Case study — Open-air dinner
Garden Banquet
Two hundred and forty covers on long tables, every plate down inside eleven minutes.
- Lawn
- DHA Lahore
- Spring
- Covers
- 240
- Service
- 11 min
- Counters
- 3
- Table run
- 48 m
Single long-table line
First plate to last
Live fire, kept off the sightline
Continuous linen line
01 — The vision
No round tables, no buffet. The hosts wanted one long communal line down the lawn, lit only by lanterns and candles.
02 — The problem
Long-table service is the hardest format to serve hot. Runners cover triple the distance of a round-table plan.
03 — The resolution
Two hidden plating stations mid-lawn instead of one at the kitchen, and a rehearsed runner pattern that had the last plate down at eleven minutes.
The concept
Candlelit refectory — one table, one line of light.
Design the service pattern first; the table will look after itself.
Palette
Materials
- Linen tablecloths
- Cut glass
- Brass lantern posts
- Hand-thrown ceramics
Florals
Low running greenery with white blooms — nothing above eye level across the table.
Lighting
Lantern posts, taper candles and a barely-there wash so the candle line reads as the brightest thing.
Behind the scenes
Tasting
Two rounds, plated as served, before the menu was locked.
Plating stations
Two concealed mid-lawn stations built to halve runner distance.
Rehearsal
Runners walked the full pattern twice before guests arrived.
“Everything came out hot, at the same time, for two hundred and forty people sitting at one table outdoors. I still do not entirely understand how.”
Sana & Usman — Open-air dinner, DHA Lahore
Services used
From the portfolio
Related services
Areas we serve nearby
- Green AcresOur one address. Workshop, cold store, kitchen and lawn, all inside the same gate.
- Model TownEstablished houses, forty-year-old trees, and families who have hosted in the same garden for three generations.
- Raiwind RoadLand, a gate, and very little else. Everything a guest touches that night arrives on a truck.
From the journal
- Outdoor Catering in Lahore Heat: Building a Kitchen Where There Isn't OneNo building, no power, no refrigeration. Everything arrives on a truck, and the cold chain has to hold in forty degrees.
- The Service Standard Nobody Talks About: Getting Every Table Served TogetherGuests forgive a modest stage. They do not forgive being the last table served, twenty minutes after the first.
Begin
Tell us the date. We will hold the rest.
One planner reads every enquiry. Expect a considered reply within 12 working hours — never a template.