James Middleton-Burn, chef/owner the Crown, Dial Post, West Sussex
Keep it simple, especially when it comes to starters. Think about serving cold starters.
Remember to keep things familiar.
Lots of people come out for dinner who might not come out very often. People will want things they know - like salmon or prawns to start.
When it comes to crackers, people just want the hats, really. So why not buy hats and save on the cleaning up? If you have a spare coffee hot plate get some mulled wine on the go.
If you're catering for function lunches don't try to do a whole turkey every session and don't reheat the bird, it goes dry. Roast a turkey fillet or a crown if you've only got a small function. People tend to want the white meat anyway.
The leftovers can feed the staff or go towards turkey and ham pie after Christmas.
I'm not doing Christmas pudding. This year I'm doing a sticky Christmas pudding sponge. Instead of sticky toffee pudding, I'm putting all those Christmas fruits in there. I'm calling it sticky Christmas pudding with a brandy butterscotch sauce.
