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Before you book anyone — including us
These guides answer the questions Bangalore asks a caterer before the first call: what it costs, how much to order, which format, what to ask at the tasting, and how to check a licence. Every number is an indicative 2026 Bangalore range with its source; every recommendation is one we hold ourselves to.
What catering for 500 guests costs in Bangalore
For 500 guests in Bangalore in 2026, a South Indian leaf lunch at ₹500 a plate is about ₹2.5 lakh of food; a North Indian buffet with a live tandoor at ₹900 is about ₹4.5 lakh; a premium multi-counter reception at ₹1,600 is about ₹8 lakh.
How much food per person for a catered event
For a full Indian buffet plan about 400–450 g of cooked food per adult: 180–220 g of rice or 250–300 g of biryani, 180–220 g of curry across two or three dishes, one to one-and-a-half breads, 60–80 g of a dry vegetable, 50 g of raita or salad, and 80–100 g of dessert.
Buffet, plated or banana leaf
In Bangalore, leaf service suits the muhurtham lunch (courses in order, one server per 12 leaves, ₹350–₹750 a plate), a buffet with live counters suits the reception (one server per 25–30 guests, volume over three hours), and plated service suits a hotel-ballroom or Christian reception of up to 300 (one server per table, 15–20% more than a buffet for the same menu).
Hotel in-house catering or an outside caterer
A Bangalore hotel's in-house catering is convenient and carries 18% GST on the whole banquet bill with a per-plate figure that usually starts around ₹1,500–₹2,500 for a wedding; an outside caterer charges 5% GST on food, publishes per-plate bands from ₹350, and is often 20–40% cheaper for the same menu — but the venue may add a kitchen-use levy of ₹100–₹500 a plate, and some hotels do not allow outside kitchens at all.
Vegetarian vs non-vegetarian catering cost
In Bangalore a non-vegetarian menu costs about ₹200–₹600 a plate more than the vegetarian version of the same tier — 30–50% more at the simple end, narrowing to 15–20% at the premium end where the vegetarian menu is itself elaborate.
How caterers charge, and what to check before signing
Bangalore caterers charge per plate on a guaranteed count, with GST at 5% on food, staff, crockery upgrades, live-counter setup and venue levies as separate lines; the guaranteed count is usually 80–90% of your expected headcount, an advance holds the date, and the balance is settled after the event on the guarantee plus overage.
Catering outside Bangalore — Mysore, Mangalore, Coorg, Chikmagalur, Hubli
RASA caters across Karnataka from its Bangalore kitchen: Mysore and Tumkur are same-day range; Mangalore, Coorg, Chikmagalur, Hassan and Hubli-Dharwad have the crew travel the day before with a mobile kitchen.
How to choose a wedding caterer in Bangalore
Choose a Bangalore wedding caterer on seven checks: who cooks each cuisine (a named chef per cuisine, not one kitchen), a tasting cooked by those same chefs, published per-plate bands you can budget against, a written guaranteed count with a buffer, the FSSAI licence number on the quote, references from a wedding of your size at a venue like yours, and a floor plan for the counters.
Questions to ask a caterer at the tasting
At a caterer's tasting in Bangalore ask: who cooked this and will they cook the wedding; how long will each dish hold hot at the venue; which dishes are cooked on site versus transported; what the guaranteed count and buffer are; how the kitchen handles a muhurtham that runs late; how Jain, satvik and non-vegetarian lines are separated; what the counter floor plan is; and what is and is not in the per-plate figure.
Why multi-cuisine catering tastes the same
Multi-cuisine catering tastes the same because one kitchen cooks everything: one base gravy becomes the paneer makhani, the chicken tikka masala and the "Chettinad" curry; one hand fries the Chinese, the chaat and the pasta; one masala box seasons three states.
Fusion food: what it means, what works
Fusion food combines the techniques or ingredients of two cuisines in one dish — a Chettinad pepper-chicken ravioli, a gulab jamun cheesecake, a filter-coffee tiramisu, a Malabar prawn taco.
FSSAI licence for caterers — what to check (2026)
Every caterer in India must hold FSSAI registration or a licence; from 1 April 2026 the thresholds changed — Basic Registration up to ₹1.5 crore turnover (was ₹12 lakh), State Licence ₹1.5–50 crore (was ₹12 lakh–20 crore), Central Licence above ₹50 crore.
Live counters — how many, which, and where they stand
A 300-guest Bangalore reception wants three to four live counters and a 500-guest one four to six, placed so queues do not cross and opened in sequence; the buffet carries volume, the counters carry the experience.
The wedding catering timeline
For a Bangalore wedding, book the caterer 6–12 months out for peak dates, hold the tasting at 3–4 months, fix the menu and the guaranteed count at 6–8 weeks, confirm the venue's outside-caterer rules and the counter floor plan at 4 weeks, give the final count 72 hours before, and expect the kitchen to start at 3 am on a muhurtham morning.
North Indian wedding catering cost in Bangalore
A North Indian wedding buffet in Bangalore costs about ₹650–₹1,300 a plate in 2026 with a live tandoor, two paneer dishes, dal makhani, two non-vegetarian mains and live jalebi; a vegetarian-only version sits at ₹650–₹950; a Mughlai-Awadhi reception with live galouti and kacchi biryani runs ₹750–₹1,400.
South Indian wedding menu list, by community
A South Indian wedding lunch in Bangalore is 18–28 items on a banana leaf served in a fixed order: pickle, salt and kosambari or kosumalli at the top; two palyas or poriyals and a kootu; a fried item (ambode, vadai, appalam); then rice with tovve or paruppu and ghee, sambar or huli, rasam or saaru, majjige huli or more kuzhambu, and curd rice; with two to three sweets — obbattu and payasa, or paruppu payasam and kesari, or three pradhamans for a Kerala sadya.
Corporate catering cost per head in Bangalore
Corporate catering in Bangalore costs about ₹180–₹350 a head for a sealed meal box, ₹300–₹600 for a served buffet lunch, ₹150–₹300 for a conference breakfast, ₹250–₹500 for a townhall high tea, and ₹900–₹1,800 for an awards-night dinner with live counters, in 2026, before 5% GST.
A catering menu for 100 guests — and what it costs
For 100 guests in Bangalore a good buffet is six to eight dishes plus one live counter, not fifteen: two starters, one soup or salad, two mains (one vegetarian, one non-vegetarian if mixed), one dal, one rice, breads to order, and two sweets.
Iyer vs Iyengar wedding menus — what differs
Iyer and Iyengar wedding menus are both Tamil Brahmin, satvik and served on a leaf in the same order, but they differ in the dishes that define them: an Iyengar kalyana saapadu leads with puliyodharai made from its own paste, thalagam, paruppu usili and akkaravadisal, and avoids certain vegetables by household custom; an Iyer meal is built around arachuvitta sambar, more kuzhambu, paruppu payasam and kesari.
Get a menu and a per-plate quote, usually the same day
Date, head count, the cuisines you have in mind. Enough for the first reply to carry a menu and a number rather than a brochure.
What happens after you send the ticket
- A written reply, usually the same day. A first menu built for your occasion, the per-plate figure it comes to, and the two or three questions we need settled before the number is firm.
- A tasting. For weddings and events of size we cook the shortlist for you before you sign. Each cuisine on the menu is cooked by the chef who will cook it on the day.
- The plan for the day. Counters, service staff, timings against your muhurtham or your agenda, and the venue's rules on outside catering, checked with the venue by us.