Catering Prices in Ottawa

The published numbers

Styled tables start at $42 per guest, plus applicable taxes, and the working range runs $42–$65 per guest, with the top of it being tables that replace a meal. Your quote is built from four things: guest count, table format, how long the event runs and the setup the room needs, and it separates food, styling and delivery so each part of the number is visible. The event minimum is $600 before delivery and taxes. Delivery and on-site styling are $45 within 25 km. Past that, the charge is quoted for your address before you book. Every figure on this page is quoted plus applicable taxes.

• Starting price: $42 per guest. Styled share table at grazing level, roughly 12 to 50 guests. The working range is $42–$65 per guest.
• Event minimum: $600. Before delivery and taxes.
• Delivery and on-site styling: $45 within 25 km. Past that radius the charge is quoted for your address before you book.
• Deposit: 30%. Holds the date alongside a signed quote. Balance due 3 days before the event.
• Final guest count: 7 days before the event. After that the shopping list is set: numbers can still rise, and the count stops coming down.
• Cancellation and date changes: 14 days. Outside the window the deposit is refunded. Inside it, the deposit covers sourcing already committed.
• Reply to an enquiry: one business day. Call +1 613 710-0554 or send the enquiry form.
• Taxes: plus applicable taxes. Every figure above is quoted before tax.

Why there is a $600 floor

A styled table carries almost the same work whether twelve people or twenty-five eat from it. The menu is planned once, the shopping happens once, the serving pieces, boards, risers and linens are loaded once, the van makes the same journey, and the on-site build takes the same 45 to 90 minutes. That fixed block is what the minimum covers. At the starting price the minimum stops affecting your total at about 15 guests: below that the booking is quoted at $600 plus applicable taxes, and above it the per-guest figure simply takes over.

A worked example at 30 guests

30 guests at the starting price is $1,260 for the food and the styled build, plus $45 for delivery and on-site styling inside 25 km, giving $1,305 plus applicable taxes. Where that same table replaces dinner and sits at the top of the honest range, the same 30 guests come to $1,950 plus delivery, or $1,995 plus applicable taxes. Both totals include the serving pieces, the on-site build and the pack-down; the gap between them is quantity, and specifically how much of the substantial savoury category the table carries.

A worked example at 12 guests

12 guests at the starting price would come to $504, which sits under the event minimum, so the booking is quoted at $600 plus $45 delivery: $645 plus applicable taxes. That works out near $50 a head, and it is the honest cost of a full styled build for a small guest list. For a group this size a single generous board often reads better across a dining table than a stretched display, and it is the version we usually recommend at this count.

What moves the number

Two decisions dominate, and both are settled in the first conversation.

• Whether the table is the meal or an appetiser — as the meal, the substantial savoury category roughly doubles
• Event length, because anything past ninety minutes is quoted with a planned second wave
• Guest count, which scales every category at once
• Access and build time — stairs, a security desk or a hall booked in a fixed block all lengthen the build
• Travel, where the address sits outside the standard delivery area
• Menu swaps between ingredients of similar cost, which move the total far less than any of the above

What comes with the table, and what comes from you

Serving pieces, boards, risers and linens arrive with the food and leave with us, either the same evening or the next morning by arrangement. The on-site build, the pack-down and boxing the leftovers for the host are all in the per-guest figure. From your side we need the table surface itself — a dining table, an island, a counter or a rented trestle — with its length and depth sent to us in advance, somewhere to park for the loading window, and a decision on where the table stands.

Delivery, and what happens past the radius

Delivery and on-site styling are $45 within 25 km. Past that, the charge is quoted for your address before you book. We serve the City of Ottawa, Ontario. Kanata, Stittsville, Nepean, Barrhaven, Westboro, the central neighbourhoods, Orléans, Manotick and Riverside South sit inside the standard delivery area, where delivery and on-site styling are $45. Past 25 km the delivery charge is quoted for your address and appears on the quote before you book.

Deposit, changes and the final count

A 30% deposit and a signed quote hold your date, and the balance is due 3 days before the event. Move or cancel more than 14 days out and the deposit is refunded; inside that window it covers the sourcing already committed. Final guest count is due 7 days before the event. After that the shopping list is set: numbers can still rise, and the count stops coming down.

How far ahead to book

Two to four weeks is a comfortable planning window for a styled table. December dates, long-weekend Saturdays and shower season fill earliest, and short-notice weekday events are always worth asking about.

What happens after you enquire

Call +1 613 710-0554 with your date, guest count and neighbourhood, or send the same details through the enquiry form. We answer every enquiry within one business day, and the reply names the next step and the date being held while we talk.

• You send the date, guest count, neighbourhood and a sentence about the room.
• We reply with a starting format and the two or three questions that move the quote.
• You get one written quote separating food, styling, delivery and travel, with terms attached.
• A signed quote and deposit hold the date, then the menu is finalised around season and dietary needs.
• We arrive ahead of guests, build the table in the room and take the serving pieces away afterwards.

Are you insured, and is the kitchen licensed

OH! works out of a rented licensed commercial kitchen in Ottawa. There is no liability policy in OH!'s own name today, so a venue-specific certificate of insurance is something we cannot supply. Venues in Ottawa routinely ask suppliers for one, so raise it with us early and you get a straight answer for your date and venue in writing.

This page against the market guide

These are the figures OH! charges. For what catering costs in Ottawa generally — drop-off, styled tables, buffet and plated service, and where each format sits — our guide to catering costs in Ottawa prices the wider market and says where we sit inside it. Read that one to calibrate a budget, and this one to know your number with us.

What is still ahead of us

OH! is a new Ottawa business and this page says so plainly. The pricing, the minimum, the deposit, the cancellation window and the final-count deadline above are decided and hold as written. Photography of our own tables, a liability policy in OH!’s own name and a published public-health record are still to come, and each one appears here the day it exists. Call +1 613 710-0554 if you want any of that confirmed out loud before you book.