✉️ Email Template

Catering Inquiry Response Template

Quote response for catering inquiry. Example: 'Thank you for considering us for your corporate event...'

What a catering inquiry response should cover

• Acknowledgement of the specific event — date, type, rough numbers — in the first line
• Whether the date is available, stated immediately
• Two or three package options at different price points, rather than one figure
• What the per-head price includes, and what is charged separately
• Staffing, equipment and delivery, priced or flagged as extra
• The deposit required and when the balance falls due
• A clear next step with a date attached

Answer the availability question in the first sentence

Someone enquiring about catering for a date is asking one question first, and everything else second. A reply that opens with three paragraphs about your philosophy before confirming the date is free reads as evasive, and it is usually competing with two other quotes that answered immediately. Availability, then price range, then detail.

• Reply within a business day — event enquiries go to whoever responds first far more often than to whoever is best
• Give a range rather than a single number if the brief is vague, and say what would firm it up
• Hold the date tentatively for a stated period, and say when the hold lapses

Turning an enquiry into a booking

• Attach a sample menu rather than describing one
• Name the deposit amount in the first reply; it filters out enquiries that were never going to convert
• Ask the one question that changes the price most — usually final numbers or service duration

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General information only — not legal, tax or financial advice. For contracts and tax documents, confirm your obligations with a qualified professional or the relevant authority.