Contents
- 01The lines a good quote keeps apart
- 02A service fee or itemised staff hours
- 03Minimum order, delivery, and which zone you live in
- 04Net, gross and the split VAT rate
- 05The cancellation ladder and when it bites
- 06When the headcount drops after the cut-off
- 07Overtime, breakage and the deposit
- 08Eight questions before you sign
- 09Common questions about catering quotes
- 10Why one brief beats five emails
A catering quote is not a price tag, it is a contract with a price on top. The total in the bottom right is the least informative part of it: it does not say how many service staff are coming, how long they stay, what happens if ten guests drop out, or whether it is meant net or gross. Ranking two quotes by their totals almost always means comparing two different evenings. So this piece goes through them line by line, until you know what you are reading · and what to ask when something is not there.
The short answer
A complete catering quote separates at least six things: food per person, service level, drinks, equipment, delivery, and anything charged flat per event. Then come the terms: minimum order value, the headcount cut-off, the cancellation ladder, the payment window and whether the figures are net or gross. A missing item is not an alarm, but it is worth a question · and you ask it before you commit, not after.
- Food: per person and by format · a buffet starts at €14 net and typically runs €20 to €35
- Service: either as a per-person fee or as staff hours · delivery with setup from €1, full service from €6
- Drinks: their own line, because they carry 19% VAT where food and service carry 7%
- Equipment: tableware and glasses from €2, typically €3 to €8 per person when the venue supplies none
- Flat per event: delivery €30 central, €65 outer districts, €120 Brandenburg · minimum order typically €250 net
- Terms: cut-off date, cancellation ladder, overtime rate, deposit and payment window · these differ from caterer to caterer and belong in the quote in writing
The lines a good quote keeps apart
A cleanly built quote is a list, not a number. Every line stands for something you could also leave out, and that is precisely its purpose: it makes the quote negotiable. A quote that says "catering for 80 people, €3,550" is not dishonest, but it leaves you no lever. You can say yes or no, not "we will bring the tableware ourselves".
The usual lines and what they cost · net, per person unless noted
| Line in the quote | from | typical |
|---|---|---|
| Food (buffet as an example) Varies sharply by format: breakfast from €6, finger food from €10, fine dining from €42. | from €14 | €20–35 |
| Delivery + setup Arrives fully set up, but nobody stays on site. | from €1 | €2–5 |
| Full service Service staff for setup, serving and clean-up. The single most expensive step in a quote. | from €6 | €9–16 |
| Drinks (soft drinks) Beer and wine from €11, typically €16 to €28. Its own line, because 19% VAT applies here. | from €4 | €5–9 |
| Tableware & glasses Only needed when the venue supplies none. Ask whether items go back washed or unwashed. | from €2 | €3–8 |
| Delivery fee (per event) €30 central Berlin, €65 outer districts, €120 Brandenburg. Per booking, not per head. | €30 | €30–120 |
| Minimum order value (per event) Fall below it and you still pay the minimum. | €250 | €250 net |
Food, service, equipment and delivery carry 7% VAT, drinks 19%. What each format costs in detail is in catering costs per person.
Here is how that looks on a real event. A finger-food reception for 80 guests: food at €20 per person, full service at €12, soft drinks at €7, tableware and glasses at €5, plus a €30 delivery fee to central Berlin. That is €3,550 net, and the split surprises most people.
Finger-food reception for 80 guests, quote broken down · €3,550 net
- Food45%€20 per person, inside the usual €14 to €25 finger-food range.
- Service & staff27%€12 per person for full service, the middle of the €9 to €16 range.
- Drinks16%€7 per person for soft drinks. With beer and wine this line would roughly triple.
- Tableware & glasses11%€5 per person, the middle of the €3 to €8 range.
- Delivery1%A €30 flat fee to central Berlin, which across 80 guests is 38 cents a head.
The food is not half the quote, it is less than half. Compare two quotes by looking only at the menu and you are looking at 45 per cent while missing the other 55. And the reverse holds: if you want to find €300, they are easier to find in service and equipment than in the food · with the difference that nobody notices on the plate. What a reception cut this way looks like and what the menu can carry is on the finger food catering page. And when several houses fill in the same list, you see immediately who prices which line differently · which is what a catering request is for.
A service fee or itemised staff hours
The same work gets written two ways, and it is the commonest reason two quotes look incomparable. One writes a service fee per person, say €12 across 80 guests. The other writes staff hours: four service staff, six hours, an hourly rate. Both are correct, both land at a similar total, and both tell you something entirely different.
The flat fee is convenient and conceals exactly the number you care about: how many people for how long. The hourly breakdown is more honest and looks dearer for it, because it makes the travel, the setup and the clear-down visible, all of which sit inside the flat fee too. The question that makes the two comparable is always the same: how many staff are coming, when does the shift start, when does it end?
With that answer you can also check whether the staffing fits the format. A buffet where guests serve themselves needs far fewer people than a menu served to the seat · many Berlin caterers plan roughly one member of staff per twenty to twenty-five guests at a buffet, and about half that for plated service. How your caterer calculates differs, so have it stated rather than assumed. If the flat fee works out at two staff for 100 guests, you know why it is cheap.
Minimum order, delivery, and which zone you live in
The minimum order value sits at around €250 net with most Berlin caterers, and for small orders it is the real price driver. A business lunch for twelve people at €14 would be €168 on paper. You pay the minimum instead and land at €20.83 a head, nearly half as much again. The same order for 18 people comes to €252, just over the line, and the price per person is back to exactly €14.
The delivery fee works by zone: €30 to central Berlin, €65 to the outer districts, €120 to Brandenburg. Per booking rather than per head, which makes it another noticeable uplift for small groups. The trap is in the zone itself: where the line between central and outer runs is defined by each caterer for themselves. There is no shared Berlin map for it. Give your address and have the zone confirmed before you compare.
Three more things belong on the same line and are often missing. Whether collecting the equipment counts as a second trip and is billed. Whether waiting time on site is charged when nobody opens the door or the lift is occupied. And whether parking is passed on, which in central Berlin is not a small item. All three are handled differently by different caterers, and all three cost nothing as long as they are discussed in advance.
Net, gross and the split VAT rate
Most Berlin caterers write their quotes for corporate clients and therefore quote net. Book privately and you pay gross, and the gap is wider than it looks · because it is not one rate but two. Food, service, rented tableware and delivery have carried the reduced 7% since 2026, as long as they belong to the catering. Drinks stay at 19%.
Run it on the reception above: €3,550 net, of which €560 is drinks at 19% and €2,990 at 7%. Gross that is €3,865.70, an effective uplift of just under 9%. With beer and wine instead of soft drinks the drinks share would be three times as large and the effective rate would rise noticeably. How far is something you can check in the budget calculator, which toggles between net and gross.
The cancellation ladder and when it bites
Almost every catering quote hangs on a cancellation ladder: the closer to the date you cancel, the larger the share you still pay. The steps are usually tied to deadlines, often three or four of them, with the last one shortly before the event. How many steps there are and what percentages sit on them differs considerably from caterer to caterer. There is no industry standard, and anyone who quotes you one has made it up. Your caterer's ladder is in their quote or their terms, and if it is in neither, that is the most important question before you commit.
It is easy to understand once you look at it from the other side. A caterer who takes your date turns other enquiries away for the same evening. They buy produce, they schedule staff, they reserve vehicles. Six weeks out almost none of that has happened; three days out practically all of it has. The ladder is not a penalty, it is work already done.
What to look for while reading: does the percentage apply to the whole order or only to the food? Is staff already booked charged separately, even when the rest is cancelled? Is an advance payment credited or retained? And is there a clause for moving the date rather than cancelling it · often the cheaper route, and rarely in the quote unprompted.
Outdoors, the weather joins in. Some caterers have a bad-weather clause, many do not, and the wording varies widely. If your summer party is planned outside, settle beforehand what happens if it rains: is there a fallback space, is it charged, and until when can you switch?
When the headcount drops after the cut-off
The cut-off date is the day your guest count becomes binding. Before it you can adjust; after it the caterer charges what you declared, even if fewer people turn up. Where that day sits is in the quote and differs noticeably: some caterers want the number 24 hours ahead, others three working days, others a week. For larger events it is usually earlier than for small ones.
The asymmetry behind it matters: upwards usually moves more easily than downwards. Ten extra guests the day before can still be worked into many kitchens; ten cancellations cannot, because the shopping and the prep are done. For you that means declaring the number you are sure of rather than the optimistic one. Adding later is almost always easier than taking away.
Two points to settle at the same time. First, what does a late increase cost? Some caterers charge a higher rate for it, and how much differs. Second, is there a guaranteed minimum, a floor you cannot go below even before the cut-off? Neither sits prominently in a quote and both are legitimate questions. How to get a reliable headcount out of the weeks beforehand at all is in the catering checklist and timeline.
Overtime, breakage and the deposit
Service is booked for a window, not for an evening. If the quote says "6pm to midnight", then midnight is the end of the shift and every hour started after it is billed on. That is normal and right, but there should be a rate for it in the quote. If there is not, ask, because a party running an hour long is not an exception, it is the ordinary case.
More important than the rate is the question of who authorises the extension. Name one person on your side who approves it on the night, and give the caterer that name. Otherwise the shift lead decides by feel and you hear about it on the final invoice. Two sentences in the brief settle it.
For breakage and deposits the same principle applies as for the cancellation ladder: the amounts differ from house to house, sometimes a rate per glass, sometimes a flat charge, sometimes a deposit that ties money up until after the event. Ask for both figures, and ask in the same breath whether tableware goes back washed or unwashed. That clause regularly sits in the small print and is the difference between a clear-down that takes half an hour and one that takes two.
And one last item that gets forgotten: the waste. After an event for 80 people there are boxes, wrapping, empties and food left over. Who takes it away is either in the quote or in your contract with the venue, and if it is in neither, it stays with you.
Eight questions before you sign
None of these questions is awkward, and none of them implies anything about the caterer. They are what turns a quote into something you can plan with. A house that calculates cleanly answers all eight in one email.
The list for the final pass
- Net or gross, and how is the tax split?Are the figures with or without VAT, and are the drinks shown separately at 19%? Without that answer no quote can be compared with another.
- What exactly is inside the service fee?How many service staff, from when until when, including setup and clear-down? The answer tells you whether the staffing fits the format.
- What does each additional hour cost?The overtime rate, and who authorises the extension on the night. Both belong in the quote in writing, not in somebody's memory.
- Where is the headcount cut-off?And what happens either side of it: can I add later, at what rate, and is there a guaranteed minimum?
- What does the cancellation ladder look like?In steps, deadlines and percentages, in writing. Plus: does it apply to the whole order or only to the food, and what happens if the date moves?
- Which delivery zone applies to my address?Have the zone confirmed rather than assumed, and ask whether collecting the equipment is billed as a second trip.
- How does tableware come back, and how is breakage charged?Washed or unwashed, a rate per item or a flat charge, and how large the deposit is. The amounts differ sharply between providers.
- Advance payment, payment window and invoice recipient?How much is paid up front, when the rest falls due, and who the invoice is made out to. For business hospitality the company address belongs on it from the start · more on that in office catering.
Common questions about catering quotes
Answered in brief
Separately itemised: food per person, service level, drinks, equipment and delivery. Plus the terms: minimum order value, headcount cut-off, cancellation ladder, overtime rate, deposit, payment window and whether the figures are net or gross. If something is missing, ask before you commit.
An amount per person that stands in for the service staff's working time instead of listing it as hours. Full service starts at €6 net per person and typically runs €9 to €16. The fee is not opaque, it is merely summarised · ask for the number of staff and the window, and you have the same information an hourly breakdown would give you.
It grades the share you pay on cancellation by how close you are to the date: the closer, the higher. The number of steps and the percentages differ considerably from caterer to caterer, and there is no industry standard. Have the ladder in writing, and settle at the same time whether it applies to the whole order or only to the food, and what happens if the date moves.
After the cut-off the caterer will as a rule charge the number you declared, because the shopping and the prep are done. Before it, almost anything can be adjusted. Where the cut-off sits varies from caterer to caterer, from 24 hours to a week. So declare the safe number and add later, because upwards usually moves more easily than downwards.
Because most caterers write for corporate clients who deduct input tax. Privately you pay gross. Two rates apply: 7% on food, service, rented tableware and delivery, 19% on drinks. For a reception for 80 guests at €3,550 net with €560 of drinks, that is €3,865.70 gross, an effective uplift of just under 9%.
Yes, and preferably on the cut rather than the price. State your budget as a figure and ask what the caterer would build differently for it. One course fewer, seasonal produce, or delivery with setup instead of full service move the total noticeably without the quality suffering. And when several caterers quote on the same brief you also see where the realistic corridor sits · which is exactly what a catering request is for.
Why one brief beats five emails
The reason catering quotes are so hard to compare is rarely the caterer. It is that each of them answered a slightly different question. One included tableware, the other did not. One plans four service staff until midnight, the other three until 11pm. Both quotes are correct, and the total still tells you nothing.
With Catervia you describe your event once: guest count, format, location, time window, service level, drinks, budget. Several Berlin caterers quote against exactly that brief, and because they all work from the same instruction, the lines sit side by side instead of in a muddle. You have a response within 24 hours.
If a quote comes back above your budget, we take it back to the caterer and ask about the cut rather than the discount. What changed shows up line by line in the next quote, and you decide. We do not promise a fixed reduction, because nobody can promise one honestly. We make sure that what you compare is actually comparable. The step-by-step version is on how it works.