Event minimum
Updated August 2026
An event minimum is the smallest amount a caterer will accept for a job, stated either as a total spend or as a headcount. Orders below it are declined, or accepted with a stated small-order charge that brings them up to it.
Also called: order minimum, food and beverage minimum, minimum spend.
Why it matters to a small caterer
Every job carries fixed costs that do not shrink when the order does: the menu conversation, the shopping trip, the prep block, the packing, the drive, and the setup. A small order pays those out of a much smaller total, which is how a busy calendar of tiny jobs produces a bad month. A minimum is simply the point below which the arithmetic stops working, written down.
Set it from your own numbers rather than from a competitor’s. Add up the hours a typical small job consumes end to end, price those hours at what you need to earn, add the fixed costs, and see what total that implies. Then decide whether you want a hard floor or a small-order charge, and whether the floor moves for Saturdays, holidays, or long drives. Most caterers find it should.
Publish it, and it works while you sleep
A minimum stated on your site and in your first reply filters inquiries before they cost you a conversation. The client who was never going to reach it self-selects out, politely, and the client who can reach it now knows you are the right size for their event. Caterers usually discover this after a season of writing careful custom quotes for jobs they did not want.
Say it plainly and pair it with what the client gets. "Weekday delivered lunches start at a minimum of X" reads as a professional operating rule; a minimum that appears for the first time at the end of a proposal reads as a surprise.
Where this shows up
Put the terms to work on a real quote
CaterKit costs every dish from your own ingredients, prices the quote at your margin, and sends it as a page the client can accept on their phone.