The Local Restaurant & Catering

We do allow clients to provide their own alcohol. When providing your own alcohol you’re required to provide a Single Day VA ABC Banquet License and to provide our catering coordinators a list of the inventory of alcohol you’ve purchased for your event at least 7 days prior to your event. We will provide the bar staff to serve the alcohol you purchased.

All of our menus are priced as a package based on your appetizers and dinner menu, this will not be majorly affected by any style meal

Hiring the Local means you’ve hired a full service catering company, our staff will set up all of the tables and chairs for your reception based on the diagram you have provided your catering coordinator. If you are working with one of our day-of-coordinators they will have made your floor plan for you.

Labor hours are determined by the venue, set-up and break-down required and event hours. Most labor hours are determined based off a 6 hour event time (ceremony to exit). Travel and preparation time are also taken into consideration. Any event exceeding thirty miles of Charlottesville will incur travel time fees.

No we do not charge a cake cutting fee. We require the client provide or rent a cake server and knife but we will happily slice and serve the cake for you. Please let us know of any special plans for cake (does the top tier need to be saved? , etc.) prior to the event.

We include “extra hours” as a backup if you decide to add extra time to the event the night of your event. We carefully estimate the proper amount of hours for each event, reasons outside of our control, for example weather or bus delays, that majorly affect the timeline of dinner service may impact the amount of hours our kitchen staff will have to stay, possibly increasing the overall estimate.

We recommend sending out invitations at least 8 weeks prior to your event asking for them back at least 6 weeks prior. This will give you a couple of weeks to track down anyone who has not responded and enough time to get your final numbers in and finalize your floor-plan! We do not require final guest count until 14-Days prior to the event.

We coordinate your rentals by starting a proposal and allowing you to choose your styles with a visit to MS Events. After that, you can reach out to your catering coordinators and ask to add or remove rental items throughout the process. Final guest count is due 14 days prior to your event, this is when all final changes will be made.

No, our insurance policy does not cover your wedding or event insurance for the day. Many venues require couples to have day of insurance- this is not the same thing as the caterer’s policy. Clients can obtain this policy through their homeowners or websites like WedSafe. The Local Catering is fully ensured. We make sure all venues we work at have our up to date insurance.

Not to worry! Once your date is reserved with a deposit, we’ll then give you until 30 days before your event to make any and all menu decisions.

Yes! We are happy to custom create menus with our clients. For this type of requests we will set up a time for you to talk one on one with our catering chef about what we can provide for you.

We have a variety of vegetarian, vegan and gluten free selections on our menu. Your catering coordinator will be more than happy to discuss any special dietary restrictions/needs with you when planning your menu. We also make sure ask with your final count about all final restrictions and allergies for your final contract.

We are happy to provide children’s meals. Children 2-12 are $15 per children’s meal, you will not be charged for any child too small to eat solid meals. Dependent on your menu, children’s meals will be a fruit plate for the first course in lieu of a salad then a predetermined main course (ex. Chicken Tenders and Mac N Cheese).

Our coordinators are happy to start a basic proposal for you to get a general price estimate listing food, beverage, staffing and rental pricing. We’re happy to make any adjustments along the way once you’ve had a chance to review our full menu or after you’ve enjoyed a tasting at our restaurant, final menu choices are not due until 30 days prior.

After booking The Local as your caterer we will send out a Google Shared Document that will cover all of our major needs. We will work with you to help determine your final menu, if you have not had a tasting we will work with our collective schedules to have you in to taste the food.

An initial deposit of 25% of your proposal estimate is due upon booking. A second deposit reflecting an estimate of 50% of your bill is due 30 days prior to event. Final payment is due 7 days prior to your event. If booking takes place less than 30 days prior to your event 50% payment is due upon booking and final payment is due 7 days prior to your event.

Email is the best way to reach out to our coordinators, we are frequently out for weekly meetings and events over the weekends but we are more than happy to set up a time to talk with you. If you prefer to talk on the phone, we highly recommend scheduling phone appointments so we are able to reserve adequate time to talk and answer all of your questions.

We require our servers to wear black button down long sleeve shirts, black dress pants and black shoes. If any specific uniform changes are wanted please speak with your catering coordinator. If you’re having an outdoor event on a day expected with extreme weather we will ask permission for outfit adjustments, for example, solid black sweaters or solid black dress short sleeve shirts.

We do not charge a service fee or gratuity and leave it up to clients discretion. We see gratuity as an extra thank you for a job well done. If you decide to leave a gratuity the most common forms are $50-$100/staff member working the event or treating the bill as a restaurant check and including 15-20% of food and beverage cost pre-tax to the final bill.

We do have fees stated on the contract that pertain to adding guests after cut off dates, etc. These are fees you will not accrue unless contractual changes are made according to the terms outlined in your contract. The only processing fee we have is a 3% processing fee for payment by credit card. For drop off events we have a drop off fee of $50 for standard delivery areas.