# Websites for caterers

> Websites for event and wedding caterers that collect a proper brief - date, guest numbers, venue, style of service - so a quote can go out the same day.

- Source: https://nerdsharks.com/industries/caterers
- Publisher: Nerdsharks (Exeter, Devon, UK)
- Updated: 2026-09-27

There are 10,330 event caterers across 375 UK local authorities (ONS UK Business Counts, SIC 56210, 2025, OGL v3.0).

## How customers choose

Catering is bought for a date. A couple planning a wedding, an office manager organising a summer party, a family arranging a wake at three days’ notice, or someone turning fifty in a village hall: each starts with a date, a rough headcount and a venue, and wants to know whether you are free and roughly what it costs per head. Wedding couples shortlist from the venue’s recommended supplier list and from search, then compare sample menus, photographs of food at real events and tasting arrangements. Corporate buyers want a clear buffet or lunch menu they can order from without a meeting. Funeral catering is fast and sensitive. In every case, dietary requirements come up early: vegan, gluten-free, halal and allergy-safe options often decide who gets the job.

## What most websites in this trade get wrong

Most caterer websites show beautiful food and then say "contact us for a quote", which starts a long email thread before anyone knows whether the date is free or the budget is in range. Publishing sample menus with per-head starting prices, and an enquiry form that captures date, venue, guest numbers, service style and dietary needs, turns that into a single qualified message. The second failure is serving three audiences with one page: weddings, corporate lunches and private parties buy differently and need their own menus and routes. The third is allergen handling - caterers must be able to give accurate allergen information on the fourteen major allergens, and a website that is vague about it worries exactly the customers most likely to ask.

## What the website has to do

- **Qualified quote request** - Date, headcount and venue up front means a quote can go out the same day.
- **Tasting bookings for weddings** - The step that usually decides a wedding catering contract.
- **Repeat corporate orders** - Regular office lunches smooth out a seasonal business.

## Pages

- **Home** - What you cater, the area you cover, and a quote form.
- **Weddings** - Sample menus, service styles, venues worked at, tastings.
- **Corporate catering** - Order-ready menus with per-head prices and lead times.
- **Private parties and wakes** - Buffets and short-notice options.
- **Sample menus** - Real text with dietary markers and starting prices per head.
- **Gallery** - Food and set-ups at real events.
- **Get a quote** - The structured brief.

## Features that matter

- **A quote form asking for date, venue, guest numbers, service style and dietary needs** - Qualifies the enquiry and lets you check availability before replying.
- **Sample menus in text with per-head starting prices** - Filters out budgets that do not fit and speeds up the ones that do.
- **Separate routes for weddings, corporate and private events** - Each buys differently and reads different menus.
- **Clear allergen and dietary approach** - Often the deciding factor, and a legal obligation to get right.
- **A list of venues you have catered at** - Couples and organisers search by venue and trust experience of it.

Trust signals: Food hygiene rating from the Food Standards Agency scheme; Venues you have catered at; Photographs of food at real events; Public and product liability insurance; Allergen training and procedures.

Seasonality: The wedding season runs roughly May to September, with bookings made a year or more ahead. December is dominated by office parties; corporate lunches are steady in term time.

## Local authorities with the most

| Local authority | Businesses |
|---|---|
| Birmingham | 170 |
| North Yorkshire | 115 |
| Somerset | 115 |
| Westminster | 110 |
| Buckinghamshire | 110 |
| Hackney | 100 |
| Ealing | 100 |
| Manchester | 95 |
| Leeds | 95 |
| Lambeth | 95 |

## The offer

- **Monthly**: £299 upfront, £99/month (the upfront is a setup fee), 12-month minimum term. We build it, host it and look after it - and after 24 monthly payments, it is yours.
- **Own It**: £1,795 upfront, £49/month, no minimum term. Buy the website outright. It is yours to keep, move or cancel.
- **Pro**: £6,950 upfront, £299/month, 12-month minimum term. No limits. For large, multi-site and fast-growing businesses.
- Payment: The setup fee is paid when you book, and it starts the design. Monthly fees are collected by Direct Debit, covered by the Direct Debit Guarantee, from the day your site goes live.
- Guarantee: You see your finished design on your phone and approve it before anything goes live, with two full rounds of changes included. Nothing launches until you are happy with it. The Monthly plan runs for 12 months from launch.
- Bolt-ons: Google Business Profile management £29/month; Local SEO pack £49/month; Business email £5/month. Coming soon, not yet on sale: Missed-call text back, Review booster.
- VAT: We are not VAT registered, so there is no VAT to add to these prices.

## Questions

### Should caterers put per-head prices on their website?

Publishing starting prices per head is usually worth it for caterers. It lets people check their budget before they enquire, which saves you writing quotes for events that were never going to book. Present sample menus with "from" prices and explain what changes the final figure, such as service style, staffing and venue.

### What should my catering enquiry form ask for?

A catering enquiry form should ask for the date, venue, guest numbers, type of event, service style and dietary requirements. With those six things you can check availability and send an indicative quote in one reply. Anything else can wait for the conversation.

### Can we just upload our menu as a PDF?

We would strongly advise against it. A PDF menu cannot be read on a phone without pinching and zooming, cannot be found by search engines, and is almost always out of date. Setting the menu as real text on the page is usually the single biggest improvement a restaurant website can make.

### Should I put my prices on my website?

Almost always yes. Hiding prices loses more enquiries than it protects, because people assume the worst and go to a competitor who publishes theirs. If your pricing genuinely varies, publish a range and explain in one sentence what moves it - that converts far better than "contact us for a quote".