Catering Bill Format for Event & Wedding Food Services.

Two different papers get called a catering bill. One is the estimate that goes out with the quotation. The other is the settlement at the end of the event, when the count is known, the counters have run and the crew is coiling cables. This page is about the second. It is where caterers lose money, because the quote was signed weeks ago and the argument happens at midnight with the host's family listening. Five items start most of those arguments: how many plates were eaten, what an extra plate costs, who pays for overtime, who pays for breakage, and what happened to the counter somebody dropped at six. Each of them can be settled by a piece of paper made at the event, and the Excel on this page gives you the paper.

Start with the count, because every rupee in the bill hangs off it. Stand one person with a hand tally at one spot, the buffet entry or a token desk, and never count tables. Note the running total at fixed times and get the host's representative to initial each. In the sample the readings were 120 at 7:30 pm, 310 at 8:30, 455 at 9:30, 462 at 10:30 and 462 at close. The guarantee was 400, so the billed count is the higher figure, 462. Without those initials the host remembers 430, and the gap is 32 plates at ₹935, which is ₹29,920. If the host insists on 400 the gap is all 62 plates, ₹57,970. The plate count sheet in the workbook checks that the signed number equals the highest tally and warns you when it does not.

The extra-plate rate needs to be in the contract, and so does a limit. A common arrangement is base rate plus a surcharge, since late plates are cooked to order and the crew is stretched. In the sample it is ₹850 plus 10%, so ₹935. A limit protects you from a kitchen that cannot cook 100 more portions of paneer at 9 pm, so write it as a share of the guarantee or a fixed plate count. Here the guarantee was 400 and the host's count ran 62 over. At 9:15 pm the host asked by message for more food and the kitchen agreed in writing to cook for up to 70 more. That message went into the dispute log and is stapled behind the bill. It costs nothing to keep and it saves the argument.

Overtime and breakage are small money and large friction. Nine stewards kept for two extra hours at ₹250 an hour is 18 staff-hours and ₹4,500. Seven glass bowls broken at ₹150 is ₹1,050. Neither is worth a fight if the rate is not written down, so print both rates in the contract and get the damage report signed by the host's representative before your crew leaves the venue. Photograph the damage against the bill number. Whether a recovery for breakage carries GST is a question for your CA. The sample puts it in the taxable value, which is the cautious choice, and the workbook lets you move it out.

What was not served does not go on the bill. The host had booked three live counters at ₹17,000 and dropped the dessert counter at 6:10 pm by message, so the bill carries two counters, ₹34,000. Write the change on the dispute log with the time and both sets of initials. If you had already bought ingredients for the dropped counter, say so at the time and add the cost to the log, because a claim raised on the bill a week later sounds like an afterthought. Leftover food, uncooked stock and wastage are your risk under a guarantee and never appear on the bill.

Tax on the settlement bill is 5% without input credit at ordinary venues. On the sample's ₹4,37,520 of taxable value that is ₹21,876, split into ₹10,938 CGST and ₹10,938 SGST for an in-state event, or ₹21,876 IGST if you cook in another state, and the total ₹4,59,396 does not change. Overtime and breakage ride with the catering supply, which is why they are not billed at 18%. If your event turns out to be at specified premises, the rate is 18% and there is a rate cell on the bill sheet for that. Deduct advances by voucher, here ₹1,50,000 on RV/2627/0044 and ₹1,00,000 on RV/2627/0052, which leaves ₹2,09,396.

Time it in two steps. Close the night with the count sheet and the dispute log signed, because those are the documents nobody can rebuild later. Send the priced bill within a day or two by WhatsApp, and issue the formal tax invoice within 30 days of the event, which is the legal limit for a service. If the host wants the balance settled on the night, quote it from the signed count and the agreed extras only. A caterer who reads out a total before the count is signed has given the host a number to bargain down.