What you should know before booking catering can save you from costly mistakes and ensure your event runs smoothly. Planning an event is exciting, but if you’ve never hired professional caterers before, it can feel overwhelming. After working with hundreds of clients across East Sussex for over a decade, here’s what we’ve learned matters most.
Check Your Venue’s Kitchen Facilities
This is the first thing you should ask. What kitchen facilities does your venue have? Because it makes a massive difference. Some venues have fully equipped commercial kitchens. Others have a small domestic setup, which is a bit more of a challenge, but if there is space for additional equipment to be hired in, will work perfectly well. Village halls can sometimes be pretty well equipped but some venues need to have everything hired in to create a kitchen (this is always the case with marquees or venues where they provide a blank kitchen space but no equipment). None of this means you can’t have amazing food, but the key is having the space to create a suitable set up, so do tell your caterer exactly what’s available, so that they can let you know from the off if there are any extra costs to bear in mind that you may not have considered. Take photos if you’re not sure. This is something you must know before booking catering (and ideally before booking the venue as it may have limitations that affect the style of catering you may be envisaging).
Book Earlier Than You Think
Good caterers get booked up months in advance (years for weddings)! Saturdays between April and September will always be sought after, with June being the most popular month by far. Unlike most companies, we don’t take on larger events on consecutive days because we want to give each celebration our full attention (and give ourselves a breather)! For weddings, we’d recommend getting in touch at least 18 months ahead if you can, especially if you’re after one of those prime dates that get snapped up quickly. Mid-week is a little easier, but even for smaller events, birthday parties, club dinners or corporate lunches, give yourself at least a few months. Last-minute bookings are sometimes possible, but you’re limiting your options. One thing you must know before booking catering is that the best providers get booked up early, so don’t leave it until the last minute. Of course we understand the lead time for funeral catering is much shorter, and we’ll always try to fit these in as they are mid week and often not requiring any staffing.
Understand What’s Included in the Price
Not all catering quotes are equal. Some caterers give you a price for food only. Then you find out you need to hire plates, cutlery, glassware, tables, chairs, tablecloths, and serving equipment. We believe in being completely transparent. When we give you a quote, we tell you exactly what’s included. Equipment hire, waiting staff, setup and clean up, when required, it’s all there. No hidden extras. When talking to caterers, always ask: does this price include staff? Plates and cutlery? Serving equipment? Get it all in writing. What’s included in your quote is absolutely something you must know before booking catering.
Take Dietary Requirements Seriously
You will have guests with dietary needs, allergies, intolerances, or lifestyle choices like being vegan or vegetarian. The question isn’t “can you do vegetarian?” It’s “how do you handle dietary requirements?” There’s a big difference between a basic veggie option and something genuinely delicious. If you’ve got guests with specific needs, we can send you the details in advance. On the day, we make sure everyone knows which dishes are which. Nobody should feel like an afterthought at your event. How a caterer manages dietary requirements is crucial, another thing you must know before booking catering.
Be Realistic About Numbers
We need final numbers two weeks before your event. That’s when we start ordering from suppliers and confirming staffing. If your numbers change dramatically after that, it can be problematic, not just for caterers but for yourselves, as that table plan you spent hours on will need to change! So it’s best to keep a good check on your numbers as you go along, and let your caterer know in good time if they are changing. If it’s a wedding and you’re worried more evening guests might turn up than expected, say so, as even if you don’t have the budget to increase the amount of food you’ve ordered for the evening, you will want there to be enough plates and cutlery for everyone. A good caterer can help you plan for that from the start.
Choose the Right Style of Service
A formal three-course dinner is perfect for a wedding or celebration in one of the many beautiful venues in East Sussex. With our two Traditional Menus (Standard and Premium) we offer up to three choices for you to offer your guests, so in terms of table set up it works better on round tables so that we know exactly what we’re taking to each table, and who it’s for. Sharing food is equally, if not more popular now, so all of our other menus are two course sharing style, and this works well with any type of table set up, be it rounds or long lines of tables pushed together. Sharing style to tables is always best if you have numbers above 100, as the service style is much quicker than a plated meal so it means you can all be eating at the same time. Our BBQ and Sharing Board menus are incredibly popular, as is our Hot Fork Sharing Menu for a more hearty or seasonal feel. Think about your venue, the season, your guests, and the atmosphere you want so you can tie in the right menu, and the right service style. If you’re all about keeping it really informal, milling around, why not ask us about a summer festival style wedding with two or three different food offerings served from gazebos outside?
Ask About Timing and Flexibility
Events don’t always run exactly to schedule. Guests arrive late. Traffic is terrible. Ceremonies overrun. Speeches take longer than expected. A good caterer rolls with it. Working to an agreed timeline while staying flexible enough to adjust when needed makes all the difference. Allocating someone responsible for keeping the caterers up to date is all you need.
Read Reviews Properly
Don’t just look at star ratings, read the actual reviews. What do real people say about the food? The service? How the caterer handled problems? Whether they were easy to work with during planning? Look at website testimonials too. They tell you things a star rating can’t, like how a caterer kept someone calm when numbers changed last minute, or how they handled difficult weather. If a caterer doesn’t have reviews, or they’re all from ages ago, that should tell you something. And don’t forget social media. There are reviews here too, but you can also see how active a company is. You don’t want someone who hasn’t posted anything since 2023!
The Bottom Line
Everything you must know before booking catering comes down to asking the right questions, getting clear answers in writing, and choosing a caterer who genuinely listens to what you want. Don’t be afraid to ask detailed questions, a good caterer welcomes them. We’re a small family business, working from our professional catering unit in Westham, near Eastbourne, where we hold the highest five-star rating for food hygiene. We work across East Sussex and take real pride in building relationships with our clients to deliver the food and service they need.
Whether you’re planning a big wedding, a party in a marquee, a village hall celebration, a memorial, or a corporate event, be clear about what you want. Check the details. And choose someone you trust.
If you’re planning something and want to chat about what’s possible, get in touch. We’re listening.