Catering contract template
A catering contract fixes the menu, the headcount you'll be paid for and what the service charge buys, before you order a single case of produce. This one fits weddings, corporate events and private parties with on-site service. Read it below, then open it in SignMaster, add your menu and prices, and send it to the client.
Updated November 5, 2026 · 4 min read
The contract
Gray blanks are yours to fill in before you send. Each signer fills in the blanks in their color.
- You, before sending
- Client
- Caterer
Catering Contract
This Catering Contract (the "Contract") is made on Contract date between Caterer business name (the "Caterer") and Client name, for Client organization (the "Client").
1. The event
- Occasion: Occasion
- Date: Event date
- Location: Event location address
- Food service from Service start time to Service end time
- Estimated guests: Estimated guest count
2. Menu and service
The Caterer will prepare and serve this menu: Menu. Service style: Service style. Staff: Staffing. Equipment and rentals included: Equipment and rentals included.
Menu items may be substituted with items of equal quality only if an ingredient is unavailable, and the Caterer will tell the Client before the event.
3. Final guest count
The Client will give the Caterer a final guaranteed guest count by Final count due date. The Client pays for the guaranteed count or the number actually served, whichever is higher. The count can go up after that date only if the Caterer agrees, and cannot go down. The Caterer will prepare enough for the guaranteed count, and any extra guests served are charged at the price per guest.
4. Price and payment
- Price per guest: Price per guest
- Estimated total before tax: Estimated total
- Service charge: Service charge percent percent of food and beverage, which covers Service charge covers. The service charge is not a tip for staff. Any gratuity is up to the Client and goes to the staff in full.
- Sales tax is added where the law requires it.
The Client pays a deposit of Deposit amount when signing, which reserves the date and is credited to the final bill. The balance, based on the final count, is due Balance due days before days before the event. Charges added on the day, such as extra guests or extra service time, are invoiced afterwards and due within Days to pay extras days. Accepted payment methods: Payment methods.
5. Allergies and special meals
By the final count date, the Client will give the Caterer, in writing, the food allergies and dietary needs of guests it knows about. Special meals requested now: Special meals and allergies. The Caterer will prepare those meals separately and label them, but its kitchen handles common allergens such as nuts, shellfish, wheat, dairy and eggs, so it cannot promise that any dish is free of traces of them.
6. Bar service
Bar arrangement: Bar arrangement. Where the Caterer's staff serve alcohol, they will check identification and refuse service to anyone under the legal drinking age or who appears intoxicated, and the Caterer's decision to stop serving a guest is final.
7. Food safety and leftovers
The Caterer holds the food-service licenses and permits its work requires and follows food-safety rules. Food that has been out of safe temperature for longer than those rules allow will be thrown away. Leftovers: Leftovers policy. Once leftovers are handed to the Client, keeping them safe is the Client's responsibility. The Caterer is not responsible for food it did not prepare, such as a cake from an outside bakery.
8. Set-up, the kitchen and clean-up
The Caterer will arrive by Caterer arrival time. The Client will arrange with the venue for the Caterer to have: Kitchen and power needs. The Caterer will clean the areas it uses for food preparation and service and remove its own equipment and food waste. Caterer-owned equipment lost or broken by guests is charged at replacement cost.
9. Cancellation
The Client may cancel by written notice. If notice arrives at least Cancellation cutoff days days before the event, the Caterer keeps the deposit and refunds any other payments. If notice arrives later, the Client also owes the cost of food and supplies already bought and staff already scheduled, up to the estimated total, and the Caterer will give the Client a list of those costs.
If illness, an emergency or another event outside its control prevents the Caterer from serving the event, it will offer a comparable caterer for the Client to approve or refund every payment received.
10. Insurance and responsibility
The Caterer carries general liability insurance, and liquor liability insurance whenever its staff serve alcohol, and will provide a certificate to the Client or the venue on request. Each party is responsible for harm caused by its own negligence.
11. Governing law and the whole agreement
This Contract is governed by the laws of the state of State. Together with any menu or event order attached to it, it is the whole agreement and replaces earlier quotes. Changes must be in writing and accepted by both parties. Electronic signatures count as original signatures.
Contact details
Client phone: Client phone Email: Client email
Contact on the day of the event: Day-of contact
Caterer phone: Caterer phone Email: Caterer email
I have read this whole Contract, including the final guest count in section 3 and the cancellation terms in section 9.
Client
Caterer
Opens it in SignMaster as a template you can edit and send.
A starting point, not legal advice. Have a lawyer review it for your state and situation.
On this page
What a catering contract settles
Catering margins live and die on the guest count. You buy food and schedule staff for a number, and if that number drops by thirty the week before, the loss is yours unless the contract says otherwise. The same goes for the service charge a client assumes is a tip, the allergy nobody mentioned, and the venue kitchen that turns out to have one outlet. A signed contract puts each of those on paper while the client is still choosing appetizers.
Use it for any event where you take a deposit. A small drop-off lunch order can run on a signed quote; anything with staff, rentals or a bar deserves the full contract.
What the template covers
- The event: occasion, date, address, service hours and the estimated guest count.
- Menu and service: the menu, the service style (plated, buffet, family style or stations), staffing and any rentals you include.
- Final guaranteed count: a due date, billing for the guarantee or the number served if higher, and no reductions after the date.
- Price and payment: price per guest, an estimated total, a service charge you define, sales tax, the deposit and when the balance is due.
- Allergies: the client lists them in writing, you label special meals, and the contract is honest about cross-contact in a shared kitchen.
- Bar service: the arrangement in your own words, ID checks and the right to stop serving.
- Food safety and leftovers: your leftovers policy and who's responsible once food leaves your hands, plus no blame for an outside bakery's cake.
- Set-up and clean-up: your arrival time, what the venue must provide, and what you clean.
- Cancellation: keep the deposit before your cutoff, and recover costs already spent after it.
Mistakes that eat a caterer's margin
- No final count date. Without one, the client can lower the number the morning of the event and expect a smaller bill.
- Calling the service charge a gratuity when the house keeps it. Say what it covers; some states and cities regulate charges that look like tips.
- Quoting a price per guest without saying whether tax and the service charge are on top. It's the most common invoice argument.
- Taking allergy requests by phone. Get them in writing by the count date, so the kitchen and the client are looking at the same list.
- Forgetting the venue. If the venue has no prep kitchen or limits your arrival time, the client needs to know it's their job to arrange.
Send the menu with it
Add your menu or banquet event order as a second PDF in the same envelope. The client signs once, and the signed copy keeps the contract and the menu together.
How to send it with SignMaster
- 1
Open the template
Choose Use this template above. It opens in your SignMaster account with the client and caterer set up as signers.
- 2
Add your standing terms
Write your leftovers policy, what your service charge covers and your cancellation cutoff once, then save the template. They stay the same from event to event.
- 3
Fill in the event
For each booking, fill the gray blanks: date, address, menu, service style, staffing, price per guest and payment dates.
- 4
Send it to the client
Add the client's name and email. They fill in their organization, special meals and a day-of contact, tick that they've read the count and cancellation terms, and sign. You countersign last.
- 5
Keep the signed copy
Both of you get the signed PDF with its certificate of completion. Bring it on the day if the venue questions your arrival time or kitchen access.
Busy season and repeat clients
In December, the same holiday-party package goes to dozens of offices with only the date, address and headcount changing. Bulk send makes one contract per row of a spreadsheet: name your columns after the gray blanks, such as Event date or Price per guest, and each client gets their own numbers in the body of the contract. Reminders follow up on anyone who hasn't signed, so you can order food for the parties that are confirmed.
Questions? Answers.
Can a client sign a catering contract online?
Yes. They open the link on a phone or computer, without an account, and sign there. Under the federal ESIGN Act and state laws, a contract isn't invalid just because it was signed electronically.
What's the difference between a service charge and a gratuity?
A service charge is part of your price, and you decide what it pays for. A gratuity is a voluntary tip for staff. Section 4 keeps them apart, which avoids disputes and helps with local rules on tips.
What if the guest count goes up after the final count date?
Under section 3, you can agree to a higher count if you can cover it. Extra guests served are billed at the price per guest. The count can't go down after the date.
Who fills in which blanks?
You fill the gray ones: the event, menu, prices and policies. The client fills in their organization, any special meals, contact details and a day-of contact, then signs.