How to Choose Catering Services in Bangalore

What good catering services look like before you book

In short: Good catering services give you a written menu, guest count and quote before you pay, and cook to your tradition. Book 4 to 8 weeks ahead for weekend, festival and muhurta dates.

Most hosts don't end up with a bad caterer by being careless. Nobody told them what to ask. You call three numbers, each says "no problem, sir", and you're left comparing voices. That's no way to choose. This guide is the list of things to put on paper, so you can compare caterers by what they write down and not by how sure they sound.

If you are planning a wedding, Griha Pravesh, puja, birthday or temple function in Bangalore, the event pages on SLV's catering services page show what we cook and for how many guests. Send the date, guest count and venue and SLV replies on WhatsApp with a menu and quote.

What catering services actually cover

"Catering" sounds like one thing. It is really three questions, and a caterer can answer each one differently.

One trade guide, from Nestlé Professional, splits commercial catering into event, service and location catering. The split is useful to a host because it tells you which question you are answering when you say "we need a caterer".

Three ways to look at a catering job

Source: Nestlé Professional

Read the third row twice. A flat, a house or a small hall rarely has a commercial kitchen. So the real question is whether the caterer cooks in their own kitchen and delivers hot, or cooks on your premises. Both work. They need different planning, and the quote should say which one it is.

For a traditional function there is a fourth question nobody lists: who does the serving? A banana leaf lunch served by people who know the order of dishes feels different from a counter where guests queue up.

Which events can one caterer handle?

Searchers often ask this first, and rightly. A caterer built for 2,000 wedding guests may not be the best choice for a 15-person puja, and the reverse is true too.

Here are the guest ranges SLV publishes for its own catering. They are ours, not an industry standard, but they show the kind of thing to ask any caterer: what is the smallest and biggest job you take?

Guest counts SLV caters for

Source: SLV's services, birthday and corporate pages

If a caterer will not tell you a minimum, that is an answer. Ask before you fall in love with the menu. A caterer who doesn't do functions of your size will tell you late, if they tell you at all.

What a written quote should list

This is the part most pages skip. People ask "how much per plate?" and stop. The per-plate number alone tells you almost nothing, because two caterers can quote the same figure and mean very different things.

We quote catering per enquiry, because the menu, the guest count, the date and the venue all change the cost. We do not publish a per-plate price, and you should be wary of any page that gives one flat figure for every function. Whatever caterer you choose, ask for these on paper.

What to see in a written quote

None of this is rude to ask. A caterer who knows their work will have answers ready. One who gets vague at "who does the cleanup?" is telling you something.

Check the licence and the kitchen

In India, a food business needs a licence or a registration. That is the law, not a favour. Section 31(1) of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 says "No person shall commence or carry on any food business except under a licence." Section 31(2) lets very small operators, such as petty retailers and tiny food businesses, register instead of taking a full licence.

Which of those two a given caterer needs depends on the size of the business, and the compliance sites online do not agree with each other on the details. So don't try to work it out. Ask the caterer for their FSSAI number and look at it. A proper caterer won't mind.

Then look at the kitchen, or ask to. You don't need an inspector's eye, because four things tell you plenty:

• Is the kitchen clean and the food covered?
• Are the ingredients fresh, or is it stock bought in bulk days ago?
• Is it the same kitchen that will cook your food, or a subcontractor?
• If you need a no onion, no garlic or pure veg meal, is the whole kitchen set up for it, or do they "arrange" it?

That last point matters more than it sounds. For a puja or a temple function, many families want a kitchen that is vegetarian throughout, not one that "arranges" a veg counter. Ours is 100% vegetarian and has never handled non-veg. No onion or garlic is available on request (it is not the default), so say it when you enquire.

Tasting, and what to look for in it

Ask whether you can taste before you confirm. Rules differ from caterer to caterer: some may charge for it, some may fold it into the booking, some may not offer it. Ask each caterer, us included, what their rule is and get the answer in writing.

If you do get a tasting, do not judge by one dish. Taste the things that go wrong at scale: rice, sambar, payasa, anything fried. Ask how the same dish will hold up when it is made in a huge vessel and carried to a venue. A good sambar at a tasting of ten plates is a different thing from a good sambar at 500.

Proof that is worth asking for

Every caterer's page says the food is great. Costs nothing to write. A short list of things you can check yourself is much harder to fake.

Ask for photos of a past function of your size and kind, not a cover shot of a plated starter. Look at the setup: how the food is held, how the serving line looks, how many people are working. Ask whether a past host would talk to you. Someone who hosted a Griha Pravesh last season can tell you things no brochure will: did the hot food arrive on time, was there enough, were the staff polite to elders.

We haven't published customer names, review counts or a number of years in business, and we won't make one up for this page. What we can tell you is what the kitchen is and how it works. Good caterers will show you the same.

Watch for the opposite too. Be careful with a caterer who offers everything: North Indian, Chinese, continental, live pasta, all from one kitchen for one price. A narrow menu cooked every day by the same hands is usually safer than a wide one cooked once for you.

When to book, and how to count guests

How early should you book? For weekend, festival and muhurta dates, we say 4 to 8 weeks ahead. Every host wants those dates at once, and the good caterers fill up first. A plain Tuesday is easier. But if your date is fixed by a muhurta, treat it as a busy date even if it falls on a weekday.

Here is the order things usually go in, from the first call to the day itself.

From enquiry to event day

1. Send the date, guest count and venue.
2. Receive a menu and quote in writing.
3. Change the menu until it fits your tradition and your budget.
4. Confirm, and agree on how you pay.
5. On the day, check timing for the muhurta and the first serving.

On counting guests, be honest with yourself. Invitation lists lie in both directions. Some people do not come, others bring someone. Our own housewarming checklist uses a buffer of 10%: for 100 guests, ask for 10 extra plates. Treat it as a rule of thumb, not a promise. Then fix the final count with your caterer a few days before the function, and ask what happens to the price if it moves.

If you are unsure, round up on the number of guests and down on the number of dishes. Fewer dishes done well beat a long menu done thinly. And for a banana leaf lunch, the order of serving matters as much as the dishes.

Questions to ask before you say yes

Put these to every caterer on your shortlist. The answers go side by side on one sheet.

• What is the smallest and largest function you take?
• Can I see your FSSAI licence or registration number?
• Do you cook in your own kitchen, or at my venue?
• Who serves, and how many people do you send?
• Are crockery or leaves, setup and cleanup in the quote?
• Can you cook to my tradition: satvik, no onion no garlic, Jain on request?
• What happens if the guest count changes in the last few days?
• Can I taste first, and what does that cost?
• Will you put the menu and price in writing?

A word on Jain and no onion, no garlic menus. Ours are planned on request. They are not a standard plan, so tell us early, and we will build the menu around it.

How SLV handles catering services

We are a pure vegetarian South Indian kitchen in Banashankari 1st Stage, Bangalore, and we cook every morning from home recipes. Catering is the same kitchen doing a bigger job: weddings, Griha Pravesh, pujas, birthdays, temple functions and offices.

We know Karnataka menus. We know hot food has to land at the muhurta. The menu and quote are written down before you book, and since the quote is per enquiry, we don't post a plate price here. Send us the date, guest count and venue on WhatsApp at +91 96111 94555 and we will come back to you.

Planning a wedding? The form below is on our wedding catering page. Fill in your name, phone, date, guest count and venue area, and we will send a menu and quote.

For offices, the corporate catering page covers daily lunches and events. If you only want a few days of home food and not a function, daily plans and prices are on the meal subscription page.

Want to taste our food before you plan a function? Order a single meal or a breakfast and see for yourself how the rice, sambar and ghee turn out. You can do it on our order page.