For caterers & banquet teams
Catering floor plan software for caterers and banquet teams
The diagram your BEO has been missing. Draw buffet lines, carving stations, bars, and the back-of-house path to scale in real feet and inches, keep the plan filed with the event, and send one link the chef, the captain, and the delivery crew all open free. When the function sheet says “buffet for 150,” the diagram shows where.
No credit card. Free to start, and everyone you send a plan to views it free.
In one paragraph
EventDiagram is catering floor plan software: a browser-based event diagramming tool that draws banquet rooms, tents, and lawns to scale, with buffet tables, bars, back bars, carving and coffee stations, cake tables, serpentines, highboys, rounds, banquets, and pipe and drape at their real footprints and heights. One drawing produces the 2D setup sheet, a 3D walkthrough for the client, an item tally for the rental order, and a share link with comments and approval that costs the recipient nothing. It starts at $0, and the plan most catering teams run on is $18 a month.
$0
to start, no card
ft & in
every object at true size
2D + 3D
from the same drawing
Free
for every viewer, every plan
What’s inside
A Bars & Catering library, not stretched rectangles
The object library has a category built for service furniture. Each item carries its real footprint and its real height, so the buffet reads as 30 inches tall in 3D and 8 feet long on the setup sheet.
- Buffet Table 8′ — 8′ × 2′ 6″, the unit every line is built from
- Bar 6′, Bar 8′, and Back Bar 6′ — a real bar setup with the bartender’s gap behind it
- Carving Station and Coffee Station 6′ — the action station and the drink station, sized as they ship
- Cake Table, Serpentine, Half-Round, Highboys — dessert displays, curved lines, and the cocktail half hour
- Rounds and banquets with auto-arrayed chairs — 48″ to 72″ rounds, 6′ and 8′ banquets, chairs on one side or both
- Pipe & Drape at 8′ tall — entered as width × height, so the screened plating line reads correctly in 3D
Tables and seating are on the Free plan. Bars & Catering, along with staging, décor, and logistics, opens on Solo at $9 a month. The full production library, with AV, LED walls, and power distribution, is on Pro.
One diagram, two audiences
Back of house on its own layer
Put the plating line, the dish drop, and the drape run on a Back of house layer. Turn it on for the crew’s copy and off for the proposal. The client sees a clean room, the captain sees where the hot boxes land, and it’s the same drawing, so the two can’t drift apart.
Counts that check themselves
The item tally is the rental check
Every placed item counts itself. Eighteen rounds, 144 chairs, six 8-foot buffets, two carving stations, one back bar: the tally that comes off the plan is the number you check the rental order against and the count the driver loads by.
- Seats update as chairs are added or pulled, so “rounds of 8 for 150” is verified, not assumed
- Square feet per seat is on screen, which is the number a fire marshal asks about
- Export a clean PDF with the counts, and the setup sheet and the pull sheet are the same document
The BEO workflow
From booking to captain’s walkthrough
Every catering operation runs on the banquet event order. The chef plans production off it, the sous writes the prep list from it, the captain briefs servers with it, and the drivers load the truck against it. But a BEO is text. The one attachment that prevents most setup errors, a to-scale diagram, tends to get added “whenever possible,” and in a busy week that means not often. The results are familiar: the buffet set on the wrong wall, a double-sided line that only fits single-sided once the rounds go down, a bar blocking the service door.
Draw the room once
Work the same venues every season? Upload the venue’s floor-plan PDF and it comes back as an editable room at true scale, or start from a verified plan in the venue directory. The room stays in your workspace for every future date.
Diagram the event order
Set rounds, buffet lines, stations, bars, the cake table, and back of house to scale in minutes. Or describe the BEO to the AI copilot in plain English and review its draft. Everything stays yours to drag and adjust.
One link for every role
The chef, the sous, the captain, the bartenders, and the drivers open the same live plan free, with no accounts to buy. Comments pin to the exact table, and the client’s approval is stamped against the version they approved.
Each diagram lives inside its event with dates, documents, and a six-stage workflow status, so “confirmed” means the same thing on the floor plan as it does on the BEO. Export a clean PDF and staple it into the packet. The setup sheet finally has a picture.
AI copilot
Type the BEO. Review the draft.
“Buffet dinner for 120: rounds of 8 with table numbers, a double-sided buffet line of three 8′ tables along the top wall, a carving station at the end of it, an 8′ bar on the left wall, and a coffee station away from the food.” That sentence, typed into the copilot, became the drawing on the right.
- It places real library items at real dimensions, so the draft is already to scale
- Numbered tables, the buffet label, and the seat count arrive with it
- It drafts and you decide: drag whatever it got wrong, or ask for the change in another sentence
- Included on Pro at 75 messages a month; Free includes 3 to try it
How it works, and what it will not do: AI event floor plans.
Buffet-line math
How many buffet tables does the room actually need?
The numbers below are older than any software. They’re banquet-hall rules of thumb that hold up because physics doesn’t change. What software changes is whether you can see them fit the room before the truck is loaded.
- One 8-foot buffet table serves roughly 20–30 guests before the line stalls. Past about 20 guests, set the tables so guests serve from both sides; a double-sided line doubles throughput on the same furniture.
- Allow about 2 running feet of table per chafer or platter. Three chafers fill an 8-foot table, so a menu of three hot items, three cold items, and bread needs 14–16 feet of line before a single plate lands on it.
- A double-sided line for 50–60 guests wants at least three 8-foot tables, which comes to about 24 feet of serving edge and a dozen items at most.
- For a tight service window, plan one double-sided line per 50 guests. That’s the conservative banquet-hall rule: 200 guests on a hard timeline means four separate lines. With a relaxed window, one double-sided line stretches to about 100, and the to-scale plan is how you argue that trade-off with the client in numbers instead of adjectives.
- Give the line room to breathe. Two 8-foot tables are only about 48 square feet of furniture, but with 3-foot aisles wrapped around the serving sides the buffet zone runs closer to 150 square feet. The aisle is what quietly disappears when a “quick extra round” gets added. On a to-scale plan, it visibly can’t.
- Set a separate drink station for every 50–100 guests, away from the food line, so the slowest self-serve step doesn’t live at the end of the buffet.
Buffet tables by guest count
Three 8′ tables per double-sided line. “Tight” is one line per 50 guests for a hard service window; “relaxed” is one per 100 for a long, open service. Rules of thumb, so verify against the room.
| Guests | Double-sided lines tight · relaxed |
8′ buffet tables | Serving edge | Drink stations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | 1 · 1 | 3 | 24′ | 1 |
| 100 | 2 · 1 | 3–6 | 24–48′ | 1–2 |
| 150 | 3 · 2 | 6–9 | 48–72′ | 2–3 |
| 200 | 4 · 2 | 6–12 | 48–96′ | 2–4 |
| 300 | 6 · 3 | 9–18 | 72–144′ | 3–6 |
Draw the same event at real scale and the questions answer themselves. You can see whether four lines fit with their aisles, whether the drink stations pull traffic away from the doors, and whether the path the fire marshal wants clear actually stays clear.
The tasting
Show the client the room, not a sketch
Clients who can’t read a floor plan can read a room. One click from the 2D diagram opens the same scene in 3D, with real heights: the 30-inch buffet line with its chafers, the 42-inch bar and back bar, the 8-foot drape hiding the plating line. The proposal becomes a room you can walk.
Sharing & approval
Every role gets the same picture
The captain shouldn’t be the only person who knows where the carving station goes. Send one link instead of a PDF nobody opens on a loading dock.
- Unlimited viewers and commenters at no charge, on every plan — the kitchen never buys a seat
- Pinned comments land on the exact table or station in question
- An Approve this layout button that stamps the client’s sign-off against the exact version on screen (Solo and up)
- The 3D view rides along on the same link
- An optional email gate records who actually opened the plan
Where it fits
What EventDiagram is, and isn’t, for a caterer
It is
- The to-scale diagram attached to the BEO
- The setup sheet, the client proposal, and the 3D tasting visual from one drawing
- The count you check the rental order and the truck against
- The link every role opens without buying a seat
It isn’t
- A catering-management platform: no BEO writing, menu costing, or invoicing
- A CAD program: there is no learning curve, and no CAD file to maintain
- A per-seat tool: outside viewers and commenters are always free
- Tied to one venue: rooms come from the venue’s own PDF or the directory
Keep the platform that runs your paperwork. EventDiagram is the drawing that platform never had. Coming from Social Tables? The comparison covers pricing and the import path; this guide walks through bringing existing diagrams over.
FAQ
Questions from the kitchen
What is a BEO diagram?
A BEO diagram is the to-scale floor plan attached to a banquet event order. The BEO lists what is being served, when, and for how many; the diagram shows where every table, buffet line, station, and bar goes, so the kitchen, the captain, and the setup crew all work from one picture. EventDiagram draws that diagram at real dimensions and files it with the event, so the plan and the paperwork stay together.
How many buffet tables do I need for 100 guests?
For a hard service window, two double-sided lines of three 8-foot tables each, which is six tables and about 48 feet of serving edge. For a relaxed, open service, one double-sided line of three tables usually carries 100. Add a separate drink station away from the line. Those are banquet-hall rules of thumb; drawing the line to scale with its 3-foot aisles is how you confirm it fits the room you actually have.
Does EventDiagram write the BEO?
No, and that’s deliberate. There’s no menu costing, no invoicing, and no BEO templates, so keep the catering-management platform that runs your paperwork. EventDiagram is the diagram that should have been attached to that BEO all along. Export the PDF and staple it into the packet, or send the link so the packet stays current.
We cater a different venue every weekend. Do we draw every room from scratch?
No. Upload the venue’s own floor-plan PDF and it comes back as an editable room at true scale, or start from a verified plan in the venue directory if the property is already listed. Either way the room is saved to your workspace, so the second event at that venue starts from a finished floor plan instead of a blank page.
Can I hide the back of house from the client?
Yes. Put the prep tables, the drape run, and the service-path labels on their own layer and toggle it off before you share or export. The client’s copy shows the guest floor only; the crew’s copy shows everything. It is the same diagram with one layer hidden, so nothing has to be redrawn or kept in sync.
What does the kitchen or the install crew need to open the plan?
Just a link. There’s no account, no app, and no seat to pay for; sharing costs nothing on any plan, Free included. The link always carries the current version, so the crew on the dock sees the same plan the sales office sees, and the optional email gate tells you who actually opened it.
Can the AI really set a buffet line?
It drafts and you approve. Type “rounds of 8 for 120 with a double-sided buffet along the north wall” and the copilot lays out a to-scale draft from real library items. Drag whatever it got wrong, or ask for the change in another sentence. It places what you ask for at real dimensions; it does not apply the buffet-line math above as doctrine. The copilot screenshot on this page is a real, unedited run.
What does it cost for a catering company?
The Free plan is a real taste, no credit card needed, with tables and seating and watermarked exports. Solo at $9/month adds the Bars & Catering library, clean exports, and client approvals for one person with unlimited events. Pro at $18/month fits most catering teams: three editors (sales, ops, and the captain), the full library, 3D, and the AI copilot. When a fourth person needs to draw, Business at $149/month opens it to the whole company: unlimited editors on one workspace, your own object library so the buffets, bars, and highboys you actually own sit in the palette at your dimensions, and one venue’s floor plans traced to scale by us — the hall you work most, drawn by hand and handed back finished. Choose Business if you cater at a lot of venues. If people hold their events at your banquet hall instead, a venue plan fits: Small Venue at $49/property/month for up to three event spaces, or Venue at $149 for up to ten, with the first ones converted by us and a verified directory profile. Billing is month to month with no annual commitment, and everyone you share with pays nothing.
Run your own function space, or work inside a hotel’s banquet operation? The hotels & venues page covers room sets, capacity, and divisible ballrooms. Supplying the tables and chairs too? See event rental companies. Comparing tools first? Start with the best event floor plan software.
Put a diagram on the next BEO
Free to start, no credit card — and the chef, the captain, and the crew open the plan free, forever.
No credit card required