Catering Questions
Questions about the truck itself, the menu and public stops are on the truck questions page, and the longer write-ups are in the planning guides. This one is about hiring us.
How many people can you serve?
Up to 400 for the Loaded Bar and up to 300 for Loaded Stations. Those are event capacities and not an hourly rate, so a 380-guest wedding is one job rather than three shifts. Sizing an order is covered properly in how many guests we can serve.
How long does it take to serve everyone?
Our lines go just as fast as any normal buffet, and the buffet stays open afterward for seconds. When you send an inquiry, we'll give you an estimate of how long it will take to serve your guests. That matters most when your schedule has something after the meal that cannot slide, which at a wedding is usually the toasts. The wedding day timeline walks through where a meal that fast changes the plan.
What are the three ways you serve?
Loaded Stations sets up inside your venue and builds each plate in front of the guest. Loaded Truck serves the same food at the trailer window. Loaded Bar is the buffet, where staff top each plate as guests walk the line. All three are described in full on the catering page, including what you pick for each.
What do I need to provide?
Tables, and very little else. One per two serving points, with clear space behind them for staff to work. Then a rough potato-versus-pasta split about two weeks out, and a decision about plates and utensils. The exact measurements, and the list of what we bring against them, are on the catering page.
Does my venue need a kitchen?
No. We are self contained for catering: no power hookup, no water hookup, no kitchen access. Barns, fields, community halls and vineyards all work. That is the whole subject of catering a venue with no kitchen.
What does it cost?
It depends on guest count, which service format you pick and how many entrees you want, so the number comes from a quote rather than a table. What is worth knowing up front is what the number already includes: travel, staff, the cooking, the trailer, the bowls, and a written contract. What catering costs goes through it line by line, including the charges that tend to appear late on other people’s quotes.
How far ahead should I book?
As early as you can, because Saturdays in spring and fall go first and a date is gone once it is gone. That said, a short lead time is not a reason to skip the call. If your event is a week or two away, ask. Sometimes the answer is yes.
Do you provide plates and utensils?
Your choice. We can supply them for a fee, or you can supply your own, and you decide which at booking. The biodegradable bowls the food is served in are included either way. The trade-off is covered in what catering costs.
Can you cater a small event?
Whether a twenty-guest event works comes down to where the truck already is that day. It is always worth asking. The truck is often already out selling somewhere on a given day, and where it is that afternoon changes what is possible in the evening. Guest numbers at the other end of the scale are covered in how many guests we can serve.
How far do you travel for catering?
We cater across Middle Tennessee, North Alabama and North Georgia, bounded by Nashville to the north, Huntsville to the west, Dalton, Georgia to the south and Cookeville to the northeast. Travel is folded into the quoted price, so distance shows up once, in the number you were given, and never as a mileage line afterwards. The public truck schedule covers a smaller area than this and the two are not the same map; see what catering costs for how travel is handled.
What happens if the weather turns?
Loaded Stations runs inside your venue, so rain and cold never reach the service. That is usually the answer. Loaded Truck serves from the trailer window and needs guests able to walk up to it, so if that is the format you want, a covered route or an indoor fallback is worth planning. Tell us which way you are leaning when you ask for a quote and we will say what we would do.
Do you cater in winter?
Year round. A winter event is served indoors, because nobody wants a queue standing outside in January and we would not ask guests to do it. What changes in winter is where the serving happens, and the food is the same. Indoor service is the default anyway for workplace and corporate events.
When do you need final numbers?
About a week before the event we confirm your final guest count, your entree picks and the serving time. A rough potato-versus-pasta split comes about two weeks out, and an estimate is genuinely fine there. Before those points, nothing is needed from you. The rest of the sequence is on the catering page.
Are you licensed and insured?
We are licensed and insured, and the coverage applies automatically wherever we work, at catering and at public events alike. If your venue or your company needs to be named as an additional insured, ask and we will arrange it. Most venues ask for this before the day, so it is worth raising when you book rather than in the final week. What else a venue will want to know is in catering a venue with no kitchen.
What should I be asking any caterer?
More than most people do, and the useful questions are rarely about the food. Questions worth asking a caterer is a checklist you can take to anyone you are considering, including us. When you are ready to ask about a date, the contact page lists what to send.