Questions to ask before preparing a catering quote
Start with the event date, service time, venue, guest count and requested menu. Record whether the count is confirmed or estimated. Arrival and setup can happen earlier than service, so write those times separately.
Ask about service style, staff, equipment, access and collection. Confirm what the requested budget covers and whether it is a total or an amount per guest. A budget is a starting point for discussion; it is not the price you have agreed to provide.
Record dietary requests for the responsible caterer to review. Leave missing details marked To confirm instead of guessing. Keep private contact and dietary information out of public examples.
- Customer and event
- Catering business; Inquiry reference and recorded date; Contact and organization; Reply details; Event name and purpose; Event date; Service time and timezone; Guest count.
- Location and service
- Venue and address; Arrival and access; Service requested; Finish and collection.
- Menu and requirements
- Requested menu and quantities; Dietary requests; Staff and equipment responsibilities.
- Budget and quote preparation
- Requested budget and currency; What the budget includes; Quote deadline; Approving contact.
- Details to confirm
- Open question one; Open question two; Next action.
Use the Cedar Room example
The filled questionnaire records an invented 50-guest workshop lunch with several details still missing. It shows how to record unanswered questions without turning an inquiry into a confirmed booking.
Our first-booking teaching pack follows that same fictional inquiry through costing, a customer quote, a change to 60 guests and a revised kitchen handoff. Its assumptions and answer notes are explicit. The existing Northwood product walkthrough is a separate example.
FICTIONAL FILLED EXAMPLE · CEDAR-TRAINING-01
- Catering business
- Practice Catering Fictional training business
- Inquiry reference and recorded date
- CEDAR-TRAINING-01 October 23, 2026
- Contact and organization
- Alex, Training Client Cedar Room workshop
- Reply details
- cedar-room@example.com Phone not supplied
- Event name and purpose
- Cedar Room training lunch Workshop lunch
- Event date
- November 16, 2026
- Service time and timezone
- 12:30 America/Edmonton
- Guest count
- 50 initially requested Estimate Confirm before issuing the quote
- Venue and address
- Cedar Room training venue Fictional address pending confirmation
- Arrival and access
- Proposed arrival 12:00 Loading and setup access to confirm
- Service requested
- Drop-off lunch Collection and staffing scope to confirm
- Finish and collection
- To confirm
- Requested menu and quantities
- 50 lunches requested initially 48 standard and 2 vegetarian alternatives requested for operator review
- Dietary requests
- Two vegetarian alternatives requested; allergy details and suitability still to confirm with the responsible caterer
- Staff and equipment responsibilities
- Caterer and customer responsibilities to confirm before quoting
- Requested budget and currency
- To confirm CAD proposed for the exercise Whole-event budget not supplied
- What the budget includes
- To confirm; do not assume delivery, equipment or taxes are included
- Quote deadline
- To confirm with the coordinator
- Approving contact
- Coordinator's authority to approve is to confirm
- Open question one
- Confirm final count, requested menu and dietary requirements Coordinator and caterer Before quote approval
- Open question two
- Confirm address, access, service responsibilities, finish and collection Coordinator Before booking is finalized
- Next action
- Ask for missing details, then prepare a quote for review Catering owner No booking or payment confirmed
All names and details are invented. This is an early inquiry record, not the completed case answer. The teaching pack supplies later fictional confirmations, prices and revisions. Existing Northwood screenshots and downloads are separate examples.
Turn the inquiry into a quote
After reviewing the request, use the pricing calculator and worksheet to work through your own costs. Then prepare a customer quote with the agreed scope and price. Keep your internal costs and planning margin separate from the customer document.
The quote and prep templates are manual downloads. They do not import into CaterScale or update one another.
Organize the booking in CaterScale
When you want to manage the booking in CaterScale, set up your business, customers and menu, then review and save the event details. CaterScale's inquiry tools can suggest details for staff review; staff choose the current customer and menu records and explicitly save the event.
These downloads are separate manual resources. Starting a trial does not import your completed questionnaire or automatically create a quote or booking.
14-day trial. Up to five team members. Unlimited venues.
US$49/month, or US$39.99/month billed annually at US$479.88/year.
Common questions
Is the catering inquiry form free?
Yes. You can download the blank questionnaire and filled example without creating an account.
Can customers submit this form on this page?
This page provides editable Word documents and printable PDFs. It does not submit an inquiry or send the completed information to CaterScale.
What if the customer has not confirmed every detail?
Write To confirm, record who will answer and agree when to follow up. Review the missing information before you prepare or approve the quote.
Does completing the questionnaire confirm the booking?
No. Scope, price, approval and any payment arrangements need to be handled separately.