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
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.