The banquet event order,
with a worked example.

What it's for

The client email and signed proposal show what was sold. The BEO shows what to do, when, and for how many. Keep one dated version with the latest numbers at the top, and update it after every client change. A good BEO answers the day-of questions before they're asked: canapé timing, the vegan count and table locations, who's on the pass, where the high chairs go.

The eight sections

1. Event details — name, date, contacts, room and layout, capacity for that layout, guaranteed numbers, final-numbers deadline, version and date.
2. Timings (run of show) — time, what happens, kitchen action, FOH action: set-up through to carriages.
3. Menu with dietary alternatives — course, dish, allergens, alternative and who it's for.
4. Dietary table with plate IDs — plate ID, guest name, table and seat, requirement, and each course for that guest.
5. Staffing — role, number, names, start and finish times.
6. Equipment — tables, linen, crockery counts with spares, hot cupboards, cake stand and knife, high chairs, AV, hired items with delivery times.
7. Financial summary — per-head prices, packages, room hire, deposit paid, balance due and its date.
8. Sign-off — client, event manager, head chef. Nothing changes after sign-off without a new version number.

Worked example: a Saturday wedding

Fictional: wedding breakfast and evening reception, Garden Room, 12 rounds of 10 plus a top table. Capacity for this layout: 130 seated. Guaranteed numbers: 120 (112 adults, 6 children, 2 suppliers). Final numbers due 14 days before, in writing — charged on final numbers or actual guests, whichever is higher. Version 4, issued the Monday of event week.

Staffing: head chef on the pass, 4 chefs, 2 KPs, event manager, 12 waiting staff, 3 bar. Food £65/adult, £20/child; drinks package £32/adult; deposit at booking, balance due 7 days out. Illustrative prices.

The mistakes that hurt

• Capacity vs numbers — a room that holds 120 theatre-style holds fewer with rounds, a dance floor, a cake table and a band. Record the capacity for this layout next to the guest count. Suppliers and children need seats too.
• Cross-contamination on dietary plates — a gluten-free main sharing fryer oil with battered food isn't gluten-free. Write the method on the BEO: separate fryer or oven-baked, clean boards, cooked and plated first, covered, carried by a named server. The plate ID links the seat to the plate.
• No final-numbers deadline — without a written date the kitchen cooks to the wrong figure. Put it in the contract and on the BEO, and state how you charge.
• Untracked versions — multiple copies in multiple inboxes means wrong prep. Version number and date at the top; old copies off the pass.

How Chef's Intelligence writes it

It doesn't know your room capacities or supplier lead times unless you provide them — verify the numbers before it goes to the team.

Questions