How to Start a Catering Business in the USA

The reality check

Catering is the most operationally unforgiving business in this series. You are cooking food that must be safe, at a fixed hour, in a building you often do not control, for a client who will remember one cold chicken for a decade. The upside is that margins beat restaurants — you buy to order, you know your headcount, and you are paid a deposit before you shop.

Realistic startup cost is $8,000 to $35,000, and the number turns almost entirely on kitchen access. You cannot legally cater from a home kitchen in most of the US: cottage food laws generally cover shelf-stable baked goods and jams, not hot event food. Renting time in a licensed commissary kitchen runs $15 to $35 an hour, or $600 to $1,800 a month for a regular block, and that single decision replaces a $100,000 buildout. Add a food handler card, $10 to $25 per person, and a food protection manager certification, $100 to $180. Permits: a health department catering or food service permit, $150 to $1,000 a year depending on county, and a temporary event permit per off-site event, $30 to $150. Equipment: chafing dishes, hotel pans, insulated carriers, sheet pans, a commercial thermometer set and serving pieces, $2,500 to $8,000. A used cargo van or refrigerated trailer, $6,000 to $20,000, though many caterers start with an SUV and insulated carriers. Then $1,000 to $3,000 for branding, a site, tasting costs and your first food float.

Income comes in lumps. A caterer doing two events a month at 60 guests and $45 a head grosses about $65,000 a year; food cost at 28 to 32 per cent and labour at 15 to 25 per cent leaves a gross margin around 45 per cent before overheads. Established operators running four to eight events a month gross $180,000 to $500,000, and the good ones hold net profit between 8 and 15 per cent. First year is usually $30,000 to $80,000 gross, heavily weighted to May through October and December.

This business suits experienced cooks who are also organised administrators — the deposit schedule, the allergen list and the loading plan matter as much as the food. It suits you badly if you cannot cost a recipe, or if you need weekends.

The operational blueprint

Structure and the liability question

Food is one of the few businesses where an incident can end you personally, so a single-member LLC is the sensible default rather than a sole proprietorship. Foodborne illness claims, an injured server and a venue's damaged floor are all live risks, and the LLC keeps them at the business. If you plan to hire event staff seasonally, that structure also makes payroll and W-2 or 1099 classification cleaner. Read the SBA's structure comparison before you file, then register your business name with the state.

EIN, and why you will need it immediately

Get a free EIN from the IRS. Commissary kitchens, food distributors, corporate clients and venues all ask for it — a corporate account will not set you up as a vendor without one, and wholesale suppliers use it alongside your resale certificate.

Kitchen, permits and food safety

Sequence matters here: secure kitchen access first, because your health permit is tied to the facility. Options are a shared commissary, off-hours rental from a restaurant or church hall with a commercial kitchen, or a ghost-kitchen suite. Get the agreement in writing with your access hours and storage space specified, then apply to the county health department for a catering permit; expect a plan review, an inspection and questions about transport temperatures. Each off-site event may also need a temporary food establishment permit from the county where the event happens — not where you cook. For example, in California catering is regulated county by county under the state retail food code, and a caterer working three counties may hold three sets of temporary permits; in Texas, caterers generally operate from a permitted facility with local health authority oversight; in New York City, a food protection manager certificate is expected on site. Treat these as examples and confirm with your county health department, because the rules and fees differ even between neighbouring counties. Certifications to hold regardless: food handler cards for every staff member, and a manager-level food safety certification such as an ANSI-accredited program for yourself. Keep a temperature log for every event — it is your defence if anyone ever claims illness.

Insurance

General liability at $1M/$2M with a products-completed operations component covers food-related claims, roughly $600 to $1,800 a year for a small caterer. Most venues will not let you load in without a certificate of insurance naming them as additional insured, so budget time for that request too. Add liquor liability if you serve alcohol, or subcontract bar service to a licensed bartender who carries their own. Commercial auto is essential once you transport food: personal policies exclude business use, and a $12,000 van full of $2,000 of food is not a claim you want denied. Workers' compensation applies to event staff in nearly every state, and equipment coverage for chafers and carriers is cheap.

Equipment checklist with real prices

• Six chafing dishes with fuel or electric elements — $600 to $1,400
• Two dozen full and half hotel pans plus lids — $400
• Four insulated food transport carriers — $700 to $1,600
• Two commercial cambros for cold holding — $300
• Sheet pans, sheet-pan racks and speed racks — $500
• Calibrated instant-read and probe thermometers, plus logs — $120
• Serving utensils, platters, risers, linens — $600 to $1,500
• Two folding banquet tables and skirting — $250
• Handwashing station for off-site events — $150 to $400
• Refrigerated or well-insulated transport vehicle — $6,000 to $20,000

Pricing per head, properly

Cost your menu per portion, then multiply. The standard approach is food cost divided by target food-cost percentage: a menu costing $12 a head at a 30 per cent target prices at $40. Add service labour separately at $25 to $45 per staff hour billed, rentals at cost plus 15 to 20 per cent, and a delivery or setup fee. Typical US price points in 2026: drop-off catering $15 to $28 a head, buffet with service $35 to $65, plated dinner service $65 to $150, wedding catering $75 to $200 with staffing. Charge a non-refundable deposit of 25 to 50 per cent to reserve a date, take final counts 7 to 10 days out, and state a per-guest overage rate. Every one of those numbers belongs on the catering order form the client confirms, so the count you cook to and the count you invoice are the same number.

Setting up your client workflow

Caterers lose work at a predictable moment: the enquiry arrives while your hands are in a mixing bowl. A bride calls on Saturday at 4pm — service time — and hears voicemail. She fills in the next caterer's website form instead. Or the enquiry does reach you, as an Instagram DM saying "how much for a wedding in June?", and four messages later you still do not know the date, the headcount or the venue. Paper does its own damage: a menu scribbled on a tasting sheet, a dietary requirement mentioned once in a phone call, and a final count agreed verbally that turns out to be twelve people higher on the day.

The flow that fixes it has three stages, each with its own form. Stage one is the enquiry: service type, event date, approximate guest count, budget per head, venue. That alone lets you answer with a real yes or no in one reply, because you can check the diary and the kitchen block. Stage two is the confirmed booking: use the event booking form to lock the date, timings, final package, access time for load-in, equipment needed and the deposit agreed, with a signature. Stage three is the kitchen order: the catering order form captures courses, per-item counts, allergens, service style, pickup or delivery windows and the on-the-day contact — the document your prep list is built from.

Put the enquiry link where the enquiries actually start. Add it to your Google Business Profile as the appointment link, to your Instagram and Facebook bios, to the vendor listing page of every venue that will host you, and to the footer of your tasting menus. Each submission emails you within seconds and lands in a searchable list, which means Saturday's 4pm enquiry gets a Sunday-morning reply with the date confirmed rather than a lost thread. For deposits and balances, send a payment form so the money arrives against a specific event rather than an unexplained transfer.

#### Handling day-to-day customer questions

Between booking and event day, a client will ask a dozen small things: can we swap the salmon, is a vegan main possible, can we move service thirty minutes later, do you provide linens. Embed a catering inquiry form on your website and link it from your social bios so pricing questions, availability checks, reschedule requests and special requests all arrive in one organized inbox instead of scattered calls, texts and DMs. Automatic email notifications mean you see a new question during a prep break rather than three days late, and the confirmation message the client sees on submit tells them a reply is coming — which prevents the anxious follow-up call at 7am. Because every submission is stored with a timestamp, your history becomes a lightweight customer record: before you call back you can see what this client asked in March, what you quoted, and what you agreed about the linens.

Forms to run an event kitchen on

Getting your first 10 events

Catering's first ten clients rarely come from consumers searching cold. They come from venues, offices and one very good corporate lunch.

Venue vendor lists are the highest-leverage channel in catering. Event venues, wineries, barns, museums and community halls keep preferred-caterer lists, and being on three good lists can fill a calendar. Approach them with a one-page sheet: your permit and insurance status, three sample menus with per-head prices, photos of your setup at a real event, and your enquiry link. Offer to cater a staff lunch for free so the coordinator tastes your food. Once you are listed, ask the venue to link your enquiry form directly.

Corporate lunches build the base load. Weddings pay more but arrive twice a year; office catering repeats every month and does not require weekend labour. Target companies of 20 to 200 within fifteen minutes of your kitchen, deliver a sampler tray with a printed menu to the office manager, and follow up once by email with your enquiry link. Corporate clients care about reliability and invoicing far more than about creativity, which makes them the easiest repeat revenue in the industry.

Google Business Profile for the local searches. Claim the profile, use "Caterer" as your primary category, list services individually — wedding catering, corporate catering, drop-off catering — and post photos of real events monthly. Put your enquiry form link in the appointment field, and treat every lead that arrives that way as a lead to answer within the hour. Yelp still drives real catering enquiries in most metros, so keep that listing current too.

Referral and review discipline. After each event, send one message asking for a Google review and mentioning what to write about — punctuality, the food, how the service ran. Offer past clients $100 off their next event when a referral books, and offer the referred client a free tasting. In an industry where nobody wants to gamble on food, a specific review from a named local wedding does more than any advertisement.

Show up where local demand is visible. Farmers' markets, chamber of commerce mixers, nonprofit fundraisers and school auctions all need food and all contain the people who book food. Donate a small package to one charity auction a year; the winner is almost always a person who hosts events. Reply to leads from Google Business Profile and social media with the same catering inquiry form so nothing depends on your memory during service week, then browse the full restaurants and hospitality template library when you are ready to add tasting bookings and post-event feedback. If your events skew heavily toward weddings, our guide to starting a photography business in the USA explains the same vendor-list dynamic from the other side of the room.

Frequently asked questions

Can I start a catering business from my home kitchen in the US?

Usually not for hot event food. Cottage food laws in most states cover shelf-stable items such as baked goods, jams and granola, not catered meals. The normal route is renting time in a licensed commissary kitchen, which also anchors your health permit.

What permits do I need to cater an event?

Typically a health department food service or catering permit tied to your kitchen, food handler cards for staff, a manager-level food safety certification, and often a temporary food establishment permit from the county where each event takes place. Confirm with the county health department for every county you work in.

How much do caterers make?

Two events a month at 60 guests and $45 a head grosses about $65,000 a year. Established caterers running four to eight events a month gross $180,000 to $500,000, with net profit commonly between 8 and 15 per cent after food, labour, rentals and vehicle costs.

How do I price catering per person?

Cost the menu per portion, then divide by your target food-cost percentage — $12 of food at a 30 per cent target prices at $40 a head. Bill service labour, rentals and delivery separately rather than burying them, and state an overage rate for guests added after the final count.

How much deposit should a caterer take?

A non-refundable 25 to 50 per cent deposit to reserve the date is standard, with the balance due shortly before the event and the final guest count locked 7 to 10 days out. Put the cancellation terms in the booking form the client signs, not in a follow-up email.

Do I need insurance to cater at a venue?

Yes, and most venues will ask for a certificate naming them as additional insured before load-in. Carry general liability with products coverage, commercial auto for transport, liquor liability if you serve alcohol, and workers' compensation once you use event staff.