How to start a catering business

A catering company needs a permitted kitchen before it needs anything else: Florida bars food operations in a private residence outright, Texas keeps home kitchens out of food establishment work, and San Diego County wants a signed commissary agreement renewed every year. This guide walks the path in order, from the health permit and the caterer's alcohol permit to sales tax, staff and the first bookings, with the agencies named for California, Texas and Florida.

By Niomi AscotUpdated October 3, 202616 min read

Federal license: None. The health permit comes from your county, city or state
Home kitchen: Not allowed in Florida or Texas; rent a licensed commercial or shared kitchen
California: Catering defined in state law only since January 1, 2019 (AB 2524)
Alcohol: In CA, TX and FL a caterer's permit rides on an existing retail liquor license
Texas sales tax: Due on service, delivery, room and rental charges billed with the meal
OSHA injury logs: Required once a caterer passes 10 employees, unlike most restaurants

What a catering company is, and the models to choose from

The federal industry code for caterers, NAICS 722320, covers businesses selling single event-based food services at graduation parties, wedding receptions, business or retirement luncheons and trade shows, and it counts banquet halls with their own catering staff in the same group. Florida’s regulator describes the work as food “prepared in one place (a licensed kitchen) in order to serve it at another location (customer’s event)” (Florida DBPR Guide to Catering). That split between where food is cooked and where it is eaten drives almost every rule that follows.

The models differ mainly in who buys, how far ahead and where you cook:

Weddings and social events. A long sales cycle: Zola advises couples to book a caterer about eight months ahead. The Knot found 85 percent of couples married in 2025 hired a professional caterer, at an average of $80 per guest, and 60 percent of receptions used a buffet or self-serve stations against 30 percent with a plated meal (The Knot Real Weddings Study 2026). Station-friendly equipment and menus matter more than many new caterers expect.
Corporate drop-off. A short cycle. On ezCater, 74 percent of partners accept orders placed 24 hours ahead and 27 percent accept orders placed three hours ahead. That shapes your prep schedule and staffing more than your menu.
Catering-only or a restaurant that caters. In Florida, any licensed public food service establishment may cater without a separate catering license, while a business that will only cater should get the catering license (Florida DBPR).
Your own kitchen or a rented one. A shared commercial kitchen is the low-capital route; Florida and San Diego County both regulate it.
Private events or direct sales to the public. California separates a contracted private event from selling plates to members of the public at a host venue such as a brewery, and the second needs its own county permit.
Food only or food plus bar. Alcohol is a separate state permit that, in the three states below, depends on an existing liquor license.

How big the trade is and where it is heading

County Business Patterns counted 13,222 caterer establishments with paid staff in 2023, employing 148,684 people on a combined payroll of $4.59 billion. Most are small: 55 percent had fewer than five employees and about 86 percent had fewer than 20. The Bureau of Labor Statistics put the 2025 average at 13,929 private catering establishments, up 0.8 percent on 2024, with 170,966 employees. A slow-growing trade like this one means a new caterer mostly wins work from existing ones.

Payroll swings with the calendar. Caterer employment ran from 146,543 in January 2025 to 186,003 in October, so January staffing sits near 79 percent of the fall peak. The Knot found 76 percent of couples marry between May and October, and 71 percent of weddings now span two to three days, so each couple buys more catered meals (The Knot). On the office side, ezCater data reported by QSR in May 2026 found 91 percent of workplaces planned to spend the same or more on food in 2026, up from 82 percent in 2024.

The wages you will compete on, from O*NET, which republishes Bureau of Labor Statistics 2025 wage data and 2024 to 2034 projections (openings include replacement as well as growth):

Occupation	Median pay (2025)	Employed (2024)	Growth to 2034	Openings to 2034
Food servers, nonrestaurant (banquet and catering servers)	$17.00/hr, $35,360/yr	277,200	Average (3% to 4%)	48,000
Food service managers	$33.36/hr, $69,390/yr	352,800	Faster than average (5% to 6%)	42,000
Chefs and head cooks	$30.03/hr, $62,470/yr	197,300	Much faster than average (7% or higher)	24,400
Restaurant cooks	$17.98/hr, $37,390/yr	1,460,200	Much faster than average (7% or higher)	250,700

Licensing: the national rules

No federal agency licenses caterers. Retail food oversight sits with states and localities, per FDA, and a caterer selling to consumers is a retail food establishment, which is exempt from FDA facility registration under 21 CFR 1.226.

The model rules come from the FDA Food Code 2026, whose definition of a food establishment names a “catering operation if the operation provides FOOD directly to a CONSUMER” alongside restaurants and commissaries. Under that model, nobody may operate without a valid permit (8-301.11), plans are reviewed before you build or convert a kitchen (8-201.11), the permit application goes in at least 30 calendar days before opening (8-302.11), and the person in charge must be a certified food protection manager (2-102.12). States adopt the model on their own schedule: FDA’s 2024 tally showed 11 state agencies in 7 states on the 2022 edition, so your inspector may be working from an older version. ServSafe is one accredited manager exam.

The rule that stops most home cooks: you cannot cater out of a house in the states checked. Florida says “You may not conduct food operations in a private residence” (Florida DBPR), and Texas DSHS bars private homes from food establishment operations. Cottage food laws, where they exist, are written for selling certain shelf-stable foods, not for serving a wedding.

Health permits in California, Texas and Florida

State	Agency	Permit	Key requirements as the agency states them
California	County environmental health under Health and Safety Code 113739.1; for example San Diego County DEHQ	Catering operation permit; host facility permit for venues	Catering must be conducted by a permanent food facility approved for food preparation; San Diego inspects caterers at the commissary and in the field, and requires a signed commissary agreement, ANSI-certified equipment, a manager certificate and county food handler cards
Texas	Your city or county health department, or Texas DSHS where no local one permits	Food establishment permit	Ask the city or county first; a Certified Food Manager in DSHS areas; food handlers certified within 60 days of hire; a sales tax ID before you apply
Florida	DBPR Division of Hotels and Restaurants	Catering license	All storage and preparation in an approved, licensed establishment; plan review for a space never licensed, closed over a year or remodeled; a sanitation and safety inspection before opening

California: a definition that arrived in 2019

California’s statute defines a catering operation as food service conducted by a permanent food facility approved for food preparation, served away from its permitted location either at a contracted offsite event or with a host facility making direct food sales. Takeout or delivery for self-service and community events are excluded. The section was added by AB 2524 and took effect on January 1, 2019. Before that, San Diego County’s 2016 pilot study noted that neither state law nor the county code defined catering. Counties now run separate catering and host facility applications; Solano County describes catering as service from a permitted food facility at a private event or from a host facility with direct sales to the public.

San Diego County shows what the permit asks of you in practice:

Two kinds of catering. The county’s direct-sales procedures define private event catering as food served to a predetermined number of guests invited by a sponsor, and direct-sales catering as food sold or served to members of the public, which is only allowed at a permitted host facility.
The commissary. All food is prepared, and food and equipment stored, at a permitted commissary kitchen under a signed agreement. The county’s Commissary Letter of Agreement must be renewed every year and lists uses such as warewashing, wastewater disposal and used cooking oil disposal.
The application. A plan check consultation in the office and another at the proposed commissary, menus, ANSI-certified spec sheets (NSF, UL or ETL) for portable refrigeration, overhead protection and handwashing carts, and proof of a manager certificate and food handler cards. The form does not print the fee.
At the venue. A caterer at a host facility brings portable mechanical refrigeration and an approved handwashing station and keeps preparation limited. The host provides hot and cold water, a mop sink, power for the refrigeration and a commercial restroom, and gets plan check and an annual inspection (San Diego County DEHQ). Caterers meeting the direct-sales rules may serve tasting room customers at permitted brewery host facilities during tasting room hours.
Records. A written log kept at least 90 days after each event, listing the menu, the ingredients in each item, where every ingredient came from and the organizer’s contact details. Any change to menu, equipment or procedures needs another written approval.

Statewide, Health and Safety Code 113947.1 requires one certified owner or employee per food facility, recertified every five years.

Texas: local first

Call the city or county health office first; Texas DSHS permits only where no local department does, and the sales tax ID has to exist before you apply.

Florida: a named catering license

Florida’s Guide to Catering calls the catering license a food service license that does not offer dine-in, delivery or take-out of individual made-to-order food, held to the same food safety rules as other fixed licenses. The steps: open a DBPR online account, find out whether plan review applies, apply and pay, then pass the licensing inspection. Renting time in a kitchen DBPR already licenses needs no plan review, but each independent business sharing it needs its own license. A kitchen licensed by FDACS, such as a bakery, still triggers plan review. Confirm the current fee on DBPR’s fee page.

The caterer’s alcohol permit in three states

State	Agency	Permit	Key requirements as the agency states them
California	Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control	Type 58 caterer’s permit	Only for holders of certain on-sale licenses (Types 41, 42, 47, 48, 57, club, museum or the Type 83 caterer’s license); ABC authorizes each event; one caterer’s permit per licensee; up to 36 catered events a year at any one location
Texas	Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission	Caterer’s Permit (CB)	Issued only to a mixed beverage permit holder (MB or RM); valid only where mixed beverages are legal by local option; a letter from any public facility; a Beverage Cartage Permit to move the alcohol
Florida	Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco	Caterer’s license (13CT)	Approval from the Division of Hotels and Restaurants first; fingerprints through PearsonVue; a notarized affidavit; a Department of Revenue sales tax sign-off

California. Annual fees vary by license type and city population, and each event authorization carries its own fee based on expected attendance, charged for every day alcohol is sold. Some events also need the property owner’s or police department’s approval, and the ABC warns that paying does not mean approval. Type 58 holders fall under Responsible Beverage Service rules, so alcohol servers and their managers must be RBS certified (ABC license types).

Texas. The 2020 TABC course sets the operating rules: alcohol served at a catered event must be bought in the county where the mixed beverage premises sits, leftovers go back to that premises, sales carry the 14 percent mixed beverage gross receipts tax, and a TABC form describing each function is filed beforehand and posted at the event. If the main permit lapses, the caterer’s permit goes with it, and a violation at the event puts both at risk.

Florida. The application package lists a $455 fee for an initial temporary license as of October 2026. Florida Statutes 565.02 sets $675 for a caterer at a pari-mutuel facility; the annual tax for a general caterer’s license was not found there, so ask the division.

A new caterer with no bar license usually partners with a licensed bar service and quotes the bar through them. In practice that is far faster than building toward a permit that needs a liquor license underneath it.

Setting up the business

Entity and EIN. The SBA notes that LLCs protect owners from personal liability in most instances and that the EIN is free from the IRS; skip sites that charge for one. Florida’s alcohol application requires an EIN from anyone paying wages (ABT-6011).

Sales tax shapes every quote. Texas treats a caterer as a seller of prepared food that collects tax on all charges billed with a taxable meal: service, preparation and delivery charges, the room, and reusable rentals such as tables, chairs, tableware and linens (34 TAC 3.293). The caterer also pays tax when it rents those items, may claim a resale exemption on disposables handed to the client, and pays hotel occupancy tax with no resale exemption on a hotel room it books for an event. A separately stated mandatory gratuity can be excluded only if it meets 34 TAC 3.337; voluntary tips are not taxed. California requires a seller’s permit for most food sellers and taxes mandatory tips (CDTFA).

Service charges. Under 29 CFR 531.55, a compulsory service charge is the employer’s gross receipts, not a tip. Decide before your first contract whether the line reads “service charge” or “gratuity” and whether it goes to staff, because clients ask and the tax treatment follows the label.

Insurance.

Workers’ compensation. California requires it with even one employee; Florida requires it for non-construction employers with four or more employees, counting corporate officers and LLC members; most Texas private employers may opt out.
Liquor liability. Minnesota will not issue a retail liquor license without proof of financial responsibility, including $50,000 for bodily injury to one person. Elsewhere venues usually demand it on any event with a bar.
The rest. General liability, commercial auto for the van, product liability for foodborne illness and inland marine cover for equipment in transit. Venues commonly ask for a certificate of insurance naming them as additional insured before they add you to a list.

Kitchen, equipment, vehicle and software

Many new caterers start in a licensed shared kitchen by the hour and lease their own space once weekly volume justifies it. Check that the kitchen’s license covers your use and that its owner will sign your county’s commissary paperwork.

Texas DSHS’s minimum list for a fixed kitchen includes a three-compartment sink, handwash sinks, hot and cold water under pressure at every sink, a mop sink and a thermometer in each holding unit (Texas DSHS). For the field, San Diego’s list of portable refrigeration, overhead protection and NSF handwashing carts is a good model anywhere. Add hot-holding cabinets, insulated carriers, chafers, probe thermometers and a temperature log for every event; the log is what answers an illness complaint months later.

A refrigerated or well-insulated van usually comes next. Many caterers rent tables, linens and tableware per event rather than owning them, and in Texas the tax rules above apply both ways. For software, you need proposals with deposits and e-signature, menu costing that includes staff hours, and an event calendar the whole team can see.

Pricing and cash flow

Weddings and social events are usually priced per person with a guest-count minimum; offices buy per tray or per boxed meal. Staff hours, rentals, delivery, the service charge and tax go on separate lines. The published market figures are averages, not a price list: The Knot’s $80 per wedding guest in 2025 and ezCater’s own figure of $420 or more for an average marketplace order.

A nonrefundable deposit holds the date, and a final guest count one to two weeks out protects the food order. Wedding deposits arrive months ahead while office invoices often run on net terms, so the January staffing dip is also a cash dip. We found no caterer startup cost figure with a stated method, so this guide gives none.

Hiring and safety

Employees or contractors. The IRS weighs behavioral control, financial control and the type of relationship, and Form SS-8 asks it to decide. Servers who wear your uniform, follow your service plan and work your events on your schedule are usually employees.

Training. A certified food manager, food handler cards where the county requires them (San Diego does for every employee), and RBS certification for anyone pouring under a California Type 58 permit. For cooks, Registered Apprenticeship pairs paid work with a mentor.

OSHA injury logs. This is where caterers part ways with restaurants. OSHA’s partially exempt list names NAICS 7221, 7222 and 7224 among food services but not 7223, the special food services group that includes caterers. A company with 10 or fewer employees at all times during the last calendar year still keeps no records unless OSHA asks in writing; past that, a caterer keeps OSHA 300 logs.

Hazards. Burns, cuts, heavy lifts at the van and slips on unfamiliar venue floors.

Finding your first customers

Set up the Google Business Profile correctly. A caterer working from a commissary with no customer-facing storefront is a service-area business: Google’s guidelines allow one service-area profile for a business without clear signage that travels to customers, with the address hidden. You can list up to 20 service areas, kept within about two hours’ drive (Google). Do not list a rented shared kitchen as your storefront. Our Google Business Profile work covers verification and setup.

Skip Local Services Ads. Google’s category list has no catering category.

Get onto venue lists. WeddingPro reports that 82 percent of couples hired their venue first, and Zola warns couples that many venues require a specific caterer. Offer venue coordinators a tasting, bring proof of your permit and insurance, and photograph every event you work at their venue.

Answer fast. WeddingPro found that one couple in two expects to hear back within 24 hours or less, and couples contact seven vendors on average. A quote request that waits through a busy weekend usually goes to someone else.

Ask for reviews after every event. In BrightLocal’s 2026 survey, 47 percent of consumers would not use a business with fewer than 20 reviews and 74 percent look for reviews from the last three months. The FTC rule in force since October 21, 2024 bars incentives conditioned on a particular sentiment, so ask every client the same way and offer nothing for five stars. A review routine built into the post-event follow-up keeps them coming in the quiet months.

A credential, if it helps. NACE, founded in 1958 with more than 40 chapters, awards the Certified Professional in Catering and Events designation. No state requires it.

The catering marketing playbook covers what comes after the first bookings: venue pages, office reorders and the two calendars you sell into.

What trips up new caterers

Booking events before the kitchen is permitted. Every legal path in the three states starts with a licensed kitchen or a signed commissary agreement.
Quoting a bar you cannot pour. The caterer’s alcohol permit depends on a liquor license in California, Texas and Florida.
Pricing from food cost alone. Staff hours, rentals, delivery, the service charge and, in Texas, tax on most of those lines all belong in the quote.
Treating a brewery pop-up like a private party. In California, selling plates to the public at a host venue is direct-sales catering with its own permit.
Losing the records. San Diego’s 90-day event log is required there and worth keeping everywhere for allergy and illness questions.

Frequently asked questions

Can I start a catering business from my home kitchen?

No, not in Florida or Texas, and San Diego County requires a permitted commissary. Rent time in a licensed commercial or shared kitchen and hold your own permit there.

What licenses does a caterer need?

A kitchen health permit or license from your county or state, a sales tax registration, a certified food manager, food handler cards where required, and a state alcohol permit only if you serve alcohol.

Do I need a separate catering license if I own a restaurant?

Not in Florida, where a licensed public food service establishment may cater on its existing license. In California, catering is defined as service by a permanent food facility, but direct sales to the public at a host venue need the county’s catering permit.

Can a caterer serve alcohol at events?

Only under a state permit, which in California, Texas and Florida depends on an existing liquor license. Without one, partner with a licensed bar service and let it hold the permit for the event.

Do I charge sales tax on the service charge and rentals?

In Texas, yes: tax applies to service, delivery, room and rental charges billed with taxable meals, and only a mandatory gratuity meeting 34 TAC 3.337 is excluded. California taxes mandatory tips; confirm your own state’s rules with its tax agency.

Are my event servers employees or contractors?

Usually employees, if you control how and when they work. The IRS weighs behavioral, financial and relationship factors, and Form SS-8 gets a formal answer.

Does a catering company need to keep OSHA injury logs?

Yes, once it has more than 10 employees at any point in the prior calendar year. Caterers are not on OSHA’s partially exempt list, unlike full-service and limited-service restaurants.

Sources

Checked on October 3, 2026. Rules and fees change, and many are set state by state or city by city: confirm the current requirements with the agency that issues them before you apply.

Starting out, or ready to grow?

One team, operating since 2015, runs local SEO, ads, reviews, websites and the CRM for local businesses. Every business that reaches out gets a free consult, an honest evaluation and a plan it keeps.

Get a free plan Marketing for caterers