Catering Concepts — Local services in Lowell

Stay away from Catering Concepts! My wife and I hired Catering Concepts to cater dinner at our daughter's wedding on 6/4/2016 and they didn't deliver the correct meal and then refused to take the necessary steps to correct the situation.

We hired them based on the meal they cooked and served to us when we were shopping for a caterer. Their price was about $3 per head more than the other bids, but in our opinion it was worth it based on what we were served. We were served herb crusted chicken that was breaded, fried, and then baked with fresh cut green beans and roasted potatoes. It was delicious. During the dinner my wife noticed that the chicken looked different. Upon further investigation we noticed that what they actually served was some sort of mass grilled chicken and canned green beans that you could get at any Golden Corral. Of course we were not happy. Given no other option we continued with the dinner. The next week my wife and I made a visit to their office to try to find out what went wrong. The owner (Carolyn) was not at work but we visited with the Chef that prepared the meal. My wife showed him a picture of the meal that was prepared during the tasting and he commented that he didn't know how to make that and that he was new and the old Chef, that made the meal for us during the tasting, was no longer with the company. The other Chef had been gone for more than a month. Carolyn never contacted us to let us know that we would not get the meal we paid for or that she had lost one of her Chefs and that we would have to pick something else. I asked the Chef to have her call me as soon as possible. She called a couple of hours later and played it as if she was shocked that we didn't get what we had ordered. (How could she be shocked? She knew that her Chef had quit and that no one else could prepare the meal. To add insult to injury I met with her the Tuesday before the wedding to pay the remaining balance and she acted as if everything was fine. No mention of losing a Chef or having an issue preparing the meal). She apologized and offered me a measly 10% refund. Based on a $2,500 catering bill, that was almost nothing. I was being generous when I offered to let it go if she would refund us the $3 per head difference between her price and the other quotes we received which was only about $650. She flat out refused and started yelling about "I can't lose money on this deal". Seriously, she's only making $250 on this dinner. No way.

So, if you want to pay top dollar for cafeteria food with canned beans or if you want to pay top dollar for a basic meal, then by all means call Catering Concepts. My recommendation would be to choose...

I ordered the chicken with pepper cream sauce and the pork with bourbon sauce , came with salad, 2 dressings, rice, and veggies and rolls. Sweet tea and lemonade. The warming trays worked great and everything was set up quick and clean. Everyone was satisfied with all the different choices and my personal favorite was the pork with bourbon sauce . DELICIOUS all around! They were very professional , answered all my questions , provided biodegradable disposable dinnerware , and called me to let me know they were on the way. Would 100 percent recommend them to anyone. Affordable and professional. Win win. Thank you ! I wish I had pictures to show you !! I was so caught in the moment and food I forgot the...

Catering concepts catered our wedding at Willowbrooke Farm on 4/6/24. From the tasting to the logistics to the actual day, everything was streamlined and easy. The food was delicious. I knew I didn’t want a traditional sit down meal. They worked with me and their menu to create an assortment of delicious finger foods for our wedding. There was something for everyone. Everything was delicious. My favorites were the bacon wrapped dates and the crusted chicken bites with the various sauces. My only complaint is that I didn’t grab more dates before...