Catering checklist: the timeline from 12 weeks out to the day itself

Six decisions before the first brief goes out

1. 1Date and time window
   One date is enough, two are better. Give a caterer two possible days or two possible start times and you regularly get the better quote, because the kitchen can fill the day that still has capacity.
2. 2Guest count as a range
   Say 70 to 90 rather than inventing a single figure. Caterers work in ranges anyway, and a number pitched too high buys you food nobody eats.
3. 3Budget as a number
   State your budget per person or for the whole event, openly. What each band buys is set out in our guide to catering costs per person, and you can sketch it out in the budget calculator.
4. 4The venue and its rules
   A kitchen or only floor space? Power for hot-holding units? Lift, stairs, loading zone, somewhere to park the van? Venue fee and corkage? Those answers belong in the brief, because they move the price.
5. 5Choose the format
   Finger food, buffet or a plated menu is the decision that shapes the evening and moves the price most. Which format suits which occasion is compared in finger food, buffet or plated menu.
6. 6Send the brief
   One brief, several kitchens. Through a catering request you describe the event once and get quotes from several Berlin caterers, instead of filling in five contact forms. A response within 24 hours.

What has to happen in these four weeks

1. 1Make the quotes comparable
   Net against net, service and delivery listed separately, drinks on their own line. The delivery fee is €30 to central Berlin, €65 to the outer districts and €120 to Brandenburg, per event and not per person.
2. 2Check the minimum order value
   Typically €250 net. For small groups that is the real price driver, because below it you pay the minimum anyway.
3. 3Book the tasting
   Shortlist only, only when the size or the occasion carries it, and only with the people who actually decide. A tasting with seven opinions rarely produces a better menu.
4. 4Read the contract properly
   Scope of work, the staff time window, the headcount cut-off, the cancellation scale, the deposit on rented tableware. Those five decide what gets invoiced on top later.
5. 5Commit and pay the deposit
   Only the written order confirmation holds the date, not the yes on the phone. The deposit is set out in the quote; get the amount and the due date in writing before you agree.
6. 6Brief the venue
   Name of the caterer, vehicle size, delivery time, power needs. Many venues want this a week ahead, and some require sign-off.

The last four weeks

1. 1Sign off the menu
   Four weeks out at the latest, ideally with a sentence of room for the kitchen on seasonal produce. A caterer allowed to switch to asparagus in April cooks better and cheaper than one holding a fixed wish list.
2. 2Collect dietary requirements
   Ask with the RSVP, not on the day. How to ask, what a caterer can promise and how it arrives correctly labelled is in allergens and dietary requirements.
3. 3Sanity-check the quantities
   Will that buffet really carry four hours? The rules of thumb per person and per hour are in catering quantities per person.
4. 4Decide the drinks
   From the caterer or sourced yourself, poured or self-service, and who chills them. Soft drinks run €5 to €9 per person, beer and wine €16 to €28, an open bar €32 to €46. The arithmetic behind it is in working out drinks per person.
5. 5Tableware, furniture, technical needs
   Does the venue provide crockery, glasses and standing tables? If not, add €3 to €8 per person. Settle at the same time whether items may go back unwashed.
6. 6Access and logistics in writing
   Courtyard or side entrance, floor, lift dimensions, parking suspension, key handover, power sockets. A driver hunting through a third courtyard costs you twenty minutes of setup.

Eight things that have to be in writing

1. 1Scope of work
   Which dishes, which quantities, which service level. A quote that gives only totals cannot be checked against anything after the event.
2. 2The staff time window
   Service is booked for a window, not for an evening. Get the start, the end and the hourly rate for every further hour started.
3. 3Cut-off and tolerance
   The date for the final headcount plus the room for movement you agreed. Both in one sentence, so there are not two readings of it later.
4. 4Cancellation scale
   What does cancelling eight weeks, two weeks or three days out cost? The scale is standard in the market, the percentages are not.
5. 5Deposit and payment terms
   Amount, due date and when the final invoice arrives. For corporate clients, add the purchase order or cost centre here.
6. 6Deposit on equipment and its return
   Rented tableware, standing tables and equipment often carry a security deposit. Settle at once whether things go back washed or unwashed and who collects them.
7. 7Delivery zone and fee
   €30 to central Berlin, €65 to the outer districts, €120 to Brandenburg. Plus whether a second trip to collect equipment is billed separately.
8. 8A named contact with a mobile number
   On both sides, reachable on the day. That single line saves more evenings than anything else in the contract.

Run sheet for an event starting at 6pm

1. 13:00pm · access, power, floor space
   The venue is open, keys handed over, parking suspension in place, lift reserved. Tables for the buffet and the drinks stand where they are meant to, and the sockets for hot-holding units are reachable.
2. 24:00pm · delivery
   Give the caterer a 60-minute window rather than a time. Someone on your side takes the delivery, checks it against the order confirmation and knows where everything goes.
3. 34:30pm · setup
   Build the buffet, check the walkways, open it from two sides if more than 60 guests are coming. Check the dish labels and the allergen notes while the kitchen is still there.
4. 45:30pm · drinks chilling, staff briefing
   Chilling needs a run-up, so white wine and beer go in now at the latest. Brief the service staff: the running order, the speeches, any separately plated dishes, and who your contact is.
5. 56:00pm · guests, drinks, welcome
   Drinks first, then the welcome, then the buffet. Open a buffet before the speech and nobody hears the speech.
6. 66:20pm · open the buffet
   Above 80 guests, release it table by table, otherwise half the party spends twenty minutes in a queue.
7. 78:30pm · top up or clear down
   A decision with the kitchen: are the platters topped up, or does the dessert round start? Hot-holding units do not run forever without the food suffering.
8. 8End + 60 to 90 minutes · clean-up
   Clearing down takes roughly half the setup time. Settle in advance when the venue has to be empty, who takes the empties and when rented tableware is collected.

Seven roles, each with a name behind it

1. 1Budget sign-off
   Who can approve the final sum, and up to what amount without asking? That person does not have to be in the project, but they do have to be reachable when the quote lands.
2. 2Menu decision
   One person decides, two at most weigh in. Taste panels with seven participants end in a compromise menu nobody wanted.
3. 3Guest list and RSVPs
   Who collects confirmations, who chases, who sends the final number to the caterer? Ideally the same person, or the number gets lost on the way.
4. 4Dietary requirements
   Who asks, who holds the list, who passes it on? This role carries safety with it and does not belong on the side of somebody’s desk.
5. 5Venue contact
   One person talks to the building: delivery, power, keys, closing time. Two channels into a venue reliably produce contradictory promises.
6. 6On site on the day
   Not the host and not the managing director. Somebody with a phone in hand, available from mid-afternoon to late, and allowed to make decisions.
7. 7Invoice and finance
   Who receives the invoice, checks it against the order confirmation and releases it? For company events the purchase order number belongs in the brief already.

Six lines from the idea to the clean-up

1. 112 weeks out
   Date, guest count as a range, budget as a number, venue and its rules. Send the brief through a catering request.
2. 28 weeks out
   Make the quotes comparable, book a tasting where the size or occasion carries it, read the contract and the cancellation scale.
3. 36 weeks out
   Confirm the caterer in writing, pay the deposit, tell the venue about delivery and power.
4. 44 weeks out
   Menu final, drinks decided, tableware and furniture settled, the dietary requirements survey running.
5. 57 days out
   Final headcount to the caterer, dietary requirements sent in writing, a named contact with a mobile number on both sides.
6. 63 days out
   Run sheet with the delivery window, setup, service and clean-up out to everyone. After that nothing changes but the weather.