Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:06/22/2022

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I hired Suddenly Simple as my catering company in December of 2021 for my wedding on June 18th, 2022. My fianc at the time were narrowing our choices down to make the perfect meal. I reached out to ******* to see if we could taste some of our options to help solidify our final meal. She told me that she couldn't do that, which kinda surprised me. I figured if I had heard good things about their catering company that her items had to be good, so we went with our guts on our final selection. I told ******* when she was writing up the contract that my family rented an airbnb for my out of town family to stay at during the wedding. I said that the reception would be at a neighbor's house in a field. The field that we had the reception in was a family relative of the owner of the house we were staying at. When I was going over the location with ******* she seemed excited about the idea. On our contract it said that the Executive Chef would be coming at 9:00 a.m to start preparing the food and the assistant chef would arrive at noon. About a month prior to the wedding the time line changed that they were showing up at 1:00pm, so I figured they would be prepping the food elsewhere and then just have to **** the food at the house. I assumed they knew what they were doing since they have a catering company.They showed up at 1:30pm and was ******* to bring in supplies that were not prepared at all. As a bride on the day of her wedding, this is certainly not what you want to see 4 1/2 hours before 80 some people are supposed to be at the reception. They just kept telling me everything will be fine. Everything will be fine. When the bartender showed up, he said that we would need more ice for the bar, meanwhile that morning my fianc and his brother went and got over 350 pounds of ice,which should of been more than enough to chill drinks and make mixed drinks. At that point all of the guests had been transported to the ceremony location and it was only my mom and I left at

  Business Response

  Date: 06/23/2022

  I was contracted to cater a wedding in the backyard of an Airbnb/rental home.
  I have successfully catered many weddings (up to 180 guests) out of residential kitchens and am very familiar with what goes into preparing and planning for a service of this nature.
  The bride knew that we would be preparing everything on site personal chef style, meaning that we would arrive with ingredients and prepare the food in her rented home kitchen.
  On one early version of the contract (not the active version of the contract on the day of the event) there was a small error under the staffing section of the proposal that indicated the executive chefs hours as 9a-1p instead 1p-11p.
  Even prior to me noticing and correcting this error, the overall event timeline indicated that no staff would arrive before 1p.
  For reference, there is no way for me to make changes to a contract without a clients approval.
  About a month prior to the event, the bride informed me that she was now expecting an additional 40+ guests, which I was happy to accommodate because there was no mention of any additional changes.
  As contracted, we arrived at the event location on time at 1p and discovered that the wedding was the be held in a tent in a field down the street, not remotely near the address provided by the client on the contract.
  The tent was approximately 1/8-1/4 of a mile down the street at the bottom of a small hill in a field. There was no field kitchen or catering tent provided, and we did not come prepared to set one up for obvious reasons.
  Prior to entering the house, we spent about 20 minutes outside going down to the field and trying to trouble shoot the situation so that we could approach the client with a solution based response to this massive and unexpected shift in the plan.
  Upon entering, I explained to my point person in the wedding party that we will do our best to make this work, but this is not what we were contracted or prepared to do, so there would be additional fees for the staff coming early and things we had to purchase for the field tent, and that we would likely be behind schedule.
  I texted all of my staff to come early and sent my manager to find a tent, tables, etc. so we could attempt to set up field kitchen on the fly.
  Of course, we couldnt obtain a tent close by without spending more time that we didnt have. So, we had to setup our field kitchen on an open platform by the wedding tent.
  Some of my service staff also served as the kitchen prep team prior to service tasks beginning, so the time they had to spend finding and setting up materials to build a field kitchen instead of assisting in the kitchen put us severely behind schedule - as I has predicted and explained upon arrival.
  Cocktail hour was set to begin at 6p followed by dinner 7p, and with a 1p arrival time and all of our staff on task as planned, we would have had ample time to produce and serve all of the food as planned.
  We were able to begin cocktail hour on time with a stationary display available at 6p followed by passed appetizers beginning around 6:45p/7p.
  While the appetizers were being plated and served down in the field, I worked with the rest of my staff to prepare the main meal as quickly as physically possible. But, because our prep team had been reallocated to setting up an unexpected field kitchen, we were not able to get all of the food out about 8:45p.
  From what I understand from my staff, when the food arrived in the field, the wedding party was doing their speeches etc. so the service was further delayed by the clients who told them to wait until speeches were finished to serve. Which is understandable, but this additional delay contributed to the food having a chance to cool before service.
  To serve the food in the field, we prepared everything in the kitchen and sent it down in my truck piping hot wrapped in foil pans to be held in chafers, plated and served in the field kitchen.
  All of this is NOT how we typically do things!
  As I explained to the bride during the booking process, we are a personal chef style catering company that prepares all of our menus on site from raw ingredients.
  I have an exceptional reputation for producing a high quality product because I always ensure that my working conditions will be conducive to the way my team and I work.
  Typically we plate and serve our food in small waves fresh from the kitchen on platters, rather than in large batches held in steam trays.
  This style is not conducive to serving in fields or any other type of remote location.
  Had I been informed at any point that the event was to be held in a remote location, I would have turned down the job, as this type of field catering is NOT a service that we offer.
  When I arrived at the event and realized that this client had breached our contract by moving the event away from the contracted event, I should have just walked away as I was entitled to.
  But, despite being put in this impossible position, my team and I stayed and served a full wedding meal for approximately 90 guests that received many compliments from guests.
  After a lack of productive communication with the wedding party, my team and I departed as contracted at 11p after completing more work than we were contracted to do, and without payment for the additional work/materials that we provided.
  Since the event, this bride has left a bad review on my business pages - which she is entitled to do.
  I am unconcerned with her review because I know my other reviews speak for themselves and I was not at fault for what occurred at this clients wedding.
  However, she has also chosen to initiate a smear campaign against my business by asking members of a ************** to leave fake negative reviews on my ******** and ****** business pages, which I have attached for your review.
  I have also attached the active contract that I had with this client on the day of the event, along with a map showing the address where I was contracted to work (red pin) and where it was actually held (white box.)
  As you will find, this client held her event at a different location than discussed/provided (which caused massive delays) and my team and I still completed all of the work that we were contracted to do - and then some.
  Please contact me with any additional questions or information requests.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 06/23/2022

  Better Business Bureau:I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # ********. Please add your rejection comments below; if you do not provide any details, your complaint will be closed as Answered. 

  [You must provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution.  If you do not enter a reason for your rejection, your complaint will be closed as Answered.]
  
  Businesses and Customers should be civil, courteous and polite in their responses to complaints. It is important to remain professional and productive when participating in the BBB complaint process.
  
  FAQ
  
  Regards,

  *******

   

   

  From the get go I told the catering company that my family was staying at the airbnb, which she could definitely use for preparing the food. We also had a full kitchen in the pool house that could have been used. When I first spoke with ******* I told her that the reception would be held in a neighbor's yard/field. She did not ask any further questions as far as location. I told her that the event would be held under a tent. If she had any questions about the location or the kitchen setup she should of asked to stop by the locations, but that wasn't done. The owner of the house we were staying at told all of my vendors to use the address of the house because if the address of the property of the field was put in it would direct them to the other side of the *****. The day of, if she had any concerns she should have spoken to me and I had more than enough family and friends that could of set up a field station or do anything that needed to be done to help out. My family had several popup tents, tables, exstention cords, etc. that we could of done whatever we could to help out. We could of also went out to bough anything we could to make it easier for them while they were preparing the food. There should of been some sort of communication between the two of us to make this situation better.I was upset by the service that was given. Your wedding day is supposed to be a very special day, I know not everything was going to go as planned, but I wasn't expecting this. All of the food that was served was cold, which was told to me by multiple people. The only reason we did the best man speech and cake cutting before dinner was to fill in until dinner was served. Dinner wasn't brought down until after 9/9:30 because my parents ended up walking up to the house to wait until the food was starting to be loaded up. My family was very embarrassed that the food was so delayed. Although it wasn't our faults dinner was this late, it was my fault for selecting this catering company. However, the embarrassment falls back on them.As far as the review, I felt it was rightfully so that I write a review of the evening as well as the correspondings to follow the days after. I never told any of the people that put a review on her page to do so. They made up there own minds based on the service that they encountered. I thought it was very unprofessional for her to reach out to me less than 12 hours after my wedding about gratuity. My family was willing to give the company over $5,000 based on good service and food. I never had any issues leading up to the wedding day with *******, so I thought it was only right to compensate her and the other staff accordingly. I know multiple people that own small businesses and I try to support them whenever I can. That is a big reason why I chose her company in the first place. I also thought it was very unprofessional for the things she posted on ******** and snapchat to follow.

  Business Response

  Date: 06/24/2022

  I was contracted to cater a wedding in the backyard of an Airbnb/rental home.
  I have successfully catered many weddings (up to 180 guests) out of residential kitchens and am very familiar with what goes into preparing and planning for a service of this nature.
  The bride knew that we would be preparing everything on site personal chef style, meaning that we would arrive with ingredients and prepare the food in her rented home kitchen.
  On one early version of the contract (not the active version of the contract on the day of the event) there was a small error under the staffing section of the proposal that indicated the executive chefs hours as 9a-1p instead 1p-11p.
  Even prior to me noticing and correcting this error, the overall event timeline indicated that no staff would arrive before 1p.
  For reference, there is no way for me to make changes to a contract without a clients approval.
  About a month prior to the event, the bride informed me that she was now expecting an additional 40+ guests, which I was happy to accommodate because there was no mention of any additional changes.
  As contracted, we arrived at the event location on time at 1p and discovered that the wedding was the be held in a tent in a field down the street, not remotely near the address provided by the client on the contract.
  The tent was approximately 1/8-1/4 of a mile down the street at the bottom of a small hill in a field. There was no field kitchen or catering tent provided, and we did not come prepared to set one up for obvious reasons.
  Prior to entering the house, we spent about 20 minutes outside going down to the field and trying to trouble shoot the situation so that we could approach the client with a solution based response to this massive and unexpected shift in the plan.
  Upon entering, I explained to my point person in the wedding party that we will do our best to make this work, but this is not what we were contracted or prepared to do, so there would be additional fees for the staff coming early and things we had to purchase for the field tent, and that we would likely be behind schedule.
  I texted all of my staff to come early and sent my manager to find a tent, tables, etc. so we could attempt to set up field kitchen on the fly.
  Of course, we couldnt obtain a tent close by without spending more time that we didnt have. So, we had to setup our field kitchen on an open platform by the wedding tent.
  Some of my service staff also served as the kitchen prep team prior to service tasks beginning, so the time they had to spend finding and setting up materials to build a field kitchen instead of assisting in the kitchen put us severely behind schedule - as I has predicted and explained upon arrival.
  Cocktail hour was set to begin at 6p followed by dinner 7p, and with a 1p arrival time and all of our staff on task as planned, we would have had ample time to produce and serve all of the food as planned.
  We were able to begin cocktail hour on time with a stationary display available at 6p followed by passed appetizers beginning around 6:45p/7p.
  While the appetizers were being plated and served down in the field, I worked with the rest of my staff to prepare the main meal as quickly as physically possible. But, because our prep team had been reallocated to setting up an unexpected field kitchen, we were not able to get all of the food out about 8:45p.
  From what I understand from my staff, when the food arrived in the field, the wedding party was doing their speeches etc. so the service was further delayed by the clients who told them to wait until speeches were finished to serve. Which is understandable, but this additional delay contributed to the food having a chance to cool before service.
  To serve the food in the field, we prepared everything in the kitchen and sent it down in my truck piping hot wrapped in foil pans to be held in chafers, plated and served in the field kitchen.
  All of this is NOT how we typically do things!
  As I explained to the bride during the booking process, we are a personal chef style catering company that prepares all of our menus on site from raw ingredients.
  I have an exceptional reputation for producing a high quality product because I always ensure that my working conditions will be conducive to the way my team and I work.
  Typically we plate and serve our food in small waves fresh from the kitchen on platters, rather than in large batches held in steam trays.
  This style is not conducive to serving in fields or any other type of remote location.
  Had I been informed at any point that the event was to be held in a remote location, I would have turned down the job, as this type of field catering is NOT a service that we offer.
  When I arrived at the event and realized that this client had breached our contract by moving the event away from the contracted event, I should have just walked away as I was entitled to.
  But, despite being put in this impossible position, my team and I stayed and served a full wedding meal for approximately 90 guests that received many compliments from guests.
  After a lack of productive communication with the wedding party, my team and I departed as contracted at 11p after completing more work than we were contracted to do, and without payment for the additional work/materials that we provided.
  Since the event, this bride has left a bad review on my business pages - which she is entitled to do.
  I am unconcerned with her review because I know my other reviews speak for themselves and I was not at fault for what occurred at this clients wedding.
  However, she has also chosen to initiate a smear campaign against my business by asking members of a ************** to leave fake negative reviews on my ******** and ****** business pages, which I have attached for your review.
  I have also attached the active contract that I had with this client on the day of the event, along with a map showing the address where I was contracted to work (red pin) and where it was actually held (white box.)
  As you will find, this client held her event at a different location than discussed/provided (which caused massive delays) and my team and I still completed all of the work that we were contracted to do - and then some.
  Please contact me with any additional questions or information requests.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 06/24/2022

  Better Business Bureau:I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # ********. Please add your rejection comments below; if you do not provide any details, your complaint will be closed as Answered. 

  [You must provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution.  If you do not enter a reason for your rejection, your complaint will be closed as Answered.]
  
  Businesses and Customers should be civil, courteous and polite in their responses to complaints. It is important to remain professional and productive when participating in the BBB complaint process.
  
  FAQ
  
  Regards,

  *******

   

   

  The business response is the same as her first response.