Catering Checklists Kit Pro: Catering Event Checklist Templates for Excel

One list for each phase of the event, so nothing depends on memory. Advance planning: review the BEO (banquet event order) with the guaranteed count, menu and allergens, confirm dietary restrictions with the client, build the shopping list and the production run sheet. Production at the commissary: personal hygiene, a safe kitchen start-up, day-before prep, event-day cooking, pre-plating and packing in labeled hotel pans and insulated carriers. Then transport, setup at the venue, service by role, breakdown and the post-event wrap-up, plus the money: signed quote, deposit, invoice and balance. Each task needs who does it, a time and a check mark, and someone signs off the sheet.

Arrive at the venue at least 3 hours before the event starts. Check access, power, potable water, restrooms, cold storage and the handwashing station; coordinate the unloading; supervise the room setup and check the buffet and stations against the floor plan; hold separate pre-event briefings with the service team (timing, menu, allergens, VIPs) and the kitchen (order of service, temperatures); and do a final check-in with the client. During the event: service timing, plating quality, buffet refills, incidents and the bar. After: an orderly breakdown, the equipment count, incidents, breakage and waste logged, and the team's time-clock records closed out. In this kit, that is the event manager's checklist, and each role has its own.

Under the FDA Food Code, hot food stays at 135 °F or above and cold food at 41 °F or below: check and log it before loading, every 30 minutes on the road, at unloading and on the line. Chafing dishes hold food, they don't reheat it: reheat cold food to 165 °F first. Anything traveling or sitting out without temperature control falls under time as a public health control (3-501.19): mark the time it left 41 °F or 135 °F and serve it within 4 hours, trip and service included; whatever is left at 4 hours is discarded, and it can't go back into holding to restart the clock. Cold food can go up to 6 hours only if it starts at 41 °F or below and you check it never passes 70 °F. That needs a written procedure and, depending on your county, notice to the health department. After the event, food that stayed at a safe temperature and never went out to guests is kept: hot food is cooled (135 °F to 70 °F within 2 hours, then to 41 °F within 4 more) and cold food goes straight back to 41 °F or below; anything that sat on the buffet or was held under time as a public health control is discarded.

Setup: the temporary kitchen placed per the floor plan with power and water, a handwashing station if the site has no sink, open flame only if the venue and the fire marshal allow it, and a temporary food establishment permit if you cook at a public event and your county or city requires one. Then the room (tables, linens, place settings, centerpieces, lighting and sound), the buffet and stations with chafing dishes and a sign on each dish with its name and major allergens, and a final check: sample table, room temperature, restrooms and emergency exits. Breakdown: linens sorted, glassware racked, flatware counted against inventory, equipment off and chafing fuel snuffed, leftovers handled by the cooling rule, the kitchen area left as you found it, a final walk-through and the departure time logged.

Yes, you will find free checklist templates online, and a blank one is fine to get started. This kit is something else: 11 Excel workbooks with 347 catering tasks already written and sorted by event phase, area and role, a counter on every checklist that skips the tasks you mark N/A, temperatures in °F and an event settlement in US dollars. Print it on US Letter, or save any sheet as a PDF from Excel.

Yes. Every checklist comes with the real tasks of a professional catering company already written. You'll want to make it yours: adjust tasks to your operation, delete the ones that don't apply and add your own. The editable cells are green, and the commissary and payment checklists end with 5 free green rows that the counter already includes.

Yes. It covers off-site production at your commissary, transport and delivery, setup at the venue, service by role, breakdown and load-out, and the post-event wrap-up. On top of that, the commissary has its own opening and closing checklist, and each event's money (deposit, settlement, invoice and balance) has its own workbook.

Yes. The general checklists (production, transport, setup, roles) work for any event, and there are specific checklists for each format: weddings (guaranteed count, seating chart with allergies, cake cutting, open bar, late-night snack), corporate events (agenda, AV, coffee breaks, dietary restrictions in writing), cocktail receptions (12–15 pieces per person for 2 hours, 1 server per 20 guests for passed trays, an allergen card on every tray) and outdoor events (weather checks, a rain plan, generator, tent, food safety in the heat).

The deposits, invoicing and payments workbook tracks each event's money: the deposit (usually 30–50%, per your contract), the invoice total, the balance after the deposit and the balance due, with a status that turns OVERDUE once the due date passes. For sales tax, you type your combined state and local rate once (the cell starts at 0) and split each event's pre-tax amount between a taxable and a non-taxable subtotal; the sheet applies the rate only to the taxable part and warns you if the two don't add up. What is taxable is up to your state: in many states food, drinks, rentals and the mandatory service charge. A mandatory service charge is not a tip: it is your revenue, and whatever part of it you pay to staff is wages for the IRS, not tips (Rev. Rul. 2012-18), while a gratuity is the client's choice and goes on a separate line. A tax-exempt client needs their exemption certificate on file. The kit organizes the numbers; it is not tax advice, so check with your CPA or your state's department of revenue.

Checklist apps charge a monthly fee per location and need connected tablets or phones. This kit gives you the same kind of task lists in Excel for $19, a one-time payment, with no limit on events. What it is not: there are no reminders, photos or notifications on your staff's phones.

Yes. One purchase covers one business with all of its events and locations, so you can run the checklists for every event you manage, several a week if you need to. If you are a consultant, you can use the checklists with your clients, but you can't hand them copies: each business buys its own.

Yes, with a few edits, all in cells you can change (the protected sheets have no password). The kit is set up for the US: temperatures in °F under the FDA Food Code, the 9 major allergens, sales tax and dollars. In the UK, where off-site catering is usually called event catering, cold holding is 8 °C or below and hot holding 63 °C or above, and allergen information covers 14 allergens (the buffet signs and tray cards already note the UK's 14); the events calendar has a UK note for bank holidays and Boxing Day. In Canada and Australia, type your province's or state's holding temperatures in °C and its allergen list into the tasks. On the payments sheet, type your VAT, GST or HST rate in the tax rate cell (what is taxable is for your accountant to say), and change the bills and coins of the optional cash table to your currency. If you serve alcohol, you need the licence your event requires; the legal age is 18 in the UK and Australia (where staff also need an RSA certificate), and 19 in most Canadian provinces (18 in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec). Every English edition also includes the US · UK · Canada · Australia Equivalents Guide, a bonus with the local terms, taxes, food safety, staff rules and alcohol side by side.

The price is $19 USD, a one-time payment. At checkout, Stripe can show the amount in your local currency (for example GBP, EUR, CAD or AUD) and converts it for you.

No subscription: you pay once and get lifetime access to the online dashboard. When we add new templates or improvements, you get them at no extra cost — just download the files again.

Yes. A full 30-day guarantee. If you're not happy, we'll refund 100% with no questions asked.