The quote that takes ten days
Somebody asks what it would cost to feed forty people. Between that question and your answer sit two phone calls, a spreadsheet and a week and a half — and most of it is not work anyone is paying you for.
Guides
The parts of running a catering business that catch owners out.
Why a quote takes ten days and what that costs, the difference between a service charge and a gratuity, what fifteen per cent actually adds up to over a year, and why sales tax on food, delivery and service are three separate questions. Written for owners, not for search engines — each one is useful even if you never hire us. We are not attorneys or accountants, and every guide says where you need one.
A service charge is not a gratuity, and saying so is your job
A mandatory service charge and a tip are two different things with two different legal treatments, and the customer will assume the wrong one unless the quote says which. This is the most common argument on the day.
Is catering taxable where you are? It is three questions, not one
Prepared food, delivery and the service charge are taxed separately and differently from state to state. Here is what actually varies, so the conversation with your CPA is a short one.
The number that changes twice: guaranteed counts
The headcount you are given first is never the headcount you cook for. The guarantee date is how this trade has always handled that, and it works better when it is a date rather than a phone call.
Allergens belong in a field, not in a notes box
"Guest 4 is allergic to nuts" typed into a comments box is information that has to survive being read by three people. Marked on the dish, it survives on its own.
What a commission actually costs, over a year
Fifteen per cent sounds like a marketing expense. Applied to every order for five years, including the ones that were already yours, it is something else.
A minimum that tops the order up beats a minimum that turns it away
Every caterer has a floor below which a job is not worth doing. There are two ways to enforce it, and one of them loses the customer for the sake of eighty dollars.
Per person, per tray, per piece: five ways to price the same food
Catering Deck has no single pricing shape, and software built around one of them makes the other four awkward. Here are the five that actually occur, and what each one gets wrong.
The growth tax: software that charges you for selling
Two common ways of billing catering software both charge you more for trying harder — a percentage of every order, or a fee per quote sent. Both are a tax on the thing you are attempting to do.
What generic booking software leaves out
The tools that book haircuts and dentist appointments are cheap, mature and will happily take a catering booking. Here is the part of catering they have no concept of.
How far will you drive? Put it on the website
Delivery radius is one of the two questions every enquiry contains, and answering it after a phone call rather than on the page wastes everybody's afternoon.
Deposits, cancellations, and the food you have already bought
A cancellation two days out is not the same as a cancellation two months out, and a single non-refundable deposit treats them as if they were. What a sliding policy actually needs to say.
The permit you need before the first order
Cooking for money from your own kitchen is regulated differently in every state, and cottage food laws almost never cover catering. What to check before you take a booking.
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Send us your current website, or just your Google listing and a menu PDF, and we'll build a demo with your own dishes and your own prices, so you can see how it would look before deciding anything. No commitment and no cost.