--- title: "What a Banqueting Event Order Is, and What Belongs on One | Havenue" description: "A practical guide to the Banqueting Event Order (BEO): what the document is for, the seven blocks every one needs, how dietary requirements and the allergen matrix sit behind it, and why version history matters more than layout." canonical: https://havenue.co/banqueting-event-order-guide/ markdown: https://havenue.co/banqueting-event-order-guide.md language: en last_updated: 2026-08-21 --- Resource · Banqueting operations # The Banqueting Event Order: what goes wrong, and what belongs on one Last updated: August 2026 · ~9 min read The BEO is the one page that decides whether Saturday goes well. Everybody who touches the job works from it: the kitchen, the floor, the porters, the client. And in most operations that page is a Word document somebody re-types every time a guest count changes, which is why three versions of it end up in the building at once. This guide covers what goes wrong with banqueting paperwork, what belongs on a BEO, and what a good one looks like. The short version - BEO, banquet event order and function sheet are three names for one document. - Seven blocks belong on every BEO: the header, the timeline, the covers, the food, the drink, the room, and the money. - Guest count is three different numbers, and using the wrong one costs you either food or money. - Dietary requirements belong on the BEO itself, not in an email chain behind it. - Version history matters more than layout. Everybody must be reading the same version. ## 1. The problems banqueting teams hit with the BEO Ask any banqueting team what goes wrong and you get the same short list. - **Three versions in the building.** The kitchen has Tuesday’s, the floor has Thursday’s, and the client is quoting the one they were emailed a fortnight ago. - **Re-typing.** The guest count changes by six, and somebody types the whole sheet again, which is how a dietary line gets dropped. - **Dietary requirements arrive late and separately.** The client sends them by email, two days out, to the coordinator, who is off that week. - **Nobody knows which count is the real one.** The contract says 200, the client said 214 on the phone, and the kitchen is preparing 205. - **The money is on a different document.** So the sheet the team runs from cannot tell anybody whether the job made anything. - **No sign-off.** When something goes wrong, there is no record of who approved what, and the conversation becomes about blame. ## 2. BEO, banquet event order, function sheet: one document Different corners of the trade use different names. Hotels say BEO. UK contract caterers often say function sheet. Some venues say event order or running order. The document is the same: one page that tells everybody working the job what is happening, when, for how many people, and what it costs. A good BEO is not a summary of the booking. A good BEO is the booking, written so a chef can cook from it and a floor manager can run a room from it. A generated BEO One page the kitchen, the floor and the client all work from. ## 3. The seven blocks every BEO needs - **The header.** Client, contact, date, room, event type, BEO number and version. The version number is not admin, it is the thing that stops two teams working from two sheets. - **The timeline.** Access, setup, guest arrival, service times course by course, speeches, carriages, breakdown. Times the kitchen can cook to. - **The covers.** The guaranteed number, the current number, and the number you are preparing for. - **The food.** Every course, every dish, and a quantity a chef can order against. - **The dietary block.** Every guest who needs a different dish, and the dish they are getting. - **The room.** Layout, table plan, linen, equipment, AV, staffing numbers. - **The money.** Minimum spend, price per head, agreed extras, deposit taken and balance due. ## 4. Guest count: three numbers that are not the same Almost every banqueting argument is really about which of these three numbers somebody used. - **The contracted minimum.** The number the client pays for whatever happens. - **The guaranteed final count.** Confirmed a fixed number of days out, usually 48 to 72 hours. This is what you bill. - **The prepared count.** The guaranteed count plus your overage, often two to five percent depending on the room. This is what you cook. Bill on the prepared count and the client argues. Cook to the contracted minimum and you run out. Put all three on the BEO and nobody has to guess which one they are looking at. ## 5. Dietary requirements belong on the BEO, not in an email A vegan guest is not a note. A vegan guest is a dish that has to be costed, ordered, prepped, plated and carried to a seat. If that dish only exists in an email chain, the person on the pass on Saturday is not reading it. A dietary block does three things a note cannot. It names the guest or the seat. It names the dish they are getting. And it shows the dish came from a recipe somebody has already checked, rather than from a decision made at 6pm. Read [dietary and allergen management for catering](/catering-dietary-allergen-management/) for how that work is done properly. Every dietary guest, by name Each guest who needs a different dish, and the dish they are getting. ## 6. The allergen matrix behind it The BEO says what each guest is eating. The allergen matrix says what is in it. The two are different documents doing different jobs, and both belong to the same booking. In the UK the matrix is built against the 14 allergens the Food Standards Agency regulates. It should be built from the ingredients in your recipes rather than typed by hand, because a hand-typed matrix goes stale the moment a recipe changes and nobody can tell by looking at it. A matrix is a record of what was checked and by whom. The system checks, suggests and records; the chef decides and signs it off. Allergen matrix Built from the ingredients in the recipes, not typed by hand. ## 7. Version history, and who signed it off Most banqueting mistakes are version mistakes. The kitchen cooked version three while the floor set version four. Two habits fix nearly all of it. Every change makes a new version number, and every version records who made the change and when. Then "which sheet are you on?" has an answer, and a post mortem is about the food rather than about the paperwork. Version history Every change carries a name and a time, so nobody has to ask which sheet is current. ## 8. The one thing a BEO cannot tell you A BEO describes the job. A BEO does not tell you whether the job made money. For that you need the food cost behind every dish on it, and most banqueting sheets carry a selling price with no cost beside it. When the cost sits on the same record, the BEO stops being paperwork and becomes a plan you can price. Read [food cost control for catering](/catering-food-cost-control/). ## 9. What this means for your role ### Head of catering You own the document. One version, one owner, one place it lives. When three copies of the same BEO are in the building, the argument that follows a bad service is about paperwork rather than about food. ### Sales director The BEO is the last thing the client agrees to and the first thing they will point at if the day goes wrong. It also carries the charges, so a clean BEO is how a coordinator stops giving away a room hire nobody billed for. ### Executive chef You need quantities, not descriptions. "Beef, 180 covers" is a menu line. "Beef fillet, 180 portions at 220g, 39.6kg trimmed" is a BEO line, and only the second one can be ordered against. ### Head chef You work from the BEO on the day, so it has to be readable while standing up. The dietary block is the part you will actually use, and it needs to say which guest gets which dish, not that there are four vegetarians somewhere in the room. ## 10. A BEO checklist you can print - BEO number and version on every page - Contracted, guaranteed and prepared counts, all three - Service times course by course, not just a start time - Every dish with a quantity a chef can order against - Every dietary guest named, with the dish they are getting - Allergen matrix attached, built from the recipes - Room layout, equipment and staffing numbers - Minimum spend, price per head, deposit and balance - A named sign-off with a time on it ## 11. Questions people ask ### What does BEO stand for? BEO stands for Banquet Event Order, sometimes written Banqueting Event Order. It is the single document that tells the kitchen, the floor and the client exactly what is happening at a booked catering event: times, covers, menu, dietary requirements, room setup and charges. ### What is the difference between a BEO and a function sheet? There is no real difference. Hotels and banqueting teams tend to say BEO or banquet event order. Contract caterers and many UK venues say function sheet. Both describe the same operational document. ### Who writes the BEO? Usually the sales or events coordinator who took the booking writes it, and the head chef and operations manager sign it off. The person who wrote it should never be the only person who can change it. ### How far ahead should a BEO go out? Most banqueting teams issue the first version at the point of confirmation and a final version seven to ten days before the date, then re-issue on any change. The final guest count is normally locked 48 to 72 hours out, and the contract should say which. ### Should dietary requirements be on the BEO? Yes. If the dietary requirements live in an email chain, the person on the pass on Saturday is not reading them. Every guest who needs a different dish should appear on the BEO by name or by seat, with the dish they are getting. ## 12. Where Havenue fits Havenue generates the BEO and the allergen matrix from the same booked catering event, so a change to the guest count or the menu updates the document instead of starting a new one. Every version is kept, every change carries a name and a time, and the cost per head sits on the same record as the price. See [catering pack generation](/features/beo-allergen-matrix/), [the allergen matrix](/features/beo-allergen-matrix/) and [the catering event planner](/features/event-planner/). [Start free trial](/#pricing) [See catering pack generation](/features/beo-allergen-matrix/) **Read next** [Dietary and allergen management →](/catering-dietary-allergen-management/) [Food cost control for catering →](/catering-food-cost-control/) [Private dining management software →](/private-dining-management-software/) [← Return to the Havenue home page](/)