Hickory

Our at home experience with the America themed menu was absolutely fantastic! We’ve had delivery from so many places during lockdown (Wedgwood, Little Chartroom, etc etc) and while they were lovely as well, Hickory has totally surpassed them with this experience to be the best at home dining we’ve had this year. They definitely did American food proud and seriously value & variety wise they blew so many of the others out of the water. I love that it wasn’t just a three course menu - Hickory curated a whole experience around the theme with bites, sides and all! Wonderful concept and execution, and truly great value. I’m crossing fingers for another America-inspired menu in future haha but will also be ordering again regardless. Sadly forgot to take pictures of the giant box of food that was brought to our door, or of the resulting dishes, but these are 2 pictures from the website and the menu we had (which includes clear instructions), and everything was as delicious as it sounds. Definitely highly recommend!!

Have waited a long time to write this review. Hickory catered a wedding I attended last year. The food was very good. All the wedding meals were plated well and excellent in flavor. The failure came in the service. The bars that were set up for getting drinks were understaffed and the staff that were working them didn’t even know how to make some of the signature drinks. The lack of staff was particularly surprising and disappointing because one of the main items stressed with Hickory before the event was the importance of not having the guests have to wait in long lines to get drinks. At one point guests were even offering to help behind the bar. This failure was not necessary and showed the lack of care that Hickory puts in to provide an event that clients request.

Like many other recent reviews, we were incredibly disappointed in the service we received from Hickory. Four months before our wedding we were suddenly informed that the caterers we had hired, which was Pantry Events, were 'merging' with Hickory. We were informed that our price would be increasing by 15% - a major increase when you are already paying significant amounts for catering. We clearly had no time to find another viable option so close to our wedding and we felt very taken advantage of. This put our budget under some strain in order for us to meet this new price. When we challenged the price increase, we were informed that it was in our terms and conditions that they could increase our quote by up to 15% 'in line with market inflation'. However, when we challenged what market inflation had to do with the merger, they suddenly changed their tune and told us they would always have had to increase the price by this much due to the state of the market. This sudden flip in reasoning highlighted just how cynical and shameless their decision was. We had a call with one of the company directors and were promised we would receive an email from her personally detailing the ways Hickory would provide an even better service on the day. This email never did arrive. It was so disappointing as we had previously had a lovely experience with The Pantry before it was taken over by Hickory. The food on the day of our wedding itself was very nice overall despite there still being some issues with presentation that added insult to injury after what had already been such a negative experience. We were assured that we would be receive a premium service and this just wasn't the case. I could not in good faith recommend using the Hickory to anyone planning a wedding. Their food may be good but but the customer service and any concern for the happiness of customers was non-existent in our experience.

**We have contacted Hickory (including Directors) to provide opportunity for discussion and direct feedback prior to posting this review - no reply has been received at point of posting!** We had an extremely frustrating experience with Hickory. Initially, we did not select them for our wedding, but after our original caterer - Pantry Events - went into liquidation (although this was never formally disclosed) and merged with Hickory, we were left with no choice but to sign a new contract with them. This change came with a significant price increase, which put a lot of strain on our budget. Communication with Hickory was abysmal from the start. Responses to our inquiries were slow and often incomplete, making an already stressful situation even worse. It felt like we were constantly chasing them for updates and details, adding unnecessary anxiety to our wedding planning. The communications in relation to the merger (which were utterly tone deaf to say the least!) referenced exceptional service, exceeding expectations and more vision and resources. We did not find this to be the case. Overall, while the food and service on the day were fine, the poor communication, lack of leadership, attempt to vary contract and sudden price increase left a bad taste in our mouths and should give serious cause for concern to any couples considering booking. If you decide to go with Hickory, be prepared for potential last-minute changes and additional costs.

Do not recommend. We had originally selected Pantry Events to cater our wedding due what we felt was superior food, customer service and a more competitive price having researched a number of suppliers. Then out of the blue - a matter of weeks before our wedding - we received ‘exciting news’ that Pantry had ‘merged’ with Hickory and our price had now gone up 15%. We were told this was due to market conditions and in line with their Ts&Cs’ - but it was clearly price gouging in order to fund the merger. Not so exciting. Hickory were shocking to deal with - no transparency, honesty or humility in any of our dealings. They failed repeatedly to get our details right (menu choices, guests, finances etc) and this whole part of the wedding planning process was much more tedious and stressful than it should have been. Thankfully, on the day of the wedding, the service and food was satisfactory - no major complaints there. However, it’s hard to overlook the context in which we ended up with this caterer. We also believe that Hickory has a pattern of last-minute price gouging. Friends of ours experienced a similar situation last year, which raises concerns about the company's values. Ultimately, we felt like we’d been put to the back of the queue despite being one of the first weddings for the new Pantry x Hickory partnership (which was not a partnership, it was just Hickory). Would not recommend.