My wife was in charge of feeding the band a couple years ago. I'll ask her and put info on here. Simple is better. I do know that she worked with many places to get deals on food. Feeding 400+ people is not an easy task.
To improve serving, limit options. Maybe one or two options (with a separate serving line for food allergies or special diets)
For shows I know that Pizza worked best. Yeah, I know, but the per slice price and the flexibility of serving makes it very hard to beat. For several years we kept getting the first or second performance slot for finals so eating became a "whenever we could grab something and run" type affair.
When dealing with sandwich places, once they understood to make the sandwiches dry with no veggies and to have that on the side it worked much better. They usually prep that many sandwiches a bit beforehand so they would get soggy with veggies on them. The band could grab the veggies as they were getting their food, if they wanted.
Lastly, if it can be spilled it will be. Have them out of their marching uniform during food times. Stains are horrible.
