Catering

When it comes to when to book a caterer for a wedding, you can’t go wrong with signing the contract as soon as you have your date and venue, especially if you’re getting hitched during peak wedding season.

What to Look for in a Caterer

Consider Their Details of Their Food Offerings
Note Their Culinary Ethos – If things like local ingredient sourcing, organic ingredients or sustainably made dishes are important to you as a couple as you search for wedding catering services, then use the presence of these practices to help narrow down your list of caterers.
Inquire About Their Bar Services – Will they be able to provide alcohol or will you need to hire an additional bar service team? Can you bring your own alcohol and, if so, will they charge a corkage fee?
Understand Any Included (or Additional Cost) Extras (linens, place settings, pre-determined percentage of the total as a tip)
Ask How They’ll Accommodate Dietary Restrictions

Making Appointments With Wedding Caterers

Tell us about your event catering experience.
What’s included in your packages?
Are menus preset or can we create a custom menu?
Do you provide rentals, such as linens, glassware etc.?
Can you provide a wedding cake?
Can you work with certain dietary restrictions (vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free etc.)?
Are you licensed to serve alcohol or will we need to hire separate bartenders?
Do you offer menu tastings and if so, how do they work?

Joe’s KC Catering

We selected the wood smoked combo + burnt ends in 2023. That included brisket, pulled pork, burnt ends, BBQ beans, potato salad, cole slaw, bread, upgraded paper products (add-on), pickles, BBQ sauce. Our contact is 2023 was Jenny Russell, 913-362-0661, catering@joeskc.com.

General Services

Delivery and full service catering orders are based on availability.
Full-service caterings include an on-site staff of professional attendants to oversee your event.
We provide buffet setup, including chafing dishes, one-and-a-half hours service time, and buffet clean-up.
There is a $1,500 minimum order on full-service caterings.
All prices are per person.
All catering orders include paper plates, plastic silverware, napkins and serving utensils
Our cake cutting fee is $100 for up to 200 guests. It is additional $0.50 per person beyond 200 guests. One additional hour of service at the end is required for $100, as it will take extra time beyond the service time to complete the cutting of the cake. Please tell us about your cake: Dimensions/tiers/flavors/kind of frosting/fondant, etc. This will help us be prepared, and make sure the cake cutting goes as smoothly as possible.
Two 8-foot buffet tables with linens are preferred. They can supply the linens for $12 each.
A total and signature will be required by the time the servers leave.
Gratuity is not included and is up to our discretion.
All leftovers are ours to take home. They will condense them into the smallest pans possible for easier transport.
They require a final headcount one week prior to the event.
A paper product upgrade is available for an additional $1.00 per person. It includes a clear plastic plate, white linen-like napkin, & silver-like plastic fork, knife, & spoon. They do offer a pricing sheet for china rentals, which I think may not be necessary.
Real china rental has additional setup fees, $100/hour.
Compostable plates/cutlery/napkins are available, $.50 per person. They will not handle composting them. An outside company would need to be hired on your end to execute the actual collection of the products to be composted (ex. Compost Collective KC).
If you would like to reserve your catering with us, we will need a credit card number to hold your reservation. We do not charge any holding fees or deposits, and we have a 14 day notice cancellation policy.

Food Options

Appetizers: grilled vegetable platter, raw vegetable platter, assorted cheese and fruit tray, southwestern black bean dip
Main course offers choices of meat, BBQ beans, potato salad, cole slaw, bread, pickles and BBQ sauce
They offer add-ons for more meat options
They offer full-service canned soda, bottled water
Tea/Lemonade/Water (in beverage dispensers) = $2.50 per person
They offer full-service assorted cobblers, cookies/brownies, or cookies only
Vegetarian option: A Cavatappi pasta with red onion, zucchini, yellow squash, red bell peppers, & portabella mushrooms in a san marzano tomato and garlic broth for $12.95 per person (20 person minimum).
Vegetarian option: A salad option, iceberg, romaine & red leaf lettuces, cherub tomatoes, pepperoncini’s, smoked provolone & croutons served with your choice of dressing on the side ($9.89/person for a full dinner salad, or as an additional side for $3.75/person in bulk on the buffet-minimum 10 people).
Two 8-foot buffet tables with linens are preferred. They can supply the linens for $12 each.
A total and signature will be required by the time the servers leave.
Gratuity is not included and is up to our discretion.
All leftovers are ours to take home. They will condense them into the smallest pans possible for easier transport.
They require a final headcount one week prior to the event.
A paper product upgrade is available for an additional $1.00 per person. It includes a clear plastic plate, white linen-like napkin, & silver-like plastic fork, knife, & spoon. They do offer a pricing sheet for china rentals, which I think may not be necessary.
Real china rental has additional setup fees, $100/hour.
Compostable plates/cutlery/napkins are available, $.50 per person. They will not handle composting them. An outside company would need to be hired on your end to execute the actual collection of the products to be composted (ex. Compost Collective KC).
If you would like to reserve your catering with us, we will need a credit card number to hold your reservation. We do not charge any holding fees or deposits, and we have a 14 day notice cancellation policy.

Cake & Desserts

We originally thought of multiple cakes. Here are plenty of options for us to ponder. Whether we do the full cake, the couple’s cake, custom cookies, cupcakes, and assorted sweets, can’t go wrong.

Get little goodie bags so guests can take home some of the sweets!

Cake Costs

Do’s and Don’ts

Flavors	Options to jazz it up
Vanilla	Most Popular Can add passionfruit curd, vanilla cake with raspberry filling or a tasty strawberry shortcake with heavy vanilla cream.
Chocolate	Try alternating with layers of hazelnut cake, a dark chocolate matcha cake with berries, a mint chocolate cake or a chocolate cake with coffee caramel.
Red Velvet	Cream cheese buttercream is the go-to filling for this cake.
Almond	Considered Traditional Try almond cake with cherry filling or just double down on the nuttiness with caramelized almond filling.
Lemon	Most Popular for Summer Pair lemon cake with lemon curd and fresh strawberries for a tart summer dessert.
Confetti/Funfetti	Less Traditional
Spice	Popular for Fall Serve spice cake with pumpkin cream cheese filling, spiced pear cake with rum glaze or apple spice cake with salted caramel filling.
Marble	Finish yours with a dusting of cinnamon or dulce de leche glaze.
Tiramisu	Coffee and cocoa is one of the best wedding cake flavor combinations. Plus, it could function the same as an espresso martini.
Coconut	I don’t know about this one, not a huge coconut fan. Shaved coconut bits distributed in between the sponge layers can provide a lovely texture too.
Hummingbird	A Southern favorite, hummingbird cake is a traditional flavor that’s packed with pineapple, cinnamon, pecans and bananas. It’s kind of a funky sibling to carrot cake. It also is layered with one of the most crowd-pleasing wedding cake frosting types: cream cheese.
Black Forest Cake	A black forest cake is a little jazzier than your classic chocolate, since the sponge is soaked in cherry brandy. It’s typically topped with whipped cream, chocolate shavings and the ruby-red stone fruits.
Angel Food	It pairs well with all manner of berries.
Olive Oil	Okay, so this cake doesn’t taste like actual olive oil in a big way. Rather, it’s a moist, dense and delicious sponge with some buttery, fruity and herbal undertones. It’s a cool choice for any wedding, but especially one inspired by Italy or set in Italy.
Earl Grey	A heady blend of citrusy bergamot, floral notes and perhaps a touch of vanilla, Earl Grey cake has depth and elegance. It pairs beautifully with other citrus flavors like lemon, and richer sweet flavors like honey and vanilla bean.
Pistachio	Buttery-sweet pistachio is an elegant, yet unexpected wedding cake flavor. Not to mention: The soft green hue is a great jumping off point when it comes to decorating your cake. It’s a perfect blank canvas that still has a touch of personality, so you can push the envelope with unique wedding cake decor ideas.
Lemon-Elderflower	Fun wedding cake flavors typically are an amalgamation of a few different profiles. Take this lemon-elderflower cake, for example. The combo cake gained star power after Harry and Meghan sliced into it during their 2018 nuptials, and we think it’s well worth the hype. It’s one part citrus, one part botanical deliciousness.
Persian Love Cake	If roses play a huge role in your flower arrangements, consider this floral-forward wedding cake flavor. The sponge is made with rosewater, which yields a subtle sweetness without being sugary, as well as cardamon for a warming kick and nutty almond flour.