Catering questions, answered for the Hamptons

About $150 to $400 or more per person for food and service, so a 100-guest wedding runs $15,000–40,000+ before the bar and rentals (a 2025 Hamptons magazine figure; The Knot's 2026 study puts the national average at $80 a guest and the Mid-Atlantic at $123). The proposal then adds an administrative fee of 15–25% (20% at two named Hamptons caterers, one of which states it is not a gratuity), sometimes a 15% gratuity, and Suffolk County's 8.75% sales tax on the whole charge. The bar is another $40–75 a guest for beer and wine or $75–150 for a premium open bar. A $200 quote is about $261 a head once the fee and tax are on it, before any gratuity.

For a summer wedding, 9–12 months for the caterer and 18–24 months for a Saturday at a venue that hosts weddings; the average American engagement is 15 months, and the Hamptons calendar is shorter than that. For a corporate gala or conference, 6–12 months; a retreat, client dinner or holiday party, 4–6 months; 50–100 guests, 4–8 weeks. For a dinner party under twenty, two to three weeks, with 48–72 hours possible for a simple menu and three to four weeks in December or for a Friday. Off-season weddings (January to March) want six months rather than a year. A third of all catering orders nationally land in the fourth quarter, so a December party is a September booking.

Often, and the trigger depends on which of the nine towns the house is in. In the Town of East Hampton (Montauk, Amagansett, Wainscott, Springs), a gathering of 50 or more at a residence, amplified outdoor music after 9 p.m., or a tent of 700 square feet or more needs a special-event permit filed 21–60 days ahead by headcount, with a $2 million policy naming the Town. Inside East Hampton Village any catered event needs a Village permit, 21 days out or a $250 rush fee. The Town of Southampton (Bridgehampton, Water Mill) writes its rules for public events but wants 48 hours’ notice above 50 guests and a Fire Marshal permit for any tent over 200 square feet. Sagaponack Village permits any gathering at private property, one a year per residence as its code is summarised. Beaches, rentals and alcohol have their own rules.

Plated is the most staff (one server per 10–12 guests, one chef per 40 covers) and the most control, at $70–150 a person nationally; buffet is the least staff (one server per 20–25, one chef per 50) at $40–90; stations run $35–65 at the budget end and $175–350+ for chef-driven live stations, and cost more in chefs than servers; family-style sits between plated and buffet and its national pricing is genuinely inconsistent across sources. In the Hamptons all four land inside the $150–400+ local range for a wedding. The private house decides more than the budget does: a plated dinner for 150 needs a finishing kitchen and a tent for it; a buffet needs the space for the line; stations need the power.

For a plated dinner, 8–10 servers (one per 10–12 guests, one per 8 for a complex menu) and two bartenders (one per 50); for a buffet, 4–5 servers (one per 20–25) and the same two bartenders; for a standing cocktail party, one server per 20–25 and one bartender per 50, one per 40 on a hot night. In the kitchen, one chef per 40 covers plated, one per 50 buffet, one per 60 for cocktail service, with a head chef above 75 guests. One East Hampton caterer publishes its own version: one staff member per 10–12 guests, a four-person minimum and five-hour minimum shifts. A New York staffing agency lists waitstaff at $27 an hour, bartenders at $30, a captain at $35 and a chef at $50, with five-hour minimums.

Usually not. The administrative or service fee, 15–25% across the market and 20% at two named Hamptons caterers, covers coordination, insurance, kitchen staff and vehicles; one Bridgehampton caterer says in writing that it is not a gratuity for the service staff. Gratuity is a separate line: one East Hampton caterer adds 15%, another leaves it discretionary. New York taxes the whole catering charge, and a mandatory gratuity escapes the 8.75% Suffolk sales tax only if it is separately stated, called a gratuity, and paid entirely to the staff; a service charge by any other name is taxed. If your proposal has a service charge and no gratuity line, ask what the staff receive.

You tell us about the event once: what it is, when, roughly how many, where in the Hamptons, and the style if you have a preference. We put you in touch with one caterer who does that kind of event at that size in that town, insured and cooking from a permitted kitchen, and they call you within one business day. From there it is their tasting, their proposal, their contract and their staff. It is free for hosts; participating caterers pay us a referral fee for the introduction. We are not a caterer and we do not sell your details; the one company we send you to is the only one that gets your number. We cover 9 South Fork towns and 6 kinds of events.