Catering Prices in Ottawa

The published numbers

Every figure OH! publishes is in this list. Each one is quoted plus applicable taxes, and each one appears on your quote as its own line so you can see what you are paying for.

• 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 published 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 40 guests

40 guests at the starting price is $1,680 for the food and the styled build, plus $45 for delivery and on-site styling inside 25 km, giving $1,725 plus applicable taxes. At this count the table stops being one surface: 40 guests take a 2.4 m run with both long sides open, or two 1.8 m tables set as a pair where the floor plan asks for it, and the build window sits at the long end of 45 to 90 minutes. As the meal rather than an appetiser the same 40 guests come to $2,600 plus delivery.

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 what a full styled build costs for a small guest list. For a group this size a single generous board reads better across a dining table than a stretched display, and that is the build we would propose 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 among them. Delivery and on-site styling are $45 within 25 km of the kitchen. Past 25 km the charge is quoted for your address, and either way the figure is 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, write to hello@ohcatering.ca, 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 what it takes to hold the date.

• 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 where is the food prepared

OH! works out of a commercial kitchen in Ottawa that we rent by the hour, so the premises permit for it is held by the facility. 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 December changes, and what it leaves alone

December moves the calendar and leaves these figures where they are: the per-guest price, the $600 event minimum, the $45 delivery charge, the 30% deposit, a cancellation window of 14 days and a final count 7 days before the date all read the same in December as in June. What the season moves is which dates are still open when you ask. Our Christmas party catering page sets the month out date by date and works a holiday table for twenty, thirty and fifty; our office Christmas party catering page carries the workplace evening with its invoicing and its building access; and our holiday grazing table page carries Christmas Eve, the Boxing Day drop-in and New Year’s Eve at home.

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. Real UAFest 2026 stand and preparation photographs are already published; photographs of our own private styled tables, a liability policy in OH!’s own name and a published public-health record are still to come. Call +1 613 710-0554 if you want any of that confirmed out loud before you book.