The paperwork system for a one-person catering business — BEO, quote, event-day playbook
Every catering platform moved upmarket — CaterZen starts at $179/mo and locks its BEO templates behind the $229 plan (checked 2026-09-20). This kit is the same paperwork as files: fill the BEO, quote with your margin protected, and run event day from a playbook.
Real screenshots
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Try before you buy
Check the real thing first — then decide.
## C. Guest counts | Count | Value | Date set | |---|---|---| | Expected at booking | [FILL: e.g. 120] | [date of proposal] | | Confirmed (7 days out) | [FILL] | [date] | | **Final count — guarantee** | [FILL: e.g. 112] | **Due [FILL: date — usually 5 business days before event]** | | Vendor / crew meals | [FILL: e.g. 6 — photographer, planner, DJ] | | Billing is against the final count guarantee, or the actual plated count if higher. Seated counts are taken by the captain at each table and reconciled same night.
dish cost = Σ (qty × unit cost × (1 + waste% / 100)) cost per portion = dish cost ÷ portions per batch menu price = cost per portion ÷ target food-cost % (30% food cost → ÷ 0.30) quote = guests×food + guests×bev + rentals + staffing + staff meals + delivery + service charge% + tax% → total, deposit, balance Waste/yield is the honest step most people skip: 1 kg bought rarely plates 1 kg. Enter what you actually plate (10% waste on trimmed meat, 5% on sauce stuck to pans) and the price stops lying to you.
## Day-of — the captain owns these five 1. **Briefing** — 5 minutes: timeline, dietary map with named tray runners, bar close time, break rotation. 2. **The count that bills** — actual plated/seated counts recorded per table. 3. **The hold points** — hot food ≥ 60°C/140°F to the pass; cold ≤ 5°C/41°F; the timeline's two buffer points protected (speeches, cake). 4. **The change log** — any client request on-site goes on the BEO copy: time, what, who asked. That sheet is the invoice conversation. 5. **The close** — venue walkthrough signed, equipment count against pack-out list, leftovers handled per client instruction.
Look inside — 3 real excerpts
Unedited excerpts from the actual documents. If the style fits how you work, the full version goes much deeper.
What's inside
The exact file list you receive — nothing hidden behind an upsell.
- README.md
- SETUP.md
- MANIFEST.md
- LICENSE.txt
- beo/
- FIELD-SPEC.md
- en/
- beo-wedding.md · beo-corporate.md · beo-buffet.md
- beo-cocktail.md · beo-dropoff.md · beo-fullservice.md
- fr/
- beo-fr-wedding.md · beo-fr-corporate.md · beo-fr-buffet.md
- beo-fr-cocktail.md · beo-fr-dropoff.md · beo-fr-fullservice.md
- calculator/
- calculator.html (offline, EN/FR UI)
- calculator-core.js
- calculator-guide.md
- menu-cost-sheet.csv · quote-sheet.csv
- ops/
- event-SOP.md · staffing-roster.csv
- delivery-routing-checklist.md · allergen-form.md
- sales/
- client-approval-SOP.md · deposit-policy-template.md
- proposal-template.md · invoice-template.md
- followup-sequence.md
12 BEO templates
Six event types — wedding, corporate, buffet, cocktail, drop-off, full-service — each in English and French, with kitchen pull sheet and signature block.
Quote & menu-cost calculator
An offline calculator plus spreadsheet formulas: waste %, food-cost % pricing guard, staffing, service charge, deposit and tax profiles (US / FR / DE).
Ops & sales pack
Event SOP from booking to close-out, staffing roster, delivery routing checklist, allergen form, proposal, invoice, deposit policy and follow-up emails.
Bilingual by design
Every BEO ships in EN + FR so you can read the run-of-show to your team in its language. Spanish and Italian packs are planned as free v1.x updates.
Real files from the zip, rendered as-is — no mockups.
Who's behind this?
Zicula is a one-person studio — hi, I'm Zic. Every kit here, including this one, is written, tested and shipped through documented process, and the support email is answered by me, not a helpdesk. This store's own build, QA and deploy pipeline runs on the same kind of SOPs and checklists we sell.
- Free sample, instant download — no email required.
- 30-day refund, processed in Stripe — no forms, no interrogation.
- Free updates for v1.x — full history in the store changelog.
- Real human support: [email protected]
Free sample
Try the real thing before paying.
What's in the sample:
- A complete real BEO — wedding reception, blocks A–J
- The quote spreadsheet with working formulas (reproduces the $4,622.13 example)
- The calculator guide — the whole pricing model on one page
Honest comparison
The free and paid alternatives are real. Here is when each one makes sense.
| Do it yourself / free tools | Monthly SaaS | This kit | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — templates + your own Google Sheets | CaterZen $179–229/mo · Caterease $99–199/mo, billed annually (checked 2026-09-20) | $42 once — yours forever |
| The margin math | You build the food-cost formulas yourself — waste and staffing are easy to skip | Included, but quoting features sit in the higher plans | Shipped: waste %, food-cost % guard, service charge, tax profiles |
| Set-up | Hours assembling fields from scattered free templates | Demo call + onboarding — Caterease adds a $200 launch fee per seat | README + SETUP walkthrough — first BEO out in about 20 minutes |
| Event day | No playbook — you brief the team from memory | Delivery routing and kitchen displays live in the top plans | T-14 → T+3 SOP with the day-of captain checklist |
| Language | Free templates are EN-only, quality varies | All major catering platforms are EN-only | Every BEO in EN + FR today |
Free genuinely works if you have a quiet weekend: free BEO templates exist and Google Sheets is free. What they lack is the margin math, the bilingual pack and the event-day playbook — that's what the $42 buys. SaaS prices are from the vendors' published pricing pages, checked 2026-09-20.
Frequently asked questions
What exactly do I get?
A zip with all 36 files listed in "What's inside": 12 BEO templates (6 event types × EN + FR), the offline quote calculator, the CSV spreadsheets, the ops SOP pack and the sales pack — plus README, SETUP and the field spec.
Do I need to set anything up?
The kit is files you download and open — no account, no install, no subscription. SETUP.md walks your first event step by step; the buyer target is a first BEO done in about 20 minutes.
What does it run on?
Everything is files. The calculator is a single HTML file that runs offline in any browser; the CSVs import into Google Sheets or Excel with working formulas; the documents open in Word or Google Docs. No install, no account.
What if it doesn't fit my work?
Email [email protected] within 30 days of purchase and you get a full refund — no interrogation, and you keep (or delete) the files.
How does support work?
You email a real person — the developer who built it — at [email protected] and get an answer, usually within 1–2 days. Bug fixes and v1.x updates are free.
What does the license allow?
A single-business commercial license: use it for your own catering business and your own clients, forever. Don't resell or redistribute the files — each business needs its own copy.
One price. Yours for good.
No subscription, no per-seat fee, no usage meter.
≈ ฿1,450
- All 36 files — the 12 BEO templates, calculator, ops and sales packs
- Free updates for v1.x (ES/IT language packs are on that road)
- Instant download after checkout
30-day full refund — one email is enough
Buy now — one-timeWhy $42: less than one month of the cheapest competitor plan, and it's a document pack — no servers, no seats, no meter. One payment, free updates for v1.x.
Secure checkout via Stripe · taxes calculated at checkout
Your next event deserves better than a shared Google Doc
One-time payment · free updates v1.x · 30-day refund
Get the Catering BEO & Quote Kit — $42