A caterer website that gets the date, guest count and dietary needs before you quote.

How a catering job actually starts

A client, usually a planner or an office manager, has a date, a headcount and a rough budget and wants to know if you are free and about what it will cost. They often send the same message to three caterers and answer the first useful reply. A website that explains your packages and asks the right questions up front puts you ahead before you reply.

Show a price range, and why

Caterers hesitate to show prices because every event differs. Show a starting point per person for each package anyway, and say what moves it: service staff, rentals, travel, a bar. People who cannot afford you will drop out early, and the ones who stay arrive with a realistic budget. Add your minimum guest count and your notice period near the top of each package.

What the quote form should ask

• Event date and start time
• Venue or city, and whether the venue has a kitchen
• Guest count, and how many are children
• Dietary needs, listed one by one
• Service style: drop-off, buffet, plated, grazing table
• A budget range

Add a tasting booking for the couples who want to try the food before committing. Some caterers charge for tastings and credit it to the contract. Either way, a booking page with set days beats trading emails.

Photos and the search angle

Photograph the food on a set table the way a guest would see it, along with your team plating and the loaded van. Skip the staged flat-lays. Local search for catering is mostly "wedding caterer in [city]" and "office lunch catering near me," so write the service types and the cities you cover in your headings, one page per service type if you can. Check what your health department requires and show your license number if your county asks for it.

What planners check before they shortlist a caterer

Couples and office managers usually compare a few caterers before they talk to any chef. They look for:

• Sample menus for an event like theirs, not a list of every dish you've ever cooked
• A starting price per person and a minimum guest count
• Whether you bring staff, rentals and cleanup, or only the food
• How you handle allergies and dietary needs on the day
• Photos of real events: set tables and full buffets

Planners also want to know you'll reply. Say how soon you answer a new inquiry, and stick to it.

Apps that help a catering business, and the ones to skip

Appointments books consultations and tastings. Make a phone consult and an in-person tasting two separate services, each with its own length, and use approve-each mode so you can check the date is free before you confirm. Clients put their event date, guest count and venue in the booking notes. Each booking lands in your Inbox and the client goes into Contacts, where tags such as wedding or corporate keep the year straight.

The Food menu holds each package as its own menu, with dietary tags, and the Photo gallery holds albums by event type. The AI Agent answers "do you do halal?" or "is there a travel fee?" from your pages, and takes a name and email for the questions only you can answer. Visitor stats show whether the wedding page or the corporate page gets more visits, which is worth knowing before wedding season. Skip Table reservations, which is for dining rooms.

A walk through the Fig & Thyme Catering example

Fig & Thyme Catering is the made-up caterer in the preview: seasonal food for weddings, offices and long tables, with a Plan your event button. Menus & packages lays out a drop-off lunch, a buffet and a plated dinner, each with a starting price per person and a minimum number of guests. Weddings covers tastings, the service team and how the day runs. Corporate covers office lunches and regular orders. Inquire gives the phone number and email, what to put in a first message, and a button to book a consultation call.

It sits at figandthymecatering.dollarsite.page until you connect a domain you own, once it is live. Build it by describing your packages to Chip, or by sending 5 to 15 phone photos from recent events.

When venue lists and wedding marketplaces already fill the calendar

A lot of catering work comes from venue preferred lists, wedding marketplaces and planners who know you. Keep all three. Venues and planners still look you up before they pass on your name, and a site with your menus, starting prices and photos makes that referral easy to pass along. If a marketplace sent you a client, read its terms before you take the booking off the platform. Put the site link in your marketplace profile where that's allowed, and in every proposal you send.

Tastings, deposits and the kitchen license

State how a booking is confirmed: a signed proposal and a deposit, usually a portion of the total, with the balance due before the event. Say what happens if the guest count changes, and when the final number is due. Show your health permit or commercial kitchen details, and note any liability insurance a venue may ask for. Venues and planners check for these before they recommend you.