Free Catering Invoice Template for Events

This template is for a caterer billing a client after an event: the menu priced per guest, any add-ons, the staff who served it, equipment you rented on the client's behalf, a service charge, and the deposit already received. The sample is a holiday buffet lunch for 45 guests at a company's offices.

It's a different document from these related templates:

• Catering estimate: the price you propose before the event, with a proposed deposit to hold the date.
• Pizza catering invoice: a food order delivered to an office, billed by item with a delivery fee and no staffing.
• Catering receipt: on the restaurant receipt page, it confirms an event that has been paid in full.

The catering invoice has:

• Caterer: business name, address, and phone or email.
• Invoice details: invoice number, invoice date, payment terms, due date and Catering agreement, a placeholder for your agreement's reference and date.
• Bill to (client): company, attention, address and email.
• Event: event, event date, venue, Guests and Service style.
• Menu: a table with Item, Details, Qty, Unit, Rate and Amount, priced per guest, with a "Menu subtotal".
• Menu add-ons and Staffing: the same columns, with "Add-ons subtotal" and "Staffing subtotal".
• Rentals passed through at cost: the same columns, for items you rented for the event.
• Totals: Subtotal, "Service charge on food and beverage", "Sales tax, if applicable", "Rentals passed through at cost", Total, "Less: deposit received" and Amount due.
• How to pay: accepted methods, placeholders for the account name and bank details, and the payment reference to quote.
• Event notes on the deposit, the service charge and the rentals.

It comes as three files:

• PDF: a blank form to print and fill in by hand, with blanks for the service charge and tax percentages. It runs to two pages: the totals, payment details and notes are on page 2.
• Word (.docx) and Excel (.xlsx): the same layout filled with sample values for you to overwrite.

In the Excel file:

• Each line's Amount is Qty × Rate rounded to the cent, and each table has one empty row.
• The Subtotal adds the menu, add-ons and staffing. The rentals stay out of it.
• "Service charge on food and beverage" has a rate cell (18% in the sample) and applies to the menu and add-ons only, not to staffing or rentals.
• "Sales tax, if applicable" has a rate cell (0% in the sample) and is worked out on the Subtotal plus the service charge.
• "Rentals passed through at cost" is the rentals table's total, added after tax, so no service charge or tax is worked out on it.
• "Less: deposit received" is an amount you type in, and Amount due is the Total less the deposit.

The file's tip says: to leave out the service charge or the sales tax, set its rate to 0%; to leave out the deposit, set it to 0.00; and don't delete these rows, because the totals refer to them. In the Word file, the service charge and tax lines show their rates in the label ("(18%)", "(0%)"), so update both the label and the amount if you change them.

The sample adds up like this:

• Menu: 45 guests × $32.00 for the buffet = $1,440.00, and 45 × $7.50 for the dessert table = $337.50, for $1,777.50.
• Add-ons: 6 vegetarian substitutions × $4.00 = $24.00, and 45 × $3.50 for the cider and coffee station = $157.50, for $181.50.
• Staffing: 8 attendant hours × $34.00 = $272.00, and 4 event lead hours × $42.00 = $168.00, for $440.00. Subtotal: $2,399.00.
• Service charge: 18% × ($1,777.50 + $181.50) = 18% × $1,959.00 = $352.62. Sales tax: 0.00 at 0%.
• Rentals at cost: 8 linens × $11.00 + 6 chafing dishes × $15.00 = $178.00.
• Total: $2,399.00 + $352.62 + $178.00 = $2,929.62. Less the $800.00 deposit, the amount due is $2,129.62, due Dec 21, 2026 on Net 7 terms.

These figures only show how the form works. They are not typical prices.

• Service charge. In this template it's a rate you set in your catering agreement, applied to the menu and add-ons. The sample's note is marked "Sample terms" and says the rate is "as set out in the catering agreement". Don't call it a tip on the invoice.
• Tips. In the US, the IRS says "A payment is a tip only if the customer voluntarily decides to pay it and determines the amount", and lists "Required gratuities included in a contract or invoice" as an example of a service charge. It also says service charges added to a bill and distributed to employees "are not tips" and that the employer must treat them as wages (IRS: Tip recordkeeping and reporting). If a client adds a voluntary tip, record it separately from this invoice.
• Sales tax. Whether food, the service charge, staffing or rentals are taxable, and at what rate, depends on the rules where the event takes place. Check them, then enter the rate. If your rules tax only some of the lines, overwrite the tax amount.