We cater a wide range of menu styles. Choose from canapés and bowl food for receptions and networking events, finger food or hot and cold buffets for more relaxed events or set menus for more formal occasions. Sharing or banquet style menus are a popular choice that combines the formality of food being served to the table with the informality and choice of a buffet.  We can also cater brilliant BBQ’s in the summer or festive Christmas menus for end of year parties. We also offer crew catering for festivals and filming.

The sample menus available online offer extensive choice so you should be able to curate the perfect menu for your event using them.  However, we understand all events are different so they are not prescriptive and can act as a guideline on how much food to order and the types of dishes required to make up a complete meal (especially with buffets and sharing/banquet menus).  We always try and remain as flexible as possible and work with individual clients to tweak the menus where necessary, eg. if you are providing a cake and would like to have this instead of dessert.

We use Brighton-based food suppliers as much as possible to reduce our carbon footprint and to support local businesses, and only those that produce food in a sustainable way. Where we source suppliers slightly further afield we do so for good reason, for example, we source our cooking oils from green supplier Edible Oil Direct in neighbouring county Kent, because once used, the oil is returned back to Edible Oil Direct who turn this into other products including animal feeds or cosmetics and more recently, biodiesel fuel which is a cheaper, greener alternative to everyday diesel.

You betcha! We would not want to see anyone go hungry at an event we are catering so we will always cater for special diets and food allergies provided we are notified of them well enough in advance. We can provide suitable alternatives or substitute certain ingredients within a dish. Our chefs will be happy to provide details of alternatives.

Unfortunately not. We have worked hard over the years to build a strong reputation for our quality food and menus, so we do not take responsibility for the collection, delivery, handling, preparation, presentation or serving of any food items that have been provided by a client or another caterer. 

We offer a cake cutting service if you would like to provide your own celebration cake. If you do not want to include desserts in your menu and serve your cake instead, this is totally fine as we hate to see food being wasted.

We have a minimum guideline of 40 guests for each event. If your numbers are slightly lower than this we will usually charge for the minimum number of guests in most instances, but may waiver the shortfall depending on the total cost of your event or if we are providing additional services for your event.

Currently we do not offer bespoke tastings. Instead, as we run a few venues and restaurants in Brighton, we invite you to enjoy a meal at our newest venue Post House Café specialising in small and sharing plates so you can sample a few dishes from the current restaurant menu. While this means that you will not be able to sample dishes from your chosen event menu, it will assure you of our cooking skills and quality of ingredients used. The booking is treated the same as a regular restaurant booking and is paid for in full upon your departure. If you are happy to confirm us as your caterer following your visit to Post House Café we will refund the cost of the food items from your final event cost (we are unable to refund the cost of any drinks or service charges paid for at the tasting).

The price listed on the sample menus is a guideline only.  As the menus contain a lot of choice and as some ingredients and items are more expensive than others, we will only be able to calculate the cost of your menu once you have chosen your menu items.  Please note that the price of items are also subject to change as prices have been fluctuating (well, mostly increasing!) lately.  If we are quoting for an event more than 12 months away using current prices, we will add around 5% surcharge on all items to account for a likely increase in prices of goods in order to provide you with a more accurate projection of the cost of your event taking place the following year.

Absolutely! As well as being experienced caterers we are also experienced in running bars so are able to provide this service alongside our food offering if you are looking for food and drinks for your event.  This also makes it much easier for you to deal with one supplier and for us to offer you the best possible prices.  If you are just looking for a bar provider we can do that too.

We do! For buffets and sharing menus these are usually a single plate of a selection of items from the main menu.  For set menus it would usually be the main course and dessert (no starter).

We can cater smaller portions of your chosen menu for older children (ages 8 to 12), or something simpler and more kiddie friendly for the younger ones (ages 2 to 7) such as chicken nuggets and chips or fish fingers and chips. If parents want to provide their own snacks for the children that is not a problem.

We can provide all of the above if your venue does not provide this service. We do not hold this stock and use a local supplier for all our catering equipment. If you require any of the above, please note we only place an order for these items once you have confirmed your event with us. If stock is unavailable at the time of ordering, we will try to source equipment from another supplier but additional charges may apply.

We sure can! We have adopted sustainable and compostable packaging solutions to serve our food in at larger outdoor events or for evening snacks at indoor events once the main meal has been served and the party is in full swing.  The compostable packaging we use is defined by nature and developed by science to deteriorate much quicker than biodegradable packaging.  Our food trays and burger boxes are made using plant fibres from waste streams including sugar cane and palm while our hot food boxes are made from board derived from Forest Stewardship Council approved sources and are unbleached which ensures minimal chemical processing. We’ve also ditched the plastic in favour of wooden cutlery and paper straws that can be easily composted and our napkins are made from 100% recycled paper.

We require final numbers (along with all final special dietary requirements and food allergies) no later than 14 days before your event in order for our chefs to place orders with our food suppliers. If we receive these numbers from you less than 14 days before your event, we cannot guarantee that we will receive the orders in time from our suppliers or that they will be able to deliver all the items we have ordered from them, so may have to substitute certain ingredients or dishes.  We cannot accept any changes to menus after the final numbers have been received.

We can offer a drop-off service for cold buffets and finger buffets only. All other menus require equipment to heat and serve the food as well as staff or chefs onsite to heat and serve the food. Food being dropped off would usually be served on disposable food trays and we can supply disposable plates, cutlery and napkins if you need those too. 

Absolutely! We run several venues in central Brighton so are experienced in running bars if you are looking for drinks at your event.  We have mobile bars (a large vintage silver Airstream and a smaller converted horsebox) that are great for outdoor events or we can run an indoor bar too. We can provide welcome and reception drinks, beers in bottles, cans or on tap as well as a wide range of wine, champagnes, spirits and expertly mixed cocktails too. We can run a pre-paid bar (limit agreed with you in advance) or a cash bar. When running a cash bar we would agree a minimum spend based on the type of event, number of guests and drinks being served.

If you would like to provide your own alcohol or drinks and just need staff to serve them, we can help with that. We do not charge a corkage fee if you do provide your own drinks.  If you are providing your own drinks, we can still provide glassware, all bar equipment and ice if required.

We can set up a hot drink station with hot water urn and a selection of teas and coffees, or serve hot drinks to your guests at their table following the food service depending on your preference.  

When making a booking, we will need to know a few basic details including your full name and contact details, the date and times of your event, type of event, venue, number of guests and what services you are looking for.  Providing as much information as possible enables us to put a more accurate quotation together for you, but we understand that you may be at the very early stages of planning your event so we will do our best to try and provide as much assistance as possible in order to quote for your event.

We are happy to keep dates on hold for you on a provisional basis.  If another client enquires about the same date we will need you to either confirm or release the date.  The date is only confirmed for you once you have paid a deposit by BACS transfer of a minimum of 10% of the total estimated cost of your event.

In order to secure the date for your event we require a deposit of at least 10% of your total estimated cost of your event made by BACS transfer. We require the remaining payment in full also by BACS transfer no less than 1 month before the event date. You have the option to pay in instalments or to pay the amount in full 1 month before your event. If you are paying by credit card, credit card charges at the current rate will be added to your invoice.

If you need to cancel your event for whatever reason, we will refund any money paid as follows: if cancelled less than 6 months from the date of the event you will receive 100% refund of money paid excluding the deposit; if cancelled between 3 and 6 months from the date of the event you will receive 50% refund of money paid excluding the deposit; if cancelled between 1 and 3 months from the date of the event you will receive 25% refund of money paid excluding the deposit; if cancelled less than 3 months from the date of the event no refund will be given.

If you need to reschedule your event for whatever reason, we will do our best to try and accommodate your new date subject to availability and we will carry over any money paid to the new booking date.

We have PLI cover up to £2,000,000, renewed annually.

We have risk assessments for Health & Safety, Food Safety and Fire Safety depending on the type of event and the equipment being used. If you need a copy of any of our risk assessments please ask us.

We have worked at many venues over the years so would not need to carry out a site inspection at a venue that we are familiar with or have preferred supplier status at.  For any new venues, we would carry out a site inspection to understand the location, set up, access, restrictions etc and to meet the onsite venue manager to discuss your requirements in more detail so there are no unexpected surprises onsite on the day of your event.

We have worked in many venues that do not have kitchen facilities. We have a range of kitchen equipment so can set up a temporary kitchen in a back of house space providing there is a power/electricity source and access to water. If we need to bring our kitchen equipment in charges will apply. Where venues have kitchen equipment and facilities we are able to use, we would not charge for kitchen equipment or labour required to set up a temporary kitchen. 

The equipment we would need to bring for your event depends on the venue and what facilities and equipment are available for us to use onsite.  Undertaking a site visit helps us to understand what we will need to bring. If we need to bring any kitchen equipment charges will apply. Our catering equipment ranges from a large mobile catering unit (a kitchen on wheels) to stand alone kitchen appliances such as thermo ovens and induction hobs that can be used to set up a temporary kitchen onsite in a back of house area. 

How much space we require depends on the number of guests we are catering for and the menu you have chosen for your event. We will be able to let you know at the time of enquiring and if your venue is one we have not catered at before, we would need to undertake a site visit to determine the suitability of the back of house space available for the catering.

We are preferred suppliers at The Royal Pavilion, The Brighton Museum, Fabrica, The Spire, Montague Farm, Firle Place, One Church, Coombes Farm and Horstedpond Farm, and have catered at many other venues over the years.

Yes! We have worked in venues with limited back of house space but the one thing we do need is access to power and water. At outdoor venues with limited or no kitchen facilities or set up we can fill water butts from a nearby tap but would still need access to power to plug our mobile units or kitchen equipment in.  We do not need access to a power supply for BBQ’s.

We can cater at most venues providing there is a decent sized back of house area for us to set up our temporary kitchen or a large enough area for us to park our large mobile catering unit. Over the years we have catered at stately homes, prestigious venues, museums, private residences, offices, churches, retail stores, nightclubs, sporting venues, in large marquees… and even in fields on farms with little or no infrastructure!

We are based in Brighton but offer a mobile catering service so are happy to travel to venues across the city, Sussex as well as further afield. The further we have to travel, the more we will need to charge for logistics (petrol, staff travel time etc). We have travelled as far as Cornwall for a client who loved our catering so much they did not want to work with anyone else! 

As well as providing top quality catering for venues across Brighton, Sussex and the south, we also run the kitchens in a few central Brighton pubs, bars and restaurants including The Black Lion pub, The Mesmerist bar and restaurant, Post House Café and The Watershed at Brighton Marina Yacht Club.

We do! We can provide waiting and bar staff for your events as well as mixologists if you are looking for expertly mixed cocktails.  The amount of waiting and bar staff will depend on how big your event is and what services we are providing.

In order to ensure the smooth running of the catering service at your event, we provide an event catering manager who will be your main point of contact on the day.  Behind the scenes we would  have a chef or team of chefs depending on how large your event is and how much catering we are providing.

Our staff have a few different uniforms to choose from. They usually wear all black with blue denim aprons at more formal events, or grey and blue raglan t-shirts with logos on for more casual occasions. Alternatively, if you are having a themed event and would like our staff to wear something of your choosing, we are happy to wear an outfit that you provide.

For almost all food catered events – yes! We do not cook any food onsite as our chefs spend several hours prepping and cooking the food offsite in our prep kitchen beforehand, but the food would need to be reheated and served onsite which requires chefs.  

Yes, we can! We would do this the day before the event so that when we arrive onsite on the day of the your event everything is ready to go and we just need to focus on getting the food served. Alternatively you can choose to do this yourself with your friends or family if you prefer.  

We are happy to add table decorations to the tables if needed, but we leave the decorating of the venue to event theming professionals or to the client if they prefer to do this themselves. 

All setting up of the venue (which might include delivering our mobile catering units to site or laying of tables etc) is done the day before the event so that on the day everything is ready to go and we can just focus in getting the food served. After your event we would try and take everything offsite with us when we leave, but may need to return the following day if we need to tow our large mobile catering units offsite or remove any large equipment from the venue.

We aim to arrive about 2 hours before the first food service is required.  As all of our equipment would already be set up, we arrive with the food straight from our prep kitchen and require around 2hrs to be ready for the first food service to go out. After the last food service ends, we remain onsite between 1 and 2 hours to clear away all used crockery and cutlery and pack up our catering equipment depending on how large event is and how much food was served. If the venue has a time when all guests and suppliers need to be offsite by, we will ensure we are offsite by the required deadline. 

Our staff are paid an hourly rate so we calculate staff costs based on the itinerary we are given before the event which includes travel time to and from the venue and is included in all quotations and invoices. Should your event overrun and our staff are required to stay later than the agreed time, we will issue a follow up invoice for the additional hours calculated at an overtime rate of twice the current hourly rate.