Menus & Cuisines
Finger Food Catering in Medellín
Medellin Elite Catering prepares canapés, passed appetizers and Colombian pasabocas for events where guests stand, talk and move around. Everything is designed to be eaten in one or two bites without a fork, and every hot piece is finished at the venue so it reaches the tray at its best.
Our finger food menus serve wedding cocktail hours, gallery openings, corporate networking evenings, engagement parties and birthday gatherings in apartments and on rooftops. Visitors get a tasting of Colombia in miniature, and local hosts get a polished cocktail menu that their guests have not seen at every other party.
Since 2019 we have served many cocktail receptions in Medellín where the food has to keep pace with the conversation. We plan piece counts, server routes and refill timing as carefully as the recipes.
- Itemized quotes available
- Bilingual English and Spanish coordinators
Plan your event
Our Finger Food Catering
Finger food catering means bite-size dishes served either from trays carried by servers or from displays where guests help themselves. We offer both, and most of our cocktail menus mix 6 to 10 different pieces, balanced between hot and cold, meat, seafood and vegetarian.
The most common booking is the hour between a wedding ceremony and dinner, often handled together with our wedding catering team. We also cater networking events, product launches and year-end drinks, where finger food lets 200 people eat without a single table being set.
Canapés and Passed Appetizers
A canapé is a small, single-bite piece on a base such as toast, a cracker, a spoon or a pastry shell, served at a cocktail party. Ours are assembled in the last hour before service, because a crisp base topped too early turns soft.
| Cold canapés | Hot appetizers |
|---|---|
| Corvina ceviche with leche de tigre on a porcelain spoon | Mini arepas with posta cartagenera |
| Smoked salmon blini with dill crème fraîche | Pork belly bites with panela and orange glaze |
| Beef tartare on toasted baguette | Chicken satay with peanut sauce on the side |
| Tuna tataki on cucumber with sesame | Shrimp tempura with sweet chili |
| Goat cheese and uchuva tartlet | Mushroom arancini with truffle aioli |
| Caprese skewers with basil oil | Mini beef burgers on brioche |
| Hummus and roasted pepper crostini | Coconut shrimp with maracuyá dip |
Cold canapés travel on chilled trays and are plated in a back-of-house area at the venue. Hot appetizers are cooked in our kitchen, held above 60 °C in Cambro carriers and finished in a portable oven or countertop fryer on site, then plated in batches of 30 pieces so nothing waits on a tray.
Colombian Party Bites
Colombian party bites, called pasabocas, are the snacks Colombians grow up eating at birthdays, christenings and family reunions. Visitors love them because they taste like the country, and local guests love them because they are made properly, not reheated from a frozen bag.
Our most requested pasabocas are mini arepas de chócolo with quesito, small patacones topped with hogao or guacamole, deditos de queso (cheese sticks wrapped in a thin dough), and aborrajados, which are sweet plantain stuffed with cheese, battered and fried. For a bakery corner we bake pan de bono with cassava starch and costeño cheese and fry buñuelos, the round cheese fritters that are crisp outside and airy inside.
A Colombian picada is the sharing version: a board of chorizo, morcilla, chicharrón, papas criollas, arepitas and lime, served with ají. Cocktail-size empanadas fit here too, and they have a full page of their own under our empanada catering menu.
How Many Pieces per Guest
The rule of thumb is 4 to 6 pieces per guest in the first hour and 2 to 3 pieces per guest for each hour after that. Guests eat most at the start, especially when they arrive straight from work or a ceremony.
| Event | Length | Pieces per guest |
|---|---|---|
| Cocktail hour before dinner | 1 hour | 5 to 6 |
| Drinks reception, no dinner after | 2 hours | 8 to 10 |
| Evening party replacing dinner | 3 hours | 14 to 18, with 4 to 5 substantial items |
| Afternoon gathering after lunch | 2 hours | 6 to 8 |
For a menu of 8 pieces per guest, we suggest 5 or 6 different items, so each item makes one or two rounds. More variety than that means each tray empties too fast for the servers to keep up.
Passed or Displayed?
Passed service means servers carry trays through the crowd, while a display is a styled table where guests help themselves. Passed service feels more elegant and keeps guests mingling, while displays need fewer staff and suit long, relaxed parties.
| Passed by servers | Displayed on a grazing table | |
|---|---|---|
| Feel | Formal, guests keep talking | Relaxed, guests gather at the table |
| Staff | 1 server per 25 to 30 guests | 1 attendant per 50 to 60 guests to refill |
| Hot food | Ideal, plated straight from the kitchen | Harder; needs chafing dishes or warmers |
| Waste | Lower, tightly portioned | 10 to 15% higher |
| Best for | Weddings, launches, networking | Birthdays, open houses, afternoon parties |
Many hosts combine them: passed hot canapés during the first hour and a grazing table of cheeses, fruit, Colombian bites and dips for the rest of the evening. For company events, our corporate event catering team plans server routes so trays reach the far corners of a room, not only the guests near the kitchen door.
A 2-hour engagement party for 60 guests with 10 passed pieces each comes to 600 pieces, carried by 2 servers. Rooftops and hotel terraces for catering in El Poblado are 20 to 35 minutes from our kitchen, so hot pieces arrive in carriers and are finished on site.
Questions and answers
Finger Food FAQs
Can finger food replace dinner?
Yes, finger food can replace dinner when you plan 14 to 18 pieces per guest and include 4 to 5 substantial items. Substantial items are bowl food and heavier bites, such as mini burgers, small cups of risotto or ajiaco, beef skewers and mini arepas with shredded beef. Spread them over three hours so guests never feel they missed a meal.
How long can finger food sit out?
Finger food can sit out safely for up to 2 hours at room temperature, and then it should be removed. Our hot bites stay above 60 °C in insulated carriers until they are plated, and cold canapés stay below 5 °C until they leave the kitchen area. On sunny terraces we shorten the window to about 1 hour for anything with seafood, mayonnaise or dairy.
Reserve your date
Plan Your Cocktail Menu
Tell us how long the reception lasts, how many guests are coming and whether dinner follows, and you will receive an itemized finger food quote within 24 hours. Or write to info@medellincatering.com.
- Itemized quotes available
- Menus, staff, tableware, setup and cleanup in one quote
- Food-handler certified team and labeled allergens on every tray
- Monday to Saturday
- 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
- Sunday
- Closed (events still run)