Catering Order Form Template
A two-page catering request that gathers the event logistics first, then the menu — so your quote lands right the first time.
Tell us about your event and what you'd like to serve. We'll send a full quote within one business day — menus flex to your headcount and budget.
The person our crew calls from the loading dock.
When food should be ready to eat — we back-plan arrival from this.
Best estimate is fine; we confirm final numbers a week out.
Catering is a quote business: no serious caterer prices an event without knowing the date, the headcount, and the service style, and no client should be asked to commit before seeing a number. This form is built as the first half of that exchange — it collects everything a kitchen needs to produce an accurate quote in one pass, so the reply can be a real proposal instead of five clarifying questions.
Why these fields, in this order. The form runs two pages on purpose. Page one is pure logistics — contact, date, serving time, headcount — because if the date is booked or the headcount is out of range, you want to know before anyone dreams about menus. The day-of phone is required and labeled as the coordinator's number, since the person who filled the form in March is often not the person standing at the venue in June. Serving time (not arrival time) is the question kitchens actually plan backward from. Page two turns to appetite: package style sets the price band, the dietary yes/no gates a detail field via logic so unaffected planners skip it entirely, and the drop-off versus full-service choice is the single biggest cost fork in catering. The venue address closes the loop for travel pricing.
What we left out. Dish-level menu picks. Pre-quote item selection creates promises the seasonal menu can't keep; packages first, tastings and menus after the quote is accepted. We also skipped budget fields — the package choice implies the band, and asking for a number before showing one reads poorly.
Who uses this. Independent caterers and personal chefs, restaurant kitchens that take offsite jobs, and venue-attached kitchens that field corporate lunch and wedding enquiries through the same funnel.
Make it yours. Adjust the headcount window (5–500 here) to your real capacity and rewrite packages in your own voice. The dietary rule is a working example in the Logic panel — clone it to reveal a "staffing details" question when full service is chosen. Long forms benefit from partial capture: even unfinished requests are saved as partial responses, so a planner who bailed at the menu page is still a lead with a date and headcount you can follow up. Notifications and CSV export keep event details flowing into your kitchen calendar.
Quotes, deposits, and money. The ending says it precisely: nothing is booked or billed until the quote is approved. Deposits, minimums, and final payment run through your existing contract process — the form's contribution is that the quote you send is right the first time.
Frequently asked questions
Is submitting this form a booking?
No — it's a quote request. You reply with a full proposal, and booking, deposit, and payment happen through your normal contract process after the client approves it.
Why is the dietary detail question sometimes hidden?
A logic rule reveals it only when the planner answers yes to dietary restrictions. Open the Logic panel to see the rule and reuse the pattern — for example, showing staffing questions only for full-service events.
What if a planner abandons the form halfway?
Partial responses are captured automatically, so a request with a date and headcount but no menu page is still a lead you can follow up by email.
How do event details reach my kitchen team?
Turn on email notifications for instant alerts, export CSV for the weekly prep sheet, or add a webhook that posts each request into the channel your kitchen already watches.