The per person number and the 20% that follows it
Hamptons Heirloom is the clearest first party price card we found: $75 a person family style, $90 plated, $125 for the chef's experience, with labor and a 15% gratuity added on top, all on its own site. Art of Eating does not publish menus but does publish its 20% administrative fee. Ficarra Ristorante in Hicksville posts a half tray and full tray list on its own catering page (an antipasto board is $90 or $160) and nothing about weddings. Its WeddingWire storefront shows a $7,000 starting price that appears nowhere on the restaurant's page. That is the kind of conflict we print rather than resolve.
The marketplace figures are per person starting points. On WeddingWire, Broadway Gourmet Caterers starts at $35 a person and Creative Courses Catering in Southold at $65. Platinum Party in North Massapequa starts at $160 a person on the same page. Christopher Michael Catering's Knot storefront quotes $150 a guest for its courtyard patio and $200 a guest for a tented field at 150 or more guests. NY GLN Culinary Group in Glen Cove lists a $2,500 flat starting figure on WeddingWire. WeddingWire's Long Island caterer page spans $35 to $160 a person overall. For a benchmark, The Knot's 2026 study puts national catering at $80 a person, and its NYC metro catering average is $18,680, which the study works out to about $150 a guest at 124 guests.
A site visit before a quote is the tell
Off premise on Long Island is a different product from a catering hall, and the good caterers say so out loud. A site visit comes first, with a straight answer about what the property lacks: power, water, refrigeration, a kitchen tent, restroom trailers, parking, a rain plan. The captain who will run the floor gets named in the proposal, and there is a tasting; Art of Eating charges for its tasting per person and deducts the full amount on booking. Corinne's Concepts in Huntington Station, in business since 1982, supplies its own tents, tables, chairs, linens and china, which removes one vendor from the chain. Moriches Catering in Bohemia publishes five named wedding menus and will arrange valet and security. A bad caterer hands you a per person food price that excludes everything that makes an outdoor wedding function, and you discover the real number in month seven.
What the quote leaves out, and who holds the liquor license
Read the administrative fee line first. At Art of Eating it is 20% of food, staff and beverage, gratuity is separate and discretionary, and the per person tasting fee is credited only if you book. Hamptons Heirloom's per person tiers exclude labor and a 15% gratuity. New York sales tax sits on top of all of it. Then look for what the quote usually leaves out. Staff overtime past the contracted end time is billed separately. So is breakdown and haul away. Rentals are the big one: tables, chairs, linen, china, glass, flatware, a kitchen tent and generators are usually a separate vendor. Quote the caterer and the tent company together.
The bar is its own question. Art of Eating holds its own liquor license, and By Hand Catering in Mattituck runs a By Hand Pours beverage trailer. If you supply the alcohol yourself at a private property, host liquor liability shifts to you. Ask whether the beverage service is licensed and insured, and get the certificate before the deposit.
Suffolk County's $95 food permit and the North Fork specialists
Suffolk County's Department of Health Services issues temporary food event permits under Sanitary Code 760-1390. The first permit is $95 and each additional permit is $50. Filing fewer than 14 days before the event adds a $70 late fee, and if the first event starts fewer than two business days out you must apply in person. A certified food safety handler must be on site during service and the permit posted at the location. The county document we read covers multi event vendors, and it does not settle whether a single private wedding with an off premise caterer needs one. Call the county at 631-852-5999 and ask; the office is at 360 Yaphank Avenue in Yaphank.
Geography still shapes the work. Lombardi's Market, 40 years in business, treats vineyard weddings as a core format. Christopher Michael has catered off site on the North Fork since 1993 from its base at the Jamesport Manor Inn. By Hand Catering in Mattituck serves the North Fork specifically and takes tastings by appointment. Rogue Kitchens builds off grid kitchens for sites with no power at all, which is a real category of Long Island property.
What does an off premise caterer cost on Long Island?
The only per person prices we found on caterers' own sites are Hamptons Heirloom's $75 to $125 tiers and Ficarra's tray list. On WeddingWire, Long Island caterers show $35 to $160 a person, with flat figures of $2,500 and $7,000 for two vendors. The Knot's 2026 study puts the national catering average at $80 a person. Add the administrative fee, tax, gratuity and rentals before comparing to a catering hall's per head price.
Do I need a Suffolk County food permit for a backyard wedding?
We could not settle that from the county document, which is written for multi event vendors. The temporary food event permit costs $95 for the first event and $50 for each additional one, with a $70 late fee inside 14 days. Call Suffolk County Department of Health Services at 631-852-5999 before you sign, and ask the caterer who pulls it.
Why is the administrative fee separate from gratuity?
It is separate because the caterer's own document says it is. Art of Eating's FAQ applies a 20% administrative fee to food, staff and beverage and states gratuity is discretionary on top. Hamptons Heirloom adds a 15% gratuity and labor to its per person tiers. Ask every caterer which of those lines exist and what each one is a percentage of.
Who handles the tent and the rentals?
A separate company handles it in most cases, and that is where budgets break. Corinne's Concepts supplies its own tents, tables, chairs, linens and china, and Art of Eating and Moriches Catering both coordinate tents and rentals. Everyone else on this page expects you to quote a tent company separately, so do it at the same time.
Facts read from each vendor’s own site and, where noted, its The Knot or WeddingWire listing, on 3 September 2026. Prices marked “on their site” are first party; anything marked “on The Knot” or “on WeddingWire” is marketplace sourced and may have changed. Run a Long Island caterer business? Claim or correct a listing, free.
