A caterer is asked for a tasting by a couple who are considering three companies. She cooks four courses, drives across the county, plates it properly and spends most of a day on it.
They book somebody else. She has done this four times this season, and none of those days were paid for.
What a tasting genuinely costs
Menu planning, shopping for small quantities at retail prices, preparation, travel, service, plating and clearing. Most of a working day plus materials.
Why they are frequently free
Because a competitor offers one, and a couple comparing caterers will take the free tasting first. The pressure is real and it is why most of the industry gives them away.
Option one: free tastings for everybody
Wins first meetings, attracts people who are shopping around, and costs a considerable number of unpaid days across a season.
Option two: paid tastings, always
Filters hard, loses some genuine enquiries, and produces a tasting attended by people who have already decided you are their preference.
Option three: charged and credited on booking
The best of both. A fee that comes off the final invoice if they book. Most couples find this entirely reasonable and it removes the casual attender.
Option four: tastings only after a deposit
Used by busier caterers. The tasting becomes a menu refinement exercise rather than a sales pitch, which is what it should be.
The sequencing that makes it work
Enquiry, quotation, menu direction agreed, deposit or tasting fee, then the tasting. A tasting before a menu brief has no direction and no purpose.
Run group tasting days
Several couples, one kitchen, one day. Efficient for you, and couples frequently enjoy them more than a private session.
Limit the attendees
Two people. Mothers, friends and the whole wedding party each add an opinion and none of them are paying.
Decide what is actually tasted
Two or three options per course rather than a full menu. A tasting is about direction and quality, not about eating everything you offer.
Be clear about what a tasting does not include
Full service, full presentation, staff or the exact quantities of the day. Managing that expectation prevents a strange conversation afterwards.
Handle the corporate cases differently
Corporate clients rarely expect a free tasting and frequently expect a sample delivery instead, which is cheaper and works better.
Get the menu direction first
A tasting is only useful once the numbers and the style are settled, which is the groundwork in headcount and menu questions before a catering quote.
Handle the request itself properly
The process for managing these requests is set out in menu tasting requests and how caterers handle them.
Borrow from services that price their own time
The same problem of giving away a chargeable session appears in therapy fees, sessions and availability questions.
Explain the policy at enquiry
An assistant that states the tasting fee, explains that it is credited on booking, asks for the date, numbers and menu direction, and passes the tasting request on only when those are settled removes the unpaid days entirely.
What a structured policy is worth
Four days a season back, and tastings attended by people who book. Work out what the lost enquiries cost using what missed enquiries cost your business, see pricing, run the numbers on the chatbot ROI calculator, and the sector view sits under event planners.