The catering quote template that wins jobs

The worked number

The seven lines, and what each one is for

A quote does four jobs at once: it describes the food, it states the price, it sets the terms, and it offers a way to say yes. Seven lines cover all four. The event summary fixes the date, the headcount and the address so nothing is argued later. The itemized menu sells. The total and per-person figure answer the only two numeric questions a client has. The included and excluded list heads off the awkward follow-up. Deposit and balance turn a verbal yes into a held date. The expiry protects the price. The accept action turns interest into a booking.

Every line that is not one of those seven is either supporting detail or clutter, and clutter is expensive here because a quote is read in about ninety seconds on a phone. If a line does not do one of the four jobs, move it into a linked policy rather than the front page. The test is simple: read the quote as though you were the client, and ask which line you would still want if the page were half the length.

Write the menu like a menu

This is the line that wins the job. Name the dishes rather than the package: slow-smoked pulled pork with two house sauces, buttermilk cornbread, coleslaw and baked beans, rolls and pickles. People buy food they can picture, and a line that says "Package B" sends them back to compare. Include quantities where they reassure, note the dietary options you are already covering, and keep the descriptions short enough that the whole menu fits on one screen.

Resist offering three packages with no recommendation. Choice overload stalls decisions, and a client who cannot choose does not choose you; they choose later. One clear quote with at most a single upgrade line, such as adding staffing or a passed appetizer, converts better than a menu of options. If the client genuinely needs alternatives, send one quote and name the alternative in a sentence rather than building a second column.

The three numbers they actually read

Total, per person, and what is included. Put them together and put them high. On a 50-guest staffed buffet at a standard protein tier with three sides, the market band is $29.50 to $49.00 per person, which is $1,475.00 to $2,450.00 for the event. The per-person figure is the one the client compares against every other quote in their inbox, so show it even when the client asked only for a total, and show it beside the total rather than buried under the menu.

The included line does more work than its length suggests. "Includes setup, serving line, chafers and disposables" answers three questions the client had not yet asked, and each unasked question is a reason to wait. Pair it with a short not-included line covering staffing, rentals, tax and gratuity if those are separate. Ambiguity in this block is where jobs stall, and a stalled job is usually a lost one.

The charges that are not food

Delivery and setup, a service charge, the staff you are sending, gratuity. Each belongs on its own line rather than inside the per-head price. A client who can see what the service charge is argues with it far less than one who suspects it, and a charge folded into the food price makes your food look expensive for no reason at all.

Keep them apart for a structural reason as well as a persuasive one. Delivery and staffing are naturally flat amounts; a service charge and gratuity are naturally percentages, and a percentage line should name what it is a percentage of on the client’s copy, as in “Gratuity (18% of food)”, so they can check it against the dishes above instead of squinting at a surcharge. The four are also taxed differently state by state: delivery is taxable in Florida when the food is and generally is not in Illinois, so the charge needs its own tax setting rather than inheriting the food’s.

Tax earns the same treatment. Charge a rate you have named, such as “Travis County 8.25%”, rather than a number typed from memory, so the quote records which jurisdiction it was charged under. A job over the county line then points at a different named rate instead of an ad-hoc percentage, and the name stays frozen on the copy the client accepted even if you retire the rate later.

Deposit, expiry, and the guaranteed count

A date is not held until money holds it. State the deposit as an amount and a percentage with a due date, then the balance with its own date. On the 50-guest buffet above, a 30% deposit is $442.50 at the low end of the band and $735.00 at the high end, with the balance due on a date you name rather than "before the event". Naming both dates prevents most of the chasing that otherwise happens in the week you are least able to do it.

Then two terms that cost nothing and save a great deal. An expiry date stops a quote coming back months later at last season’s prices, and it reads as clarity rather than pressure when it is phrased as holding the date until a stated day. A guaranteed count with a cutoff turns the headcount from a moving number into a commitment, with day-of additions priced at a higher rush rate that is stated in advance rather than negotiated on the morning.

What stays off the quote

Your costs, your margins, and your supplier names. That arithmetic is yours; the client sees the menu and the price. A quote that shows a cost breakdown invites a negotiation about your business rather than a decision about their event, and it teaches the client to shop the line items rather than the outcome.

A wall of terms belongs off the front page too. Keep the conditions that affect the decision, such as the deposit, the cutoff and the cancellation window, and move the rest into a linked policy. And leave off the bare attachment with no way to accept: a quote the client has to print, sign, scan and email back is a quote that sits until the weekend.

The accept path is the template

A file attachment asks the client to reply, print, or forward, and every one of those steps loses jobs. A quote sent as a link they can open and accept on their phone removes the friction between "this looks good" and "booked". Put the deposit step immediately after acceptance so the date is held the same evening rather than the following week, while the client is still in the moment that made them say yes.

One accept action, not several. A quote that offers a button, a phone number, a reply-to-confirm sentence and a calendar link has offered a decision about how to decide. Make the single path obvious, put it where the thumb already is, and let everything else on the page support it.

Send it the same night, then follow up once

The template matters less than the timing. An inquiry answered the same evening, itemized, priced, and acceptable in one tap, beats a prettier quote that arrives on Sunday. The client is comparing right now, and speed reads as professionalism in a trade where slow replies are the norm. If a full quote is genuinely not possible tonight, send the range and the date hold tonight and the itemized version tomorrow.

Silence afterward is usually not a no. It is a client comparing, waiting on a colleague, or having lost the link in a thread. One short, friendly follow-up a couple of days later revives more jobs than any discount, and it costs nothing but the two minutes it takes to write. Follow up once, not three times, and make the message about the date rather than about the price.

Corporate and private read the same quote differently

The seven lines do not change; the weighting does. Corporate and office buyers want a clean per-person number, an invoice-ready format, dietary labels, and a firm delivery time, because the quote has to match a budget line and survive a forward to somebody who was not on the call. Lead with per person, keep the options simple, and state payment terms plainly if they run on the company’s schedule rather than yours.

Private and social clients are buying the day itself. Lean harder on the menu description, on what is included, and on how the event actually runs, because the reassurance is the product as much as the food is. The deposit conversation matters more here too, since the date is emotional and firmly held. Same seven lines, different line doing the heavy lifting, and never drop the itemized menu, the clear numbers, or the single easy yes.

Price the dishes first. The margin calculator does the math.

Frequently Asked Questions

Keep reading

• Food cost percentage for caterers: the 28–35% rule
• How much to charge for catering for 50 guests (2026 numbers)