Choosing your caterer is one of the most important decisions you’ll make for your event — whether you’re planning a wedding reception, a rehearsal dinner, a corporate event, a celebration of life or a fundraiser. The right catering partner doesn’t just feed your guests well. They help shape the entire experience of the evening.
But not all catering conversations start with the right questions. It’s easy to get caught up in menu excitement before you’ve covered the logistics that actually determine whether your event runs smoothly. Here are the questions to ask your caterer before you sign anything.
About the Menu
Can we customize the menu, or are we choosing from a fixed selection?
This tells you a lot about how a catering company works. At Catering St. Louis Events, our packages are designed to offer exceptional variety with built-in efficiency — which means real value for your budget. But we’re also experts at customization. Whether you want to recreate your grandmother’s family recipe or build an entirely new concept from scratch, like a French countryside menu, our culinary team knows how to make it happen. Your menu is built for you, not the other way around.
How do you handle dietary restrictions and food allergies?
We’re happy to work with clients to accommodate food allergies and special dietary needs, and we take care to ensure those guests never feel singled out. We regularly prepare gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian and vegan options. If you or any of your guests have specific needs, just let us know during the planning process and we’ll make sure they’re taken care of.
Can we do a tasting before we finalize the menu?
For wedding receptions, we include a tasting as part of the planning process. This gives couples the opportunity to experience the food and presentation firsthand before the big day, so there are no surprises and no second-guessing. Tastings are specific to wedding bookings and are a great opportunity to fine-tune your menu selections together with our team.
How far in advance does the menu need to be finalized?
Your menu can be refined and adjusted at any point during the pre-planning process — we’re flexible and want you to feel confident in your selections. Final guest counts are required 10 business days before the event. After that point, changes can still be made, but a fee applies to late adjustments. This helps us ensure we have everything in place to deliver the event you envisioned.
About Service
What service styles do you offer, and what do you recommend for our event?
Seated dinners, buffet, family-style, buffet cocktail dinner, passed appetizers — each creates a different experience for your guests and requires different staffing and timing. A good caterer will have a genuine recommendation based on your guest count, venue layout and the tone of your event, not just whatever is easiest for them to execute.
What can you tell me about your service team?
This is a great question to ask any caterer, and one we’re proud to answer. At Catering St. Louis Events, our service staff brings 46 years of collective experience delivering exceptional hospitality across every type of event. Every team member goes through extensive training before stepping foot at one of our events — because we believe the service experience is just as important as the food. When you book with us, you’re not just getting a culinary team. You’re getting a full service staff that knows how to take care of your guests.
How do you handle the timing of food service during the event?
For weddings especially, this matters enormously. The flow between cocktail hour, dinner service and any late-night food offerings needs to be coordinated with your DJ, photographer and other vendors. Ask how the catering team communicates and coordinates with the rest of your vendor team on the day of the event.
What happens if something goes wrong on the day of the event?
This is a question most people don’t think to ask their caterer before they book, but it’s one of the most important. Every experienced catering team has protocols for handling the unexpected — a late delivery, a last-minute guest count change, a kitchen equipment issue. How they answer this question tells you a lot about how experienced and prepared they are.
About the Venue Relationship
Are you the exclusive caterer for this venue, or can I bring in an outside caterer?
If you’re considering a venue where Catering St. Louis Events is the exclusive caterer, you’re working with a team that knows the space inside and out. That familiarity with the kitchen, the layout, the flow of service and the quirks of the space is a real advantage on your event day.
Have you worked at this venue before?
At Catering St. Louis Events, we work exclusively within our own event spaces and the venues where we hold exclusive contracts. That means when you book with us, you’re working with a team that has deep, long-standing experience with every space we operate in — the kitchen layout, the flow of service, the logistics of load-in and breakdown. We’re not on every preferred vendor list in the city because we’ve chosen to be true experts in the venues we know best. That focus is a real advantage for your event.
What is included in the venue rental versus what comes from the catering package?
Our packages are designed to include everything you need for your event — tables, chairs, linens, dinnerware, bar glasses, setup and breakdown are all part of what we bring to the table (literally). That means no scrambling to figure out who’s responsible for what, and no surprise gaps on event day. And when you want to add something special, our packages can be built upon to make your event exactly what you have in mind.
About the Details
How do you handle bar service?
Ask specifically about who provides the bar staff, how they manage responsible service, what the options are for signature cocktails or specialty beverages, and whether they work with your timeline for last call and service end time.
What is your cancellation and rescheduling policy?
Nobody plans for this, but it’s worth understanding before you sign. Ask about what happens in the event of extreme weather, a venue closure or a family emergency, and what flexibility exists in the contract.
Who will be our primary point of contact, and will they be on-site the day of the event?
This is a practical but important question. Knowing exactly who is managing your event — and that they’ll be present — gives you peace of mind and a clear line of communication if anything needs to be adjusted in real time.
One Final Thought
The best catering conversations feel less like an interview and more like a collaboration. When you ask these questions, pay attention to how they’re answered — with confidence, with specificity, with genuine interest in your event. That’s the sign of a team that will show up for you when it matters most.
At Catering St. Louis Events, we welcome every one of these questions. Our Event Coordinators put their whole heart into every celebration, and we believe the planning process should feel as good as the event itself.
Ready to start the conversation? Reach out to our team — we’d love to hear about your event.
Reach Out to Catering St. Louis Events
Your event is just that: your event. It can be anything you come up with that everyone will enjoy. Make it fun, make it yours — and make sure to contact Catering St. Louis Events for all of your event needs.