Will we be charged for guests who never turned up

Plate count is the measure for billing, and it is the line most families only discover at the invoice.

What happened

Here is how it actually works, in plain terms.

Before the event you and we agree a guaranteed number, and that is the floor: it is what the kitchen buys for, cooks for and staffs for, so it is what you pay for whether four hundred people walk in or three hundred.

On the day, the plates put out at the buffet are counted against that guarantee.

If more guests arrive than you guaranteed, we do not simply keep putting food out and bill you afterwards.

The additional plates are approved by you, in the moment, before they go out.

Then they are billed.

Whichever is higher, the guarantee or the actual count, is what is charged.

Set the guarantee at eighty to ninety per cent of your realistic headcount rather than at your invitation list.

An invitation list is an aspiration; a guarantee is a purchase order.

Families who guarantee their full invite list are the ones who pay for empty chairs.

Why we are writing this down

Most of what a fine indian hospitality — catering learns disappears into the next booking. We write it down instead, so the next family asking the same question gets a real answer rather than a brochure.