Walking Dinner or buffet: the difference
Once a date and a headcount exist, this question follows almost every time: buffet or Walking Dinner? Here is what that difference means in practice: for your space, your schedule and the conversation you want to keep running.
What is the difference between a Walking Dinner and a buffet?
At a buffet your guests walk to the food. At a Walking Dinner the food walks to your guests: six to eight small courses served while the group stands, moves around and talks.
That sounds like a logistical detail, but it decides what the evening looks like. A buffet pulls the group back to the same point in the room again and again, with a queue in front of it. A Walking Dinner leaves everyone where they are and brings each course past.
What does a Walking Dinner do to your space?
Because nobody has to be seated, a large group fits into a compact space. No chair and place setting per guest, no table plan, no venue chosen on square metres rather than on atmosphere.
It also removes a decision that looks small on paper and turns out large on the night: who sits next to whom. At a Walking Dinner nobody is fixed to the same four people all evening.
What does a Walking Dinner do to your schedule?
A buffet puts one eating moment in your evening; a Walking Dinner spreads it across about two hours. That spares you the half hour in which the conversation dies because half the room is queueing and the other half is waiting with a plate on their lap.
For a programme that is the practical difference: at a buffet you schedule the speech before or after the queue, at a Walking Dinner it slots in between two courses.
When do foodstands suit better?
If your guests arrive across the whole evening, neither format keeps its logic: a buffet has to stand out for hours, and a served course only ever reaches part of the group. Foodstands are the answer to that: your guests eat when it suits them, and you can book from a single stand.
And if it is drinks or a reception with no dinner attached at all, a round of bites is enough. You can also use them before a Walking Dinner, as the opening of the evening.
From how many guests can you book?
We serve a Walking Dinner from 25 guests, throughout the country, out of Rotterdam. Staff, crockery and cutlery are included in the price. What you book is the evening, not just the food.
Frequently asked questions
Is a Walking Dinner more expensive than a buffet?
It depends what the price contains. With us a Walking Dinner is priced per person including staff, crockery and cutlery; a buffet price that lists service and washing up separately often ends up higher than it looked.
Can guests sit down at a Walking Dinner?
Yes. The difference from a buffet is not the chairs but the seating plan: there may well be places to sit, only nobody has one of their own. Make sure there are enough for guests who cannot stand for two hours.
Is a Walking Dinner suitable for older guests?
For the occasional guest with limited mobility, provided there is seating. If a large part of your group is less mobile we would advise a seated dinner; the format does assume people can stay on their feet.
Do you cater buffets as well?
Buffets are not on our menu. We cater Walking Dinners, foodstands, bites and bespoke menus. If your evening runs long with guests coming and going, foodstands come closest to what a buffet would do for you.
