Quick answer
A catering company logo from us is £129, and most of its work happens before anyone eats. Caterers are booked from a proposal PDF, a tasting and a wedding fair stand, then judged on the day by a buffet table, staff aprons and a van in the venue car park. The logo has to look as good at the top of a quote as it does on a chafing dish card beside the allergen information.
This page is for wedding and event caterers, corporate and office lunch caterers, festival and street food traders who take private bookings, private chefs, and grazing table and buffet businesses. Restaurants and cafés with a dining room have a different brief, covered on our page on restaurant logo design. Here we follow a catering job from enquiry to clear-down.
What kind of caterer you are
| Catering type | Who books | How they choose | What the logo should signal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wedding caterer | Couples, often via a venue’s supplier list | Proposal, tasting, reviews, fair stand | Calm, generous, completely reliable |
| Corporate and office catering | Office managers, PAs, event teams | Quote, menu PDF, delivery record | Organised, on time, easy to reorder |
| Event and festival street food | Organisers and private clients | Photos, the trailer or gazebo, social proof | Bold, fun, readable from a field away |
| Private chef | Hosts planning a dinner party or villa stay | Sample menus, Instagram, word of mouth | Personal, refined, chef-led |
| Grazing tables and buffets | Party hosts, offices, venues | Instagram photos and price list | Abundant and styled |
The proposal wins the booking
Unlike a restaurant, a caterer is chosen at a desk or a kitchen table, often by comparing three PDFs. Your proposal, sample menus and quote are the brand in that moment.
- Use the horizontal logo in one consistent header on the proposal, menus, quote and terms, so the bundle looks like one company.
- Make sure the logo holds up in black and white, because venues and office managers print and photocopy proposals.
- Give each menu a clear name and price per head under the logo, rather than hiding prices on page nine.
Our guide to writing a proposal that wins the job covers the words, and our menu design service (£79 per side) lays out sample menus from your logo files.
Registration, mobile units and your hygiene rating
Almost every caterer has to register as a food business. GOV.UK’s guidance on food business registration says registration applies wherever you operate, including from home, a mobile unit or temporary premises such as a stall or van. GOV.UK’s guide to starting a food business explains that in England, Wales and Northern Ireland the local authority inspects the business and publishes its food hygiene rating, which is worth showing on your proposals and website footer once you have it.
Keep the rating, insurance details and any accreditation in a separate credentials strip under the logo on your proposal and website. They change; your logo should not have to.
Wedding fairs and tastings
For wedding caterers, the fair stand and the tasting are where the decision is usually made. A stand needs the stacked logo large on a banner or a branded table runner, with a few photos of real setups and very little text. At tastings, a printed menu card with your logo, the dishes and the couple’s names makes the evening feel bespoke and gives them something to take home. Our guide to roller banners covers stand print.
On the day: aprons, buffet cards and the van
At an event your logo is seen by every guest, many of whom are future clients. The surfaces are practical ones:
- Aprons and staff tops. A small one-colour mark on black or navy, embroidered or printed. Staff move constantly, so the icon matters more than the full name.
- Buffet and dish cards. Little cards in front of each dish name the food and flag allergens. The logo can sit small at the top, but the dish name and allergen line must be the easiest things to read.
- The van. A van in the venue car park is seen by every arriving guest and planner. Our Vehicle Wrap and Signage design starts at £99 and works from your logo files.
Our guide to workwear design explains how to brief an apron or uniform supplier.
The bar at a marquee or barn wedding
If you run a bar where the venue has no licence, you may need a Temporary Event Notice, explained on GOV.UK’s TEN page for England and Wales. For the brand, a short “Bar” sub-line under the main logo on the bar front, drinks menu and staff tops shows the bar is part of the same company.
Allergens on cards and printed menus
Most catered food is served loose, which brings its own rules. GOV.UK’s guidance on loose foods says you must tell customers the name of the food and whether it contains allergens, and warns that you may be prosecuted immediately if you fail to give allergen information. Design your buffet card and menu templates around that information first: a clear dish name, a clear allergen line, then the logo as a small signature. A beautiful card with a tiny allergen note is a liability, not a design.
Corporate drop-offs and repeat orders
Office catering lives on repeat business. Take a typical job: an office manager orders boxed lunches for a Tuesday board meeting of twelve. She wants to find you again quickly, reorder without a fuss and look good in front of colleagues when the food arrives. Here is what she sees at each stage.
| Stage | What they see | Logo version |
|---|---|---|
| Ordering | Your website or a menu PDF saved on their desktop | Horizontal, with a clear reorder line |
| Delivery | The driver, the bags or crates and the delivery note | Icon on bags and crates, horizontal on the note |
| Setup | Platters, boxed lunches and dish labels | Seal stickers and small dish cards |
| Invoice | A PDF sent to the accounts team | Horizontal, clear in black and white |
The seal sticker does the selling: twelve people in that meeting see your name on their lunch, and one of them books you for the next team event. That only works if the icon reads at about 40mm wide, in one colour, on a brown kraft box as well as a white one.
Beyond cloches and chef’s hats, and the sign-off test
Search catering logos and you will find a sea of silver cloches, chef’s hats, crossed knives and forks, steaming plates and whisks. They say “food”, which every caterer says. Better routes include your region or produce, if you cook with local suppliers; your signature service style, such as wood-fired or family-style sharing; or a confident wordmark that looks as good on a corporate invoice as on a wedding menu.
A caterer’s sign-off checklist
Before you approve a final design, run it through the jobs it will actually do:
- Print page one of a real proposal in black and white on an office laser. The logo and header should still look deliberate.
- Put the icon on a 40mm seal sticker mock-up and hold it at arm’s length. It should read without the name.
- Set a buffet card with a long dish name and a full allergen line. The logo must stay smaller than both.
- Place the stacked logo on a fair banner mock-up and step back three metres. Fine script or thin lines will fail here first.
- Cover the logo on the proposal with your thumb. A client should still know it is yours from the colour, type and layout.
£129, and what it covers on a catering job
Catering businesses pay a flat £129 for our Logo Design. Follow a single wedding and you will use every layout in that price: the horizontal one on the proposal and invoice, the stacked one on the fair banner and tasting menu, and the icon on aprons, seal stickers and your Instagram picture. First concepts are with you within 48 hours, concepts are unlimited and revisions are unlimited within your brief. The files include vector artwork your sign maker can work from, black and white versions for buffet cards and embroidery, favicon sizes and a 3D mockup, and the copyright is yours on delivery. Food business websites are on our hospitality and food service page, and van, menu and logo prices sit together on our pricing page.
Brand the job in the order the client meets you
A couple or an office manager meets your proposal first, your website second and your team on the day last, so brand in that order: proposal and menu templates, then the website and social avatars, then the fair banner, then aprons and buffet cards, and the van livery when it is next due. If the next wedding fair is booked and proposals still go out with a home-made header, this is the week to order the catering logo. Our logo cost calculator helps you budget the rest of the set.
