What Does a Catering Manager Do?
When a client is planning a wedding, a gala or a campus conference, the catering can be the thing that decides whether guests talk about the long wait or whether they talk about the food. As a catering manager you'll book events, plan menus with clients and run busy service teams on the day. This might involve a hotel ballroom, a university dining service, a conference center or a tent at an outdoor wedding.
Catering Manager Duties and Responsibilities
The primary responsibilities of a catering manager include:
- Meet clients to plan menus, guest counts, room layouts and service style for each event.
- Write proposals and banquet event orders that spell out food, staffing and pricing.
- Price menus to meet food and labor cost targets as well as the client's budget.
- Schedule chefs, servers and bartenders and brief them before every event.
- Order food, rentals and linens and confirm delivery times with vendors.
- Supervise setup, service and breakdown on site and solve problems as they come up.
- Check that hot and cold food holds at safe temperatures during transport and service.
- Follow up with clients after events to collect feedback and final payments.
- Build repeat business with campus departments, wedding planners and corporate clients.
- Track event revenue and costs and report results to the director of food and beverage.
Required Skills and Qualifications
To succeed as a catering manager, you will need the following skills and qualifications:
- Event planning and banquet event orders
- Menu costing and proposal writing
- Catering and event software such as Caterease or Tripleseat
- ServSafe Food Protection Manager certification
- Sales and client relationship skills
- Staff scheduling for events large and small
- Grace under pressure when plans change on the day
- Close attention to allergies, dietary requests and timing
Education and Training
Work as a banquet captain is the usual springboard, since captains already run service at large events. Employers generally want at least a high school diploma, and coursework in hospitality counts in a candidate's favor. What gets people hired is hands-on event experience and a knack for selling a menu to a nervous client.
Salary and Job Outlook
Typical pay: $56,870 - $86,800 per year, with a median of $69,390.
The range covers the middle half of earners nationwide. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, Food Service Managers.
Employment of food service managers, which covers catering managers, should grow about 6 percent from 2025 to 2035, according to BLS projections. That works out to roughly 38,800 openings a year across all kinds of food service management. Although event budgets rise and fall with the economy, people keep marrying, graduating and holding conferences, so experienced catering managers usually find work.
Outlook source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 2025 to 2035, Food service managers.