ONI (Pronounced O…N…I) is a spin-out business from Oxford University and produces microscopes for the bio-med industry. The team were celebrating their office Christmas Party at Frevd Oxford, which is a cool city venue that was an old church and now converted into a bar and events space. We created a drinks reception and three course menu for the team with a little sprinkle of festive magic!
Working with the Office Manager charged with taking the lead for organising the office party, we discussed events that they’d had before and what they would like to do this time around.
One of the dynamics of the ONI teams is that they come from very different backgrounds with people joining the business from all over the world. The teams can have very different specialisms too with academics, technical and creative to make the business work.
So one thing that was important in our brief was to encourage teams to mix and so there was no table plan, but people were able to choose from three options for each course from a three course menu.
As guests arrived we poured them a glass of champagne and they took a name card to put on their table when they took their seats.
The name cards firstly helped their colleagues remember each other’s names, but they were also colour coded, so we knew what dish they were having for their own menu.
With Christmas crackers and party hats and some of the team forming a live band, we served a traditional three course festive menu. With no kitchen on-site our chefs wrapped up and set-up a pop-up kitchen outside (in December) and prepared a three-course menu for 70 guests. Our hosts then quickly brought through all of the dishes, so they were still nice and hot as guests tucked into their Turkey, Salmon or their Wellington.
We worked with the team at Frevd in Oxford to plan out behind the scenes how the kitchen could work and how we could serve 70 guests quickly without a table plan.
We arrange venue visits before our events so that we have a good understanding of the layout and also meet the team at the venue to understand how they work.
We’re now a preferred supplier of Frevd in Oxford and looking forward to catering many more events at the lovely venue.
7:00pm Guests arrive – serve drinks on arrival
7:45pm Guests take their seats
8:00pm Serve menu – no speeches
9:30pm Serve tea & coffee station
10:15pm Clear tea & coffee
12:00am Guests depart
