Tea Time | The Unethical Catering Services by Kateringdepot Enterprise

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What is a Tea (slang)?

Tea : Gossip, juicy news, pivotal info about something that went down recently. 

Hello! Before we start, let me say a few things.

While the mobile browser is still convenient to read from, it's easier to read on PC as there are many screenshots here. Either way, please enjoy this huge cup of tea that I'm so pumped to offer you. Please read till the very end because the more you read the more mind blown you'll get. Disclaimer: I'm not the main victim but I am a guest of the event so I have witnessed the process through a guest's eyes. I was also given permission to talk about this. There are no accusations here but I am only speaking based on the truth, the collected evidence, and my own experiences. The intention of this blog post is to create awareness of this brand and company. Kindly read the disclaimer of the blog for more disclaimers.

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Start

I am so WORKED UP by this company because they've behaved so unethically. Typically, I don't write blog posts about rants or busting people out but this is one terrible catering provider that ruined a wedding yet still have the audacity to correct the newlyweds as if they didn't have it rough already. Not only that, apparently they've been hiding negative reviews too.

Not long ago, I attended a wedding on the 4th of August and experienced one of the worst services ever. It was my colleague's wedding. She worked day and night to make it a perfect wedding. When the day arrived, everything was in order. The wedding was so wonderful, almost dreamy but completely ruined by this catering service provider throughout when the wedding lunchtime starts. Many people can actually attest to this. Without further ado, let's start tasting the tea.

This catering service provider called Elite Catering & Event Management is under a company called KATERINGDEPOT ENTERPRISE (002519935-M). The company name and registration number were NOT provided anywhere in their platform (i.e.: their website, Google profile, Facebook pages) but I managed to find it through their bank account name from the receipt provided by Amanda Yee.

Amanda Yee is the bride of that day who had organized the entire event with lots of energy spent on it. However, it didn't exactly end the way she had hoped. Many guests were baffled when the food arrived. The colours were off and the presentation was horrible. Not to mention that the waiters (majority looks like underage-looking kids) forgotten to give them dishes. I was also not given 2 dishes during the 7-course meal. Not only that, the food tasted terrible, although edible but still terrible. Would you expect to pay an RM 35k catering service to see this had happened? I know I won't. I'd be pissed and devastated, too.

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15th August 2018

Amanda Yee posted a Facebook status at 7pm:

Y'all wanna know the menu? Luckily I've taken a snapshot before the wedding lunch starts. Everything sounded soooooo fancy before the actual dishes arrived.

Here are the photos from her post:
Smoked salmon salad

Smoked Salmon Shrimp Salad

Seafood Marinara Spaghetti

Chicken Salami and Cheese with demi-glazed sauce, mix vege and mushroom sweet potato

The following photo was provided by a friend of Amanda named Ashley W.

You must be asking: where are the pictures for the creme brulees? Nobody remembered to take a picture of it. It was awful. I ate a few spoons and gave it to my partner. It didn't have the signature ice-layer / crispy-layer on the top. The entire thing tasted like egg pudding instead and the fruits are very sour. To be honest, I don't even remember seeing the Mix fruits at the end of the wedding.

The screenshots below are taken by Amanda Yee which are from the same Facebook post

They've also edited their reply later on:

The catering service provider also confronted her for the reviews in private messaging. It's funny that they said no one complained to them. We don't know who to complain to! The elderly man in the tux who came out at near-end of the event did not reveal whether he's the manager of the Glasshouse or the catering providers. However, judging from the information gathered, he seemed to be in charge of the Glasshouse instead. Not to mention that the mushroom soup tasted exactly like instant soup. So, of course, is around the range of "ok". The soup is nothing too special if you've asked me. Go to any slightly higher-end restaurant and you'll taste the difference. Elites is full of instant food flavour whilst higher-end restaurants serve mushroom soup made from scratch with real ingredients. 

More chatroom screenshots below!

The screenshot below was taken at 10:54 pm by a fellow commenter named Melissa F. This was after many people had noticed Amanda's Facebook post and many people immediately went to leave a review. Notice that the stars were at 1.9-stars.

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16th August 2018

I woke up in the morning, still into the drama that was going on the night before so I went to my laptop and did a quick googling. Upon digging, here are the websites and social media platforms that I've found. By the way, if you're not guilty, you won't need to deactivate/delete your Facebook page. Yes, they've deleted/deactivated their Facebook page. Possibly planning to start anew.

The original page of the caterer's:

https://www.facebook.com/KateringDepot/

[deleted/deactivated] https://www.facebook.com/pg/EliteEventSolution

https://www.facebook.com/halalcateringservicekualalumpur/

https://www.facebook.com/Top-3-Catering-Service-Malaysia-599669226893036/

Their websites:

http://kateringdepot.com/

http://www.elitecatering.my/

https://elitecateringmy.weebly.com

Their instagram: 

https://www.instagram.com/kateringdepot

https://www.instagram.com/elitecatering.my/

Their main website below:

They did not state their company license number as required by the authorities. (I have some knowledge about this because I did some researches for online business profiles and etc.) It's literally screaming "SHADY".

If not mistaken, Miss Anggun is the person in charge of everything. Her name was listed on the receipt.

These are their Facebook Pages. They've already deleted/deactivated the main one so it's not available whereas the other two is still surfacing:

Main page:

Halal Catering:

Top 3 Catering:

Anyway, this afternoon I noticed that all of the 1-star reviews are missing, including mine. There was a handful of 1-star and 2-star review. Apparently, someone found a way to hide those reviews (by flagging, I suppose but hey. Look at how much it had backfired). Here's the thing though, I can still see mine because it's written with my own account. This means that I can see mine but everyone else can't see. Also, the stars went from 1.9-star to 5.0-stars in just one day. Shady.

Look at those usernames. Pretty obvious that they are fake reviews. 

The following is my review on their Google business profile.

Right now, you can't see my review or Amanda's because they are somehow hidden. 

Btw, I don't even know if the manager is under Glasshouse or the caterers

After I commented at Amanda's Facebook post to notify her about this, I went back to check and there were real comments placing their reviews. This was around 3pm on the same day. Notice that the stars have dropped to 3.8-stars:

But guess what they did againnnnn:

This screenshot was taken at 6pm, by the way.

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The Waiters and Waitresses:

By the way, after some digging through their Instagram profile, I found out that they were tagged by an account named KL VIP Waiters (KLVIPWaiters_) and I think they are the waiters and waitresses for the event. Apparently, they've also served the Malaysian International Artist, Yuna, and her guests during her wedding. A lot of them looked really young to me but I can't say much because the waiters are only there to distribute dishes. But even so, they were taking their time and they often miss out many people's dishes. Every once in a while you can catch guests' eyes looking around, thinking "what the heck" as they watch others eating while they weren't given anything.

Is it the waiters' fault? Not exactly. They were obviously untrained by professionals, probably only given a short briefing about how to serve guests.

I have a mixed feeling now.

View this post on Instagram

Wefie Craze! Great job All, done serving a Beautiful Couple Wedding Reception here in 9Kedondong🍃#lifebeginshere . . #KLVW #KLvipwaiters #strongertogether #wedoitwithclassandstyle #catering #cateringkl #weddingplanner #eventplanner #waiters #ushers #servicecrew #nuzulrobin #madeinmalaysia

A post shared by K L V I P W A I T E R S (@klvipwaiters_) on Aug 4, 2018 at 10:22pm PDT

Anyway, back to the topic.

During the wedding lunch, it was almost like a disaster. The waiters were fumbling around and trying to fill up everyone's cup after a few rounds of refilling. The refill rounds were not consistent, by the way. They only come around after 2-3 dishes. The waiters were also near the kitchen/pantry area and while they were waiting for the dishes to be prepared, they took some food off the prepared dishes and snacked on them. I don't have a problem for snacks during work time but why would you snack on the guests' dishes?

I felt so bad seeing the couple walking around, forcing a smile whilst looking troubled. They looked so sad when they noticed the uneaten at a table where disappointed guests had already left. I swear that table wasn't the only one. My colleagues at another table felt the same as we do, giving eye contact whilst asking "what's going on" and "why did it turn out to be this bad". I basically forced myself to eat the food because I was hungry and I haven't eaten anything that day till the wedding. I even skipped the cocktail foods (served before the lunch) because of the line. Again, just like I mentioned in my google review, the only thing that was tasty during the wedding was the wedding cake and it was baked by Mood Bakery, a bakery that was not a part of the wedding planner's arrangement. The co-owner of the bakery is another colleague of ours, so the arrangement was another private one.

(The cake was surprisingly amazing tho! I was so shooketh and couldn't stop eating!!!)

Dissatisfied by the caterer's food, my partner and I decided to go on an adventure to Bangsar for pork ribs. It was almost the perfect chance to do so. Not only that we were wearing fancy clothes, but our car was also parked directly in front of the store. (Hint: the place is called Naughty Babe Dirty Duck. Amazing pork. We went back for the second round and I'm gonna go back for the third.)

Woop, woop. This is not the end.
Went a little off topic there but let's get back to it!

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17th August 2018

At 1am, Amanda posted another Facebook post. Her posting is less elaborated but let me try to interpret a little bit more to give you a better idea of what happened.

On February 20th, the team from Elite Catering had confirmed that they are able to work with the venue allocated by the wedding planner. If you refer to the photo below, they did say that they were familiar with the layout and that "they have enough space for our preparation area." There's no making up of this because they literally wrote that in their email.

However, on August 1st, which was three days before the wedding, Miss Anggun began to question the size of the venue by expressing that they require more space to work their talents. She stated that the same isn't enough for the crew to work and serve the guests. Amanda stated the floor plan was sent the caterers and the person-in-charge of Glasshouse, Seputeh around March. Confused and angry, she asked "why don't they just refuse us so we can find other catering?" in her post.

Anyway, dating back to February 19, which was the first time when the caterer interacted with Amanda, Miss Anggun (person in charge of all these) had confirmed that they are capable to serve more than 10,000 guests in a single venue. She had also claimed that her company to be Malaysia's Top 3 Food Caterer and that they "incorporate style into every food that" they've served.

But after the incident, they've also denied their own capabilities. If you're capable to serve 10000 guests before, improvising in a small space with many guests won't be too difficult especially when you had gained the name of "Malaysia's Top 3 Catering Service Provider." If you are as professional as that, you'd be skilled to deal with situations like this. This is so ironic. They've also claimed that they had changed the presentation but used the same recipe and cooking method. If you lock back at the three chicken salami dishes, they all look different. I'm pretty sure they all tasted different too.

Over here, Anggun blamed the couple for agreeing that 5 plating crews were enough.

I went to inquire Amanda and here's her reply.

They've also whined about this...

... but let's look back at this picture from before:

Last but not least, the blame for late delivery. They claimed that the first meal was distributed at 2pm. The event planning clearly stated that lunch would only start at 1:30pm. I remember this very well because, as mentioned above, I was starving. I was desperate for food and you have no idea how glad I was when 1:30pm came and they started distributing food. 

Ya know, if the food only came after 2pm, how were the guests able to snap a picture on their designated seats at 1:36pm? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

To support the evidence, this is my photo taken at 1:32pm too. (It was "created" on 15th August because I just happened to transfer all my files from my phone to my laptop. The actual date is on the Wedding Day itself, 4th August.)

Amanda mentioned in her post that the first course started around 1:30pm and not 2pm. At 4:30pm, the crews were still serving creme brulees and the fruits were missing in action. Even the VIP tables didn't get to eat the fruits. The couple paid for Seven Course dining package but the 7th meal was not even served. We did the fruits go if Elite Catering was so sure that the fruits would be served at 4:30pm?

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25th August 2018

There are a few more negative reviews since 18th August and some of these are a few days old. It seemed like Elite Catering had somewhat given up flagging comments in their google review section. It's that or, they thought the whole drama had ended. This was a screenshot around 10:40 am.

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Verdict

After reading all these, I have a few questions for the readers.

1. As a corporate, if your customers give you negative reviews, would you actually confront them with a righteous manner? Would you justify/reason/confronting them instead of admitting/apologizing for/rectifying your mistakes?
2. There's a fine line between "customers are always right" and "customers are right when there are facts and evidence supporting their claims". If your corporate embodied the former option, you are most likely to apologize and admit your fault. With the latter, you have a choice to justify your actions but would you go and fight with your customers in public?

As for the caterers, your first move was to apologize "nicely" in public, confront in private and then on Google, you went to flag real comments while faking 5-star comments. I suppose you didn't know that your actions would cause such a huge backfire. All of these would only allow yourself to be seen as an unethical service provider. Not only that your reputation now is completely buried, but you've also betrayed your business ethics. At the same time, you're throwing faces of everyone in the culinary industry since you've claimed to be Malaysia's Top 3 caterers.

If you've provided your professional services in the beginning, all of these wouldn't happen. You've lost the trust of your customers and instead of owning up to that mistake, you've decided to bite them back. Ruining a wedding ritual and then defended yourself with a self-righteous attitude whilst deleting honest reviews won't get you anywhere far. Although my working experience may not be sufficient enough to be called as an experienced professional but as a (former) customer service representative and (now) a marketing assistant in the same company, I am able to tell that there's no way that your method of 'solving' this issue would work. Ask any big or small corporate and you'll know how badly damaging your actions would cost to your own company. None of the smart bosses would agree with your actions.

A suggestive solution for Elite Catering & Event Management now is to publicly apologize to the newlyweds and their guests as well as providing your future services with honesty and professionalism. You're not bound to a full refund as it is understandable that you've needed funds to provide your services but please charge according to the quality you are able to provide. It'd be wise to refund a certain amount to the newlyweds as you clearly don't deserve to be paid Rm35,000 when you've ruined the wedding with cheap-looking dishes. Not to mention that you've failed to provide payment receipt when the couple paid you in cash during the day itself. All you did was just taking the cash and walk back into the kitchen. Even before when the couple had transferred money through banking to you guys and there wasn't any payment receipt issued. Just. Wows.

Anyway, always keep in mind that cheating in businesses is a deadly trap that you've set for yourself. As said by many Asian business leaders, trust is very important to the business. Without trust, you're nothing. 

By the way, Y'all wanna know who else I've discovered to be hiding negative reviews?

Black Eye Bear in Menara K1

A lesson of the day:

A business with 5-star google rating doesn't necessarily mean they give you 5-star services.

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That's all the tea that I have for this blog post!
Man! This is a very long post.
I wasn't expecting to take so long to complete.
But yea, that's all for now!

If you are new to my blog, let me give you the biggest welcome hug! Take your time and have a look around my blog. I write about lots of things, mainly beauty and food (just like a typical blogger) and if you wanna sponsor me things please feel free to do so HAHAHHA but in full honesty, many of products and services here are self-paid aka non-sponsored but I'm open for sponsorship opportunities. Anyway, that's all for my post! Have a great day ahead ;)




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