How to Create a Catering Menu That Actually Sells

A catering menu has a different job from a restaurant menu. In a restaurant, customers are usually choosing what they want to eat right now. With catering, they may be planning lunch for 20 employees, a birthday dinner for 50 guests, or a wedding reception months in advance.

That means they need to understand more than what the food is. They want to know how much food to order, how many people each option serves, what the approximate cost will be, whether you can accommodate dietary requirements, whether delivery is available, and how far in advance they need to order.

A good catering menu answers these questions before the customer has to ask them.

In this guide, we'll explain how to create a catering menu, what to include, how to structure your dishes and packages, and how to make your menu easier for customers to understand and ultimately easier to buy from.

What Is a Catering Menu?

A catering menu is a list of food, drinks, packages, and services that a catering business or restaurant offers for events and group orders. Unlike a standard restaurant menu, it usually includes additional information such as serving sizes, minimum quantities, price per person, package pricing, dietary options, add-ons, delivery details, and ordering deadlines.

Catering menus can be created for many types of events, including:

• Corporate lunches
• Weddings
• Birthday parties
• Private dinners
• Conferences
• School events
• Holiday parties
• Baby showers
• Business meetings
• Large family gatherings

The purpose of the menu is to help customers quickly understand whether your catering service fits their event, budget, and number of guests.

How to Create a Catering Menu

A strong catering menu usually comes down to eight things:

1. Know who you're catering for
2. Choose a manageable selection of dishes
3. Organize your menu into clear categories
4. Create packages that make ordering easier
5. Show portions and serving sizes
6. Price your catering menu properly
7. Write clear menu descriptions
8. Make the menu easy to view, share, and update

Here's how to approach each step.

1. Decide Who Your Catering Menu Is For

Before choosing dishes, decide what kinds of events you actually want to cater. A business focused on corporate lunches needs a very different menu from a wedding caterer, and trying to cover every possible occasion can make your menu unnecessarily complicated.

For example, corporate catering customers may care most about individual lunch boxes, sandwich platters, salads, breakfast trays, coffee, reliable delivery, and clear per-person pricing. Wedding customers, on the other hand, may expect canapés, multi-course meals, buffet packages, desserts, drinks, staffing, table service, and more customization.

Party catering often sits somewhere in between, with customers looking for easy-to-share dishes such as platters, finger foods, pizza, sliders, tacos, desserts, and drinks.

Start with the customers you most want to attract and build the menu around their most common needs.

2. Don't Put Everything You Can Cook on the Menu

More choice doesn't necessarily make a catering menu better. If a customer opens your menu and sees 47 mains, 31 sides, 16 salads, and 28 appetizers, they may feel overwhelmed rather than impressed.

Your menu should be curated around dishes that work particularly well for catering. Good options tend to travel well, hold their quality during transportation, can be prepared consistently in larger quantities, have predictable ingredient costs, and fit comfortably within your kitchen capacity.

It's also worth thinking about operational efficiency. A slightly simpler dish that you can prepare consistently for 80 people may be far more valuable to your business than an impressive dish that becomes difficult to execute at scale.

3. Organize Your Catering Menu Into Clear Categories

Customers should be able to understand the structure of your catering menu within seconds. Instead of displaying one long list of dishes, group related options into clear categories.

A simple catering menu might look like this:

You don't necessarily need every section. A small lunch caterer might only need Packages, Sandwich Platters, Salads, Desserts, and Drinks, while a wedding caterer may require a much more detailed structure.

The important thing is that customers shouldn't have to hunt through your menu to find what they need.

4. Create Catering Packages

One of the easiest ways to simplify a catering menu is to sell packages. Instead of asking customers to assemble an entire meal from individual dishes, give them ready-made combinations that already work well together.

For example:

Classic Lunch Package

$18 per person

Minimum 10 guests

Includes:

• Choice of two sandwich varieties
• Seasonal salad
• Potato chips
• Cookie
• Bottled water

Premium Lunch Package

$27 per person

Minimum 10 guests

Includes:

• Choice of two mains
• Two sides
• Seasonal salad
• Dessert
• Soft drinks

Celebration Package

$42 per person

Minimum 20 guests

Includes:

• Three appetizers
• Two mains
• Three sides
• Dessert selection
• Soft drinks

Packages make ordering easier because they reduce the number of decisions the customer has to make. They also make the approximate cost of an event much easier to understand. Someone organizing lunch for 30 people can immediately calculate roughly what they should expect to spend.

You can still allow customers to customize packages, but starting from a predefined option makes the buying process much less intimidating.

5. Include Serving Sizes

One of the biggest differences between a catering menu and a standard restaurant menu is quantity. A customer shouldn't have to guess whether a platter feeds four people or forty.

Include serving information directly alongside each item, for example:

Chicken platter — $75
Serves 8–10

Mini sandwich platter — $48
12 sandwiches

Caesar salad — $35
Serves 6–8

Chocolate brownie tray — $28
12 pieces

For packages charged per person, make that equally clear:

Italian Buffet — $32 per person
Minimum 20 guests

Clear quantities make it easier for customers to compare options and build an order without contacting you for every small detail.

6. Price Your Catering Menu Properly

Pricing catering isn't simply a matter of multiplying your restaurant menu prices. Catering orders often involve additional preparation, packaging, delivery, setup, staffing, and administration, all of which need to be reflected in your prices.

When setting prices, consider costs such as:

• Ingredients
• Food preparation
• Kitchen labor
• Packaging
• Delivery
• Setup
• Cleanup
• Serving staff
• Equipment
• Utilities
• Administrative time
• Payment fees
• Waste
• General overhead

Once those costs are covered, you still need enough margin for the order to be worthwhile.

Common Catering Pricing Formats

There are several ways to present catering prices, and you can use more than one format within the same menu.

Per person

This works particularly well for buffets, set menus, and larger events.

Breakfast Buffet — $19 per person

Per platter or tray

This format is common for office lunches, casual events, and parties.

Mediterranean Platter — $65
Serves 8–10

Per item

This is useful for appetizers, desserts, sandwiches, and finger food.

Mini Beef Sliders — $4.50 each
Minimum order: 20

Fixed packages

A fixed package works well for customers who want a straightforward option without calculating quantities themselves.

Party Package for 20 — $450

Includes mains, sides, dessert, and drinks.

The right approach depends on the type of catering you offer, but the pricing should always be easy for customers to understand.

7. Set Minimum Orders

Small catering orders can require nearly as much administration and coordination as larger ones, which is why minimum order requirements can be important for profitability.

You might set a minimum based on total order value, number of guests, or quantity per item. For example:

Minimum catering order: $150

or

Minimum 15 guests

or

Minimum 12 pieces per appetizer

Whatever rule you use, make it visible on the menu. Customers should understand the requirement before they spend time planning an order.

8. Write Menu Descriptions That Help People Choose

Customers cannot taste or smell your food while browsing a catering menu, so descriptions need to do some of that work for you.

Compare a menu item called simply:

Chicken

with:

Herb-Roasted Chicken
Tender chicken breast roasted with garlic, lemon, rosemary, and thyme.

The second version immediately gives the customer a clearer idea of what they'll receive.

Good catering menu descriptions usually communicate the main ingredient, preparation method, important flavors, sauces or accompaniments, and relevant dietary characteristics. They don't need to be long; one concise sentence is usually enough.

For example:

Wild Mushroom Rigatoni — $12/person
Rigatoni with roasted mushrooms, garlic, parmesan, parsley, and creamy white wine sauce. Vegetarian.

Descriptions like this help customers compare dishes more easily while also making the food feel more appealing and valuable.

9. Clearly Mark Dietary Options

Dietary requirements matter even more with catering because one order often needs to accommodate many different guests.

Use consistent labels such as:

• Vegetarian
• Vegan
• Gluten-free
• Dairy-free
• Nut-free
• Halal

You can include these labels alongside individual dishes or create a dedicated section for dietary options. If certain dishes can be modified, make that clear as well.

For example:

Roasted Vegetable Bowl — $14/person
Vegan. Gluten-free option available.

If your kitchen cannot guarantee that an item is completely free from allergens because of cross-contamination, explain that separately rather than making promises you cannot safely support.

The easier it is for the event organizer to identify suitable food for different guests, the easier your catering service becomes to choose.

10. Add Upsells and Extras

The food itself is often only part of what a catering customer needs. Depending on the type of event, they may also need drinks, disposable tableware, delivery, equipment, or staff.

A separate Add-ons section makes these options easy to discover and can increase the average value of each order.

Possible add-ons include:

• Coffee
• Bottled water
• Soft drinks
• Desserts
• Extra sides
• Disposable plates
• Cutlery
• Napkins
• Serving utensils
• Chafing dishes
• Delivery
• Setup
• Cleanup
• Servers
• Bartenders

For example:

Add-ons

Coffee service — $4/person

Dessert selection — $6/person

Disposable plates & cutlery — $2/person

On-site server — $45/hour

This helps customers plan the entire event in one place instead of contacting you later to ask what else is available.

11. Tell Customers How to Order

Once a customer has looked through your menu and found something they like, the next step should be obvious. Don't make them reach the end of the menu and wonder what they're supposed to do next.

Include a clear call to action such as “Request a Catering Quote”, “Place a Catering Order”, or “Contact Us About Your Event.”

It's also useful to tell customers what information they should include when contacting you. Asking for the event date, location, number of guests, preferred package, dietary requirements, and delivery or pickup preference can significantly reduce back-and-forth communication.

The goal is to make the transition from browsing the menu to making an enquiry as simple as possible.

12. Include Your Catering Policies

Your catering menu doesn't need to be filled with legal text, but customers should understand the basic rules that could affect their order.

You might include details such as:

Order notice: Catering orders require at least 48 hours' notice.

Cancellation: Orders cancelled less than 24 hours before delivery may be non-refundable.

Delivery: Delivery is available within 10 miles. Fees depend on location.

Deposit: A 25% deposit is required for events over $500.

Final guest count: Final guest numbers must be confirmed five days before the event.

Your exact policies will depend on how your business operates, but making important conditions visible early helps avoid misunderstandings later.

Example Catering Menu

Here's how all of these principles could come together in a simple catering menu.

Catering Packages

Office Lunch

$18/person — minimum 10 guests

Choose two sandwich varieties and one salad. Includes potato chips, cookies, and bottled water.

Classic Buffet

$29/person — minimum 15 guests

Choose two mains, two sides, and one salad. Includes bread and a dessert selection.

Premium Event

$45/person — minimum 20 guests

Choose three appetizers, two mains, three sides, and two desserts. Soft drinks and bread are included.

Mains

Lemon Herb Chicken
Roasted chicken breast with garlic, lemon, rosemary, and thyme.

Slow-Cooked Beef
Tender braised beef with red wine gravy and roasted onions.

Wild Mushroom Rigatoni
Rigatoni with mushrooms, garlic, parmesan, and creamy white wine sauce. Vegetarian

Sides

• Garlic roasted potatoes
• Seasonal roasted vegetables
• Herbed rice
• Mac & cheese
• Grilled vegetables

Salads

Classic Caesar
Romaine, parmesan, croutons, and Caesar dressing.

Mediterranean Salad
Tomato, cucumber, olives, red onion, herbs, and lemon dressing. Vegan

Desserts

Mini Cheesecake Selection — $36
12 pieces

Chocolate Brownies — $28
12 pieces

Seasonal Fruit Platter — $45
Serves 8–10

Add-ons

Coffee — $4/person
Soft drinks — $3/person
Plates & cutlery — $2/person
Delivery — from $25

Should You Put Catering Prices on Your Menu?

Whenever possible, giving customers at least some pricing information is usually better than displaying nothing at all.

A menu that says only “Corporate catering — Contact us” forces someone to start a sales conversation before they even know whether your service is within their budget.

Instead, you might say:

Corporate lunch packages from $18/person

or:

Wedding catering from $65/person

You can still prepare a custom quote once you know the exact requirements of the event. The goal isn't necessarily to publish a final price for every possible scenario, but to give potential customers enough information to understand your general price range.

For more customized catering, phrases such as “Starting from $45/person,” “Packages from $500,” or “Custom menus available on request” can work well.

Printed, PDF, or Digital Catering Menu?

Catering menus tend to change frequently. Prices increase, seasonal dishes come and go, minimum order requirements change, delivery fees are adjusted, and some items may become temporarily unavailable.

Printed menus make these updates difficult because every significant change can require another print run. PDFs are easier to replace, but customers may still have an older version saved in an email, on their phone, or inside a company folder.

A digital catering menu solves this by giving you one menu link that always points to the latest version. You can place that link on your website, Google Business Profile, Instagram bio, emails, WhatsApp messages, proposals, flyers, or behind a QR code.

When something changes, you update the menu itself rather than creating and redistributing another file.

Create a Digital Catering Menu

You don't need to design your catering menu from scratch.

With mmmmenu, you can create an online catering menu, add your dishes and prices, customize the design, and share it through a direct link or QR code.

You can organize dishes into categories, add item descriptions and prices, customize colors and fonts, update the menu whenever something changes, and give customers a mobile-friendly menu that's easy to browse.

Start with the Catering Menu Template, customize it for your business, and publish your menu online.

Create your catering menu →

Catering Menu Checklist

Before publishing your menu, make sure a potential customer can quickly answer the following questions:

• What types of catering do you offer?
• What dishes can I order?
• How much does everything cost?
• How many people does each item serve?
• Is there a minimum order?
• What packages are available?
• Are vegetarian, vegan, or other dietary options available?
• Can I customize a package?
• Do you deliver?
• How much notice do you require?
• Are there additional fees?
• How do I place an order or request a quote?

If your menu answers these questions clearly, you've already removed many of the obstacles between someone discovering your catering business and becoming a customer.

Final Thoughts

A catering menu shouldn't simply list everything your kitchen can make. Its job is to make planning an event easier.

The strongest catering menus guide customers toward suitable packages, clearly explain prices and quantities, identify dietary options, and make the next step obvious. Start with a focused selection of dishes, organize them into logical categories, add serving sizes and prices, and create packages for customers who don't want to build an order from scratch.

Finally, make the menu easy to share and keep updated. The easier your catering menu is to understand, the easier it becomes for customers to choose your business.