When researching New Hampshire Caterers for your wedding or important event you might run into a policy of “Guaranteed Numbers.”

This is when the catering service makes you guarantee a certain number of guests.

This policy will usually create a certain food spend too.

At times a guaranteed number on a catering contract makes sense.

For example… certain menus must be made in quantities for a minimum number of guests to make the order cost-effective.   

However… you should be careful if any sort of “Guaranteed” number seems unreasonable.   

Technically the only time a number should be permanent with no changes is after the “final-by date.” 

After the final-by date a catering contract should not be modified for a few reasons.

1. When you get closer to your event too many changes on your catering order could increase the margin of error.  
2. After a certain point products have been brought in for your event.
3. Catering Prep may have started.

Another but…  The final-by date should be relatively close to your event date.   Depending on the type of event it is very reasonable to close it off at a certain point.  

For some events… our final date might be only a week prior.  For larger events such as wedding catering where more advanced planning has taken place, the closeout date will be a little further out.  Still reasonable.  

It is important that you’re comfortable with whatever the policy is.  And you will  want to clarify if a particular menu has been given a fair “minimum number” vs… having to commit to a  number of guests so far in advance before you have a firm idea on how large your event will be.   

At Twelve 31 we have a few  menus that require a minimum guest count but we do not stress about guaranteed numbers for catering services.