22 tasks, each one witnessed by the sources that watched the job — and behind every one, a prompt you can use tonight.
You start early: check inventory (food, alcohol, supplies) and review reservations for the day. Use Microsoft Excel or inventory sheets to compare expected guest counts with stock levels and place orders if needed.
During the event you coordinate staff, expedite service, taste dishes for quality, handle customer requests or complaints, and monitor alcohol service. Afterward you count cash, make bank deposits, update payroll or time records (Aestiva Employee Time Clock), and file sales in QuickBooks or Excel.
Expect Microsoft Excel for inventory, cost sheets, and sales records; Microsoft Word and PowerPoint for menus and presentations; Microsoft Outlook for bookings and vendor emails. Intuit QuickBooks handles accounting, and Aestiva Employee Time Clock tracks staff hours.
You’ll also use social tools like Facebook for marketing and customer contact. Basic comfort with these programs is enough—learn practical tasks: updating a guest list in Excel, entering invoices in QuickBooks, and sending confirmations in Outlook.
You analyze recipes and portion sizes to calculate ingredient cost per serving, usually in Excel. Compare that to overheads (labor, venue, equipment) and desired profit margin to set menu prices.
Record items sold and their costs after events to see what’s unpopular or unprofitable. The task list you saw—reviewing menus, analyzing recipes, and recording sales—keeps prices grounded in real numbers.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) 2025 data, 238,430 people work in this occupation. Median pay is $69,390 per year; the lowest tenth earn about $45,960 and the top tenth about $107,640.
Pay varies by location, employer size, and event type. Catering managers at large hotels or corporate caterers tend to be toward the higher end; small independent caterers usually pay less.
Start in entry roles: server, sous chef, or catering assistant to learn food prep, service flow, and customer handling. Learn Excel, Outlook, and basic QuickBooks—those tools come up daily.
Volunteer for event setups and ask to help with inventory or reservations. Employers often promote from inside when you can show you can manage staff, count money, and handle bookings.
Catering managers focus on events: estimating food and beverage for groups, coordinating off-site logistics, and handling reservations and event-specific staffing. Tasks include ordering supplies for a one-off event and managing customer actions like ordering and serving at an event.
Restaurant managers run a fixed dining room every day, but they do overlap: both manage staff, control costs, maintain health and safety standards, and handle payroll and customer complaints. Catering adds more planning for variable guest counts and off-site service.
Learn to forecast needs—estimate food, liquor, and staff for each event. Good forecasting prevents running out of supplies or over-ordering, and it ties directly to ordering supplies, inventory records, and budgeting.
Practical forecasting uses guest counts, past sales records (which you keep in Excel or QuickBooks), and menu analysis. Get comfortable with simple spreadsheets and counting portions; that one habit improves nearly every task on the job.