My husband and I used Gems Catering for a high-profile end of the year event for our theatre company. To say the least, we are very unhappy with the service and quality of food we were provided.
We originally found Gems Catering on the approved catering list provided by the Lancaster Arts Hotel. I would highly urge Lancaster Arts Hotel to remove them from their list.
Gems Catering was supposed to set up the food at the venue at 6:00PM. They showed up at 5:00PM, an hour early and despite our staff asking them to wait until 6, decided to still unbox and set up the food displays. The food arrived cold. When my mother in law asked if they had chafing fuel to heat the food, they rudely stated "this is the new age" and they had provided heat lamps. HEAT LAMPS KEEP HOT FOOD WARM, THEY DO NOT HEAT COLD FOOD UP TO APPROPRIATE EATING TEMPERATURE. During and after set up, they seemed to be in such a rush to get out although they had 2 hours before guests started to arrive for the event.
About 40 minutes after they left, one of my staff tried bites of the food, and as expected the food was still cold. And now at this point has been sitting out at room temperature for 40 minutes. How can anyone expect to serve food like this at an end of the year gala?
My husband called Gems Catering for recommendations on how we are supposed to warm this food up under these "new age lights" and they had no other recommendation but to say "move the lights closer to the food" he also brought up that they failed to deliver pretzel bites and cheese that was part of the order. Gems Catering basically told my husband there was nothing they could do.
I did not like this so I had my husband provide me their number and I called. After letting Gems Catering know that I did not like the way they unprofessionally spoke to my husband, I continued to express how this food was cold, not getting heated under these lights as it was cold when it arrived, and I wanted the pretzel bites brought to the venue. They proceeded to tell me that they were no longer in the area and there was nothing they could do. Gems Catering is only a few minutes from the Lancaster Arts Hotel. So I assume they "accidentally on purpose" came to deliver the food an hour early because they had something else to do. Whether that was another food drop off, or something personal, there was no communication and it was highly unprofessional. If you have a client that is currently receiving food from your company you should be available if things come up.
We had guests attending this event who live a kosher lifestyle and now, without the pretzel bites, there was one less option for them to enjoy, that we paid $50 for.
As far as the food goes, most of the items we received seemed like they came from Costco. Hardly anything tasted home made, more so store bought and when you're paying $1000+ for food to feed 50 guests, you expect a little more out of it. The spring rolls became soggy only after 40 minutes without proper heating, the empanadas were dry and cold, the chicken fingers were dried out and tasted of grease, and they forgot to bring honey mustard (that was also paid for) to accompany the chicken fingers.
As I was speaking with Gems Catering on the phone I was told that they went "above and beyond" I replied saying that I did not agree with that statement at all.
For anyone looking for catering, please use caution when choosing Gems Catering, as there are many other catering options in Lancaster County.
I will be calling Gems Catering Monday, to speak to them AGAIN about getting some of my money refunded. read more
