of salad costs $30; if I've done my math correctly; it leaves $590 for 65 sandwiches or roughly $9/sandwich. Note: number of sandwiches didn't match the receipt. There were far less of the expensive sandwiches (chicken pesto and Big Bird/turkey) than Athena/vegetarian.
8) Unsatisfactory customer service. After our event, Barb was not reachable by phone; she only reached out to us for payment when the credit card number she wrote down wasn't correct. Not only did she get rude with me and others at my work, she never apologized for the missing ingredients in the pasta salad or for her delivery person not making an effort to find us when we couldn't reach her. When the head of the department requested the itemized receipt, Barb got defensive and still has not provided it a week after our lunch. She is also keeps playing the blame game, blaming the customer in a he said/she said way (not very professional).
I hope this review helps anyone who plans to place a future order with any company to be cautious of what is acceptable and professional.