Sell your catering business.

Pipeline vs one great wedding season

Catering companies sell on booked events, repeat corporate accounts, and a kitchen that can execute without the founder plating every tray. Buyers want a pipeline with deposits, not a calendar of last year’s highlights. A year that was three large weddings and a scramble is not the same business as weekly corporate lunches plus a documented Saturday crew.

On-premise vs drop-off vs full-service tent work are different labor models. If you also run a café or rental inventory, we draw a line around what is in the sale. Mixed hospitality businesses get mispriced when everything is dumped into one revenue number.

Kitchen, vehicles, and venue relationships

Commissary leases, health permits, and box trucks are straightforward. Preferred-vendor lists at venues are not. Some properties will keep you; some rebid the list every year; some are really a personal relationship with a coordinator. Buyers will call that out. So will we, before you go to market.

Menu costing and staffing ratios need to be written down. If only you know how many servers a 180-person plated dinner actually needs, the buyer is buying you, not a company.

Deposits, refunds, and the handoff

Unearned event deposits are a liability. The purchase agreement has to say who honors which events and who keeps which deposits. We would rather schedule that in the letter of intent than argue about a Saturday wedding two weeks after close. A seller who will attend the first few large events is common. A seller who must stay a year to keep the venues is a different deal.