Aaria Catering

Aaria Catering is the catering business of Peyer GmbH, a hospitality company in Olten. The "Über uns" (about us) page says Peyer GmbH runs four restaurants, a bar and the catering company, and that the aim is to look after an event "von A bis Z", from advice and planning to the day itself. It describes the team as hosts rather than mere service providers. Weddings are one of the named menu categories on the site, next to apéro, group menus, themed buffets, grill and company events.

For a couple, the main draw is how much is published: set wedding menus with full contents and prices, priced apéro buffets, a list of venues with capacities, and an online quote basket where you can assemble food, drinks and decorations yourself.

The two wedding menus

The "Hochzeit" (wedding) page lists two complete menus.

Klassisches Hochzeitsmenü (classic wedding menu), 85 CHF per person. An apéro buffet with pizza bread, antipasti (filled olives, peperoncini with cream cheese, zucchini), tomato and mozzarella skewers, melon and cured ham skewers and prawns. A salad buffet as starter, with croutons, pumpkin and sunflower seeds and Italian or French dressing. A first buffet of 2 pasta dishes of your choice and a sorbet. A second buffet of beef and veal fillet roasted whole, with market vegetables, butter noodles, potato gratin or rice, and béarnaise, Café de Paris or pepper sauce. Dessert is fruit salad and assorted pastries served on a mirror platter.

Gartenhochzeit (garden wedding), 89 CHF per person. Antipasti, olives, filled peperoncini, vegetable dips, and olive, bacon and tomato plaited breads. Then a grill buffet with bratwurst, curry sausage and chorizo, and cuts of horse, beef, veal, venison, chicken, lamb, rabbit and pork, plus filleted fish and prawns, with baked potatoes and sour cream and grilled vegetables. Dessert brings fruit skewers, mini pastries, chocolate mousse, ice cream of your choice, and a cheese buffet.

Note that the garden menu includes horse meat, which some guests from abroad may not expect; the catering team can say whether it can be left out.

Apéro buffets

The apéro page lists six set apéros. The Apéro Rustical is the cheapest at 29.50 CHF per person and the Apéro Mediterran the most expensive at 38 CHF. In between are the Apéro Aaria at 32.50 CHF (filled pretzel baguettes, olives, pasta and chicken curry salads in jars, vegetable sticks, tomato and mozzarella skewers served by staff, and fruit skewers) and the Urchig, Vital and Deluxe apéros at 35 CHF. The Mediterran brings focaccia, a cold cuts and Italian cheese platter, antipasti, crostini, mini meatballs, vegetable and feta wraps and bacon-wrapped dates. The Vital is the vegetarian-leaning one, with falafel, hummus, pita with Greek salad and a board of dried fruit, nuts and cheese. The Urchig is the Swiss rustic one, with plaited breads, air-dried beef rolls, mini cheese tarts and a Toblerone mousse.

Group menus

For a smaller wedding dinner, the group menus are full meals with apéro, starter, main course and dessert, from 65 CHF (beef stroganoff, or Zürcher Geschnetzeltes of veal) through 69 CHF (roast pork and veal, "Arosto Misto"), 74 CHF (veal saltimbocca with saffron risotto) and 87 CHF (beef fillet in port sauce) to 90 CHF (beef fillet in pastry).

Building your own quote

The "Angebot" page explains that you can put together catering for your event in a few steps on the website, combining food, drinks and decorations at different price levels, adjusting quantities and removing items from the quote basket. Extra services such as staff and equipment can be added to the non-binding quote request. The menu also lists drinks, flower decoration, event planning, rental equipment and gift vouchers as services.

The same page sets one important rule: external events, meaning catering at a venue of your choice, need a minimum of 50 guests. Smaller groups can be hosted in one of the company's own establishments.

Venues

The "Locations" page says Aaria Catering has a portfolio of selected venues, from vaulted cellars to large event halls. Several are marked as ideal for weddings or wedding apéros:

• Schlosserei by Aaria, Schützenmatte, Olten: restaurant with fumoir for up to 75 seated, minimum spend 7,000 CHF; the bar has a minimum spend of 5,000 CHF until 22:00.
• Saloon, Curlinghalle Kleinholz, Olten: a Wild West setting for 100 seated or 300 standing, minimum spend 3,000 CHF, or 5,000 CHF together with the Fan Village.
• Schloss Wartenfels, Lostorf: a castle with a French garden; the page says that on clear days the view runs across the Alps from the Säntis to the Blümlisalp. Up to 120 for an apéro and 50 for a banquet.
• Mühlemattsaal, Trimbach: a modern hall for up to 500.
• Spittelschür, Olten: a former barn in the old town, now a guild house, for up to 55, which the page describes as right next to the registry office, useful for a wedding apéro after a civil ceremony.
• The event hall in Däniken: an industrial-style hall of 190 m2 with 2 banquet tables of 10.7 meters, each seating 38, that hang from the ceiling and are lowered electrically; 76 seated inside, or up to 200 with the adjoining film studio.
• Platzhirsch, Langenthal: an alpine-style room for about 30 seated inside and 80 outside, suggested for a wedding apéro.

The list also includes a venue at the Olten lido with a covered wooden terrace over the water for 250 people. The page gives walking times from Olten station for several venues, for example 5 minutes for the lido venue and the Spittelschür. Note that the Stadthalle Olten, also on the list, takes no private events.

Contact

Phone 062 293 44 45, a contact form, a quote form ("Offertenformular") and a callback request ("Rückruf"). The event planning page says the team supports you from the idea to the execution, whether for a company event, a wedding, a birthday or a family celebration.

What a couple from abroad should know

Language. The site is in German. It does not say whether the team works in English; the callback and quote forms are the easiest way to ask.

Getting there. Several venues are listed with walking times from Olten station, and Mühlemattsaal is described as 10 minutes from Olten by public transport.

What is not stated. The site gives no lead time, no deposit or cancellation terms, no corkage policy, and nothing on vegan, gluten-free or allergy menus beyond the vegetarian items in some apéros.

Who it suits

Aaria Catering suits couples marrying around Olten who want to see prices before they call, choose from set wedding menus or build their own quote, and pick a venue from a wide list, from a castle to a curling hall to a lido terrace.