Feed forty people without feeding on your budget.

Most catering sites hide the price until the quote lands. Cheap Caters starts with it: tell us your budget per guest, and we only show caterers who can hit that number with a real menu — trays, serveware, and delivery included.

Start a catering search

Search opens with our first caterers on board. Nothing you type leaves your browser yet.

How it works

Three steps, budget first.

Set your number
Date, headcount, ZIP — and the one field other sites bury: what you can spend per guest.
Compare real menus at that price
Every result shows a full menu that lands inside your band, with delivery and serveware already counted in.
Book direct, pay the caterer's price
You book with the caterer. We never add a percentage on top of the food — caterers pay a flat listing fee instead.

The price-band system

Every caterer sorts into a per-head band. No quote roulette.

Bands are per guest, all-in: food, trays, serving utensils, and delivery inside the caterer's zone.
Under $9per head	Boxed lunches, taco bars, biryani trays, pizza-and-salad spreads. The workhorses of office lunches and volunteer days. Good for: weekly team lunches, school events, crews on site
$9–$14per head	Hot buffets with a protein, two sides, and dessert. Where most office parties and family gatherings actually land. Good for: office parties, birthdays, iftars, open houses
$14–$22per head	Multi-course spreads, carving or live stations, staffed buffet lines. Dressed up without crossing into banquet-hall pricing. Good for: rehearsal dinners, graduations, client events
$22 and upper head	Full-service events with staff, rentals, and plated courses. Still listed here because a clear price is a clear price. Good for: weddings, galas, big milestone events

Caterer listings

We're signing our founding caterers now.

Here's what a listing looks like. The first two tiles are illustrations of the format — not real businesses — and the third is a seat we're holding open. When real caterers join, every tile will carry their own menus and bands.

Grill & rice house

Kebab platters, rice trays, salads · feeds 20–200

$9–$14 a head

What a live listing will look like

Boxed-lunch specialist

Sandwich & wrap boxes, labeled per guest · feeds 10–500

Under $9 a head

What a live listing will look like

This seat is open

We're recruiting founding caterers in every band. Early listings are free for the first year.

Claim a founding spot

For caterers

You cook at a fair price. We built the site that rewards it.

On lead-gen platforms, the cheapest honest caterer looks the same as everyone else — until the commission eats the margin. Here, your price band is the storefront, and there's no commission to pass on to your customers.

Flat listing fee, zero commissionYou keep the whole ticket. Founding caterers list free for year one.
Customers book you directlyYour phone, your deposit terms, your contract. We hand off the lead and get out of the way.
Bands you set, menus you controlPublish one menu per band or ten. Change prices any time — the band updates with you.

Ask for the founding-caterer terms

Tell us about your kitchen and we'll send the one-page terms when sign-ups open.

Questions people ask

The fine print, up front.

Does "cheap" mean low quality?

No — it means priced plainly. A taco bar at $8 a head from a caterer who does it every week is a better meal than a padded $20 quote for the same food. We list caterers by what they charge, and the menus speak for themselves.

What's included in a per-head band?

Food, disposable trays and serving utensils, and delivery inside the caterer's stated zone. Staffing, rentals, and plated service are extras, and listings that offer them say so with their own prices.

Do you add fees on top of the caterer's price?

No. Caterers pay a flat listing fee to be on the site; we take no commission and add no service charge. The price on the listing is the caterer's own price.

When does search go live?

When we have founding caterers signed in each band for our first city. Until then, the search panel and forms on this page don't send anything anywhere — we'd rather launch with real menus than fake depth.

Can I list a home-based or cottage-food operation?

If you're licensed to cater in your state, yes. We ask every caterer for their current license or permit before a listing goes live.