Frequently Asked Questions
Every event is different, so naturally, the questions are too.
Whether you're planning a corporate event, wedding, brand activation, private dinner, or nonprofit gathering, this page answers some of the questions we hear most often. From how we work with our network of chefs to menu customization, staffing, rentals, bar programs, and planning, you'll find a little more about our approach to hospitality and what it's like to work with My House Events.
If you don't see your question here, we'd love to hear it. Reach out, and we'll be happy to help.
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Food is usually the first reason people reach out to us, but catering is only part of what we do.
We coordinate the food production, staffing, rentals, and on-site logistics, giving you one point of contact from start to finish.
Our work spans corporate events, weddings, brand activations, nonprofit galas, private dinners, holiday parties, conferences, and experiential events. Some clients come to us for catering. Others ask us to manage every hospitality detail surrounding the meal.
Our services include:
Catering & Menu Development
Bar & Beverage Curation Programs
Hospitality Staffing
(Chefs, bartenders, servers & event staff)Food & Beverage Event Production
Rentals & Vendor Coordination
Event Coordination & Hospitality Support
No two events require the same combination of services, and that's the point. We don't begin with a package. We begin with the event itself, then build the right team around it.
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Most catering companies bring a set menu and a set team. We do something different: we build each event around the people in the room. That means matching clients with chefs, bar partners, and culinary creatives who are genuinely right for the experience, not just whoever's available. We don't have a commissary kitchen or a house menu. What we have is a deep network of culinary talent across our markets, and the production experience to bring it together seamlessly.
We're also intentional about who we uplift. Our chef and bar partner network is rooted in BIPOC, women, and LGBTQ+ culinary professionals, people making some of the most exciting food and beverage work in the country.
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The forefront of our mission is to support chefs by fostering economic and creative work opportunities. Working with women chefs, Black chefs, and chefs of color, we aim for equality and better representation in the culinary industry. We understand the importance of money. Therefore, we strive for a more inclusive events industry that offers a more equitable distribution of opportunities and money. Collaboratively, we seek to change the industry’s standard by cultivating a culture of inclusion and transparency.
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Yes. My House Events is women-owned and operated. That's not just a credential. It shapes how we work, who we partner with, and what we think good hospitality looks like.
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We act as the caterer and production partner, connecting clients with culinary creatives who bring specific skills and perspectives to each event. Depending on the brief, that might be a chef known for elevated Creole cuisine, a bartender building an agave-forward cocktail program, or a pastry team with a sharp visual sensibility. We manage sourcing, contracting, logistics, and day-of execution, so clients have one point of contact while benefiting from a much wider range of talent.
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You can reach us anytime via our contact page or email. We aim to respond quickly—usually within one business day.
Locations
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Our home markets are New Orleans, Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco. We work regularly across all four cities for everything from intimate dinners to large-scale corporate productions.
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Yes. We've produced events in Chicago, Miami, Telluride, and beyond. If your event takes you somewhere else, let's talk. Travel logistics are something we handle regularly, and we have the vendor relationships to support production in most major markets.
Catering + Culinary Experiences
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Our work spans a wide range of formats: plated dinners, family-style service, cocktail receptions, chef stations, interactive food experiences, and full culinary productions for brand activations and corporate events. The format is always driven by what makes sense for the guest experience, not by what's easiest to execute. We work in venues, private homes, event spaces, and outdoor settings.
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Customization is the baseline, not the upgrade. Every menu we build starts with a conversation about the event: the occasion, the guest list, the setting, the season, and what you want people to feel. From there, we develop the concept with the chef partner who's the best fit for that brief. If you have a specific cuisine, cultural tradition, or flavor direction in mind, bring it. If you're starting from scratch, we'll get there together.
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Each menu is entirely custom, so the planning, curating, and proposal creation process will take roughly seven business days. We will work with you to plan out food and beverage offerings until we reach the ideal menu to complement your event.
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All kinds! Food service styles range from food trucks to seated, plated dinners. We also offer bar program curation.
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We work with independent restaurants, chefs, and caterers in the city, and focus on hiring women and people of color. From New Orleans Classics to Contemporary American to Asian Fusion, we have chefs that specialize across a variety of cuisines.
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We ask about dietary needs at the start of every planning process, not as an afterthought. Common accommodations (vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, nut-free, kosher, halal) are built into the menu design, not handled as exceptions on the day. For guests with severe allergies, we work directly with the culinary team to confirm protocols and ingredient sourcing.
Bar + Beverage Services
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We offer full bar curation: concept development, custom cocktail programs, wine and spirit selection, non-alcoholic beverage programs, staffing, and logistics. Whether you need a full open bar for 300 guests or a bespoke cocktail menu for a private dinner, we build the program to match the event.
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Yes to all three. Branded beverage experiences (cocktails named for a product launch, drinks that reflect a company's identity or color palette, signature mocktail programs for sober-curious events) are something we do regularly, especially for corporate and brand activation clients. Non-alcoholic programming is treated with the same intentionality as the full bar, not as an afterthought.
Corporate Events
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We work across the full range of corporate occasions: team offsites, client entertainment, company celebrations, executive dinners, product launches, and large-scale conference or summit productions. The scale can range from an intimate board dinner to a multi-day event for hundreds of guests.
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Corporate food and beverage tends to default to the familiar, and the forgettable. We push against that. A company's hospitality is part of its brand, and what people eat and drink at your events shapes how they feel about you. We work with corporate clients to understand what they're trying to communicate, whether that's creativity, community, or appreciation, and build an experience that earns that response.
Brand Activations + Experiential Events
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We're experienced at building culinary experiences that serve a larger production: activations at festivals and pop-ups, food and beverage for launch events, chef-driven experiences at brand headquarters or retail environments. We understand that in these contexts, the food is part of the story, and it should be designed, not just ordered.
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That's the work we find most interesting. A branded culinary experience can mean a cocktail that tastes like the product, a menu built around the brand's origin story, or a chef station that's designed to generate content and conversation. We've done it across industries, and we're good at translating brand language into something you can taste.
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We've worked with brands across fashion, beauty, tech, spirits, entertainment, and consumer goods. What they have in common: they take hospitality seriously and want it to reflect the same attention to detail they bring to the rest of their brand. We're not the right fit for clients who treat food and beverage as a box to check.
Weddings
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Yes, and it's some of our favorite work. We specialize in building custom menus that actually reflect the couple: where they come from, what they love to eat, and what they want their guests to walk away talking about. If the food being the highlight of your wedding matters to you, you're probably our kind of client.
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Absolutely, and we welcome it. We work as the culinary and catering partner within whatever planning structure is already in place. If you have a planner, we coordinate directly with them. We don't compete with planners; we make their job easier by handling the food and beverage production so they can focus on the broader event.
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We start by getting to know the couple: where they're from, what they love to eat, what they want their guests to feel. From there, we develop a menu direction and match them with a chef partner who's right for that vision. The result is usually something that feels specific to them, not like a wedding menu that could belong to anyone.
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We begin with a discovery conversation to understand the couple's preferences, dietary needs across the guest list, venue constraints, and service style. From there, we develop a menu concept, walk through it together, and refine it over one or two rounds of revisions. For weddings, we typically recommend starting that conversation at least six to nine months before the event date.
Social
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We work with private clients for milestone celebrations, dinner parties, holiday gatherings, and intimate events that call for something more considered than standard catering. If you're hosting something that matters to you, we want it to be good.
Event Support Services
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We offer bar curation and beverage staffing, vendor recommendations, venue sourcing guidance, and event coordination support. For clients working through a planner or coordinator, we operate as the culinary production partner. For clients who need more hands-on support, we can help build out the broader event framework.
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We do. Our staffing covers culinary teams, service staff, and bar personnel. We also make introductions to photographers, florists, rental partners, and other vendors we trust. (For more on how we handle rentals specifically, see the section below.)
Rentals
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We handle food service rentals (the plates, flatware, glassware, and serving equipment your menu needs) as part of our standard catering service. Think of it as built in, not an add-on: if we're cooking for your event, we're equipping the service for it too.
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General event furniture (guest tables, chairs, lounge seating, bar fronts) isn't part of our standard catering package, but we coordinate it for you. We work with a network of trusted rental partners to source and manage guest furniture as an optional add-on, so you're not left tracking down a separate vendor on your own.
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Food service rentals generally fall into a few tiers depending on the look and feel you want:
Disposables: the most economical option, appropriate for casual or budget-conscious events.
Basic rentals: standard glassware, flatware, and china, suited to most catered events.
Upgraded rentals: elevated tableware and presentation pieces for events where the table setting is part of the visual experience.
Guest furniture, when added, is scoped separately on top of whichever food service tier you choose. Exact pricing depends on guest count and the specific pieces selected; your proposal will lay out the full picture once we know more about your event.
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We work with established event rental companies with strong catalogues and reliable delivery and setup. We'll recommend the partner and pieces that make the most sense for your event's style and budget, and we manage that coordination on your behalf so it's one less vendor relationship for you to juggle.
Planning + Event Size
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We work across a wide range of guest counts, from seated dinners for 20 to large-scale productions for several hundred. The right scope depends less on headcount and more on the complexity of the experience. We're happy to have that conversation early.
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Yes. We have production experience with large corporate events, multi-day conferences, and events that require culinary programming across several activations or meal periods. These take more lead time and planning, and we'll be upfront about what that requires.
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For weddings, we recommend reaching out six to nine months in advance, and earlier if your date falls during a busy season. For corporate events and activations, three to six months gives us the best opportunity to develop something strong. We do take on shorter timelines when capacity allows, so if your event is closer than that, it's worth reaching out.
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The basics: your event date, location, approximate guest count, and service style (plated dinner, reception, standing event, etc.). Beyond that, anything you can share about the feel you're going for (cuisine preferences, dietary needs across your guest list, must-haves or must-avoids) helps us develop a more accurate and useful proposal faster. You don't need to have everything figured out. We'll ask the right questions.
Pricing + Process
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Our pricing is based on the scope of each event: guest count, menu complexity, service style, staffing, and any additional services like rentals or coordination. We don't publish a standard rate sheet because no two events are priced the same way. The best way to get a clear picture of the cost is to request a proposal. We're upfront about budget ranges early in the conversation so there are no surprises.
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On average our menus have two chefs on site, with a budget of $65 per head. Our food pricing is inclusive of tax and gratuity. Additional fees, that depend on your venue and vision, are rentals and staffing. We’ll do our best to estimate these fees so you always have a good idea of your total catering cost.
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When you look over your proposal, you’ll see everything we anticipate on the pricing overview. We give you a total per person cost that is inclusive of the food costs, our fee, tax, and gratuity. Staffing and rentals are estimated based on the details we have of your event, and are subject to change. There is a standard Catering Management On Site Fee to provide administration and management on the day of the event to cover setting up, receiving and setup of rentals, management of chefs, timeline, and breakdown of event.