Catering Assistant CV Examples & Writing Guide
A catering assistant CV is judged on scale and speed: how many covers you have served, what kind of events (plated weddings, buffets, corporate drop-offs), how fast you set and clear a room, and whether you hold a food hygiene certificate. Put the guest counts in your bullets.
Catering assistant CV example (hotel banqueting and off-site events)
The person below is invented, but the numbers are the kind a catering manager wants. Guest counts, event types and turnaround times tell them straight away whether you have worked a 300-person plated wedding or only a boardroom lunch for twelve. Both are fine, but they hire for the one they run.
Alicia N. Ferraro
Catering Assistant / Banqueting Waitress
Manchester · 07700 900192 | a.ferraro@email.com | Level 2 Food Hygiene | Own transport, open availability
Summary
Catering assistant with six years across a hotel banqueting department, an off-site catering company and a restaurant kitchen. Works plated dinners up to 320 guests, buffets, drinks receptions and corporate drop-offs. Sets and clears function rooms, runs a station of 12 tables, and holds a Level 2 Food Hygiene and Safety certificate and responsible alcohol service training.
Experience
Banqueting Waitress / Catering Assistant · Cardinal Hall Events (hotel banqueting department, 3 function suites)
Apr 2023 - Present
- Works plated dinners from 80 to 320 guests, covering a station of 10 to 12 tables (80 to 96 covers) with synchronised service on the head waiter's call.
- Sets and clears function suites to the function sheet: linen, china, glass, cutlery and centrepieces for up to 32 round tables, usually inside a 90-minute turnaround.
- Holds hot food at 63°C or above and cold food at 5°C or below on buffet lines, logging temperatures every 2 hours; kept a 5 food hygiene rating through three local authority inspections.
- Handles allergy and dietary covers (gluten-free, nut-free, halal, vegan) and hand-delivers them with a marked cover, averaging 15 to 25 special plates per wedding.
- Trains new banqueting staff on tray service, wine pouring and the room-set plan; inducted 9 seasonal staff over two wedding seasons.
Catering Assistant · Larkfield Event Catering (off-site caterer)
Jun 2021 - Apr 2023
- Packed, loaded and transported food and equipment for 4 to 6 off-site events a week, from 25-person office lunches to a 450-guest festival marquee.
- Built and ran buffet lines with chafing dishes, carving stations and drinks service, replenishing on a 10-minute walk of the line.
- Cut breakage costs by roughly 20% by rebuilding the crate-packing system for glassware and china after two costly transport losses.
- Prepped cold items on site (salads, platters, garnishes) for up to 200 covers with the chef, working from prep lists and a timed running order.
Kitchen Assistant · Harborview Bistro
May 2020 - Jun 2021
- Washed, prepped and portioned for a 90-seat restaurant doing 180 to 220 covers on a Saturday night once it reopened, and on its takeaway menu during lockdowns.
- Kept walk-in fridge rotation and date labels on a FIFO system and ran the closing cleaning checklist five nights a week.
Education
Level 2 Diploma in Food and Beverage Service (part-time)
Further education college, Manchester, 2021
A-levels and GCSEs including English and Maths
Sixth form college, Stockport, 2019
Certifications
- Level 2 Food Hygiene and Safety for Catering (2024)
- Responsible alcohol service and Challenge 25 training (2023)
- Food allergen awareness, 14 allergens (2024)
- Emergency First Aid at Work (2025)
Skills
Catering assistant, banqueting waiter or kitchen assistant?
These titles overlap and the same person often does all three in a week. Pick the one that matches the advert, and shape the top of your CV around it.
- Catering assistant: the all-rounder. Prep, packing, loading, setting up on site, serving, clearing, washing down. Lead with flexibility and the range of event types.
- Banqueting waiter or event server: front of house at events. Lead with covers per station, plated service, wine pouring and how many guests you have served at once.
- Kitchen assistant or kitchen porter: back of house. Lead with prep volumes, pot wash throughput, cleaning and the covers the kitchen pushed.
- Catering attendant or hostess: common in hospitals, schools and workplace dining. Lead with tray line work, diet cards, portion control and service times.
What catering managers check first
Catering runs on people who turn up and can be dropped into a room without a briefing. A manager reading a stack of CVs at 11 p.m. after a wedding is looking for four things.
- Event size and type. A 40-guest corporate lunch and a 300-guest plated wedding are different skills. Name both the number and the format.
- A food hygiene certificate. UK employers must make sure food handlers are trained, and having a Level 2 certificate already means you can be put on the rota this weekend instead of next month.
- Availability. Evenings, weekends, bank holidays, split shifts and last-minute call-ins are the job. Write your availability as a line on the CV.
- Transport and physical ability. Off-site work needs someone who can get to a venue at 6 a.m. and lift crates. Say you have your own transport if you do.
“Tell me the guest count. Every catering CV says 'assisted with events'. The ones I call say 'plated service for 280 with a 12-table station'. That one line tells me you can walk into my ballroom on Saturday and I will not have to hold your hand.”
Catering assistant personal statement and career objective examples
Three sentences, no more. Lead with years and the biggest event size, then service styles, then your food hygiene certificate and availability.
Catering assistant with six years in hotel banqueting and off-site events, working plated dinners up to 320 guests. Comfortable on a 12-table station, on a buffet line and on setting up and clearing inside a 90-minute room turnaround. Level 2 Food Hygiene and responsible alcohol service trained, with open weekend availability.
Catering assistant from a mobile catering business running 4 to 6 events a week, from 25-person office lunches to a 450-guest festival marquee. Handles packing, loading, on-site build, buffet replenishment and clear-down. Own transport, early starts, and a current Level 2 Food Hygiene certificate.
Kitchen assistant moving into catering, with two years of prep and cleaning in a 90-seat restaurant doing 220 Saturday covers. Handles cold prep, portioning, FIFO rotation and closing checklists, and has worked eight weekend catering call-ins. Level 2 Food Hygiene and Safety certified.
Reliable worker with two years of retail and volunteer event experience, looking for a catering assistant role at a hotel or events company. Comfortable on long shifts, carrying trays and working to a set-up plan. Level 2 Food Hygiene certificate in hand, available evenings, weekends and bank holidays.
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Catering assistant job description bullets: weak and strong
Copying the job description straight onto your CV is what everyone does. Add the count, the format and the timing, and the same duty becomes evidence.
| Copied from the job advert | What gets you shortlisted |
|---|---|
| Assisted with catering events. | Worked 4 to 6 events a week, from 25-guest office lunches to a 450-guest festival marquee. |
| Served food and drinks to guests. | Ran plated service on a 12-table station (96 covers) with synchronised plate drops on the head waiter's call. |
| Set up and cleaned event spaces. | Set 32 round tables to the function sheet and cleared the suite inside a 90-minute turnaround between two weddings. |
| Followed food safety rules. | Logged buffet temperatures every 2 hours (hot at 63°C or above, cold at 5°C or below) and kept a 5 food hygiene rating through three inspections. |
| Helped with food preparation. | Prepped salads, platters and garnishes for up to 200 covers from a timed running order alongside the chef. |
| Handled dietary requirements. | Plated and hand-delivered 15 to 25 allergy and dietary covers per wedding, marked and tracked to the seat number. |
| Loaded vans for off-site jobs. | Packed and loaded china, glass and hot boxes for off-site builds, cutting breakage costs about 20% by redesigning the crate system. |
| Trained new team members. | Trained 9 seasonal banqueting staff on tray service, wine pouring and room-set plans over two wedding seasons. |
Skills for a catering assistant CV
Keep it to about a dozen. Managers want the service styles you know, the safety habits you have, and proof you can take a long shift on your feet.
- Service skills: plated service, buffet build and replenishment, sharing-style, passed canapés, tray carrying, wine and beer pouring, clearing and crumbing down, cash bar and EPOS.
- Setup skills: reading a function sheet, room-set plans, round and trestle tables, linen and skirting, china and glass counts, chafing dishes and hot boxes, carving and live cooking stations, load-in and load-out.
- Food safety and kitchen: holding temperatures, temperature records, the 14 allergens and allergen separation, FIFO stock rotation, date labelling, sanitiser strength, knife and slicer safety, dishwasher operation, closing cleaning checklists.
- The human side: taking direction from a head waiter during service, staying pleasant with guests when a course is late, working clean under time pressure, and turning up for a 6 a.m. load-out after a midnight finish.
Food hygiene certificates, alcohol training and what to list
UK food law does not name one certificate every food handler must hold. It requires your employer to make sure you are trained or supervised for the work you do, so each caterer sets its own baseline. Read the advert, get what it names, and put the awarding body and year on the CV.
- Level 2 Food Hygiene and Safety certificate: most caterers want it before or soon after your first shift. It is the most widely asked-for certificate, and it usually takes a few hours online.
- Level 3 Award in Supervising Food Safety: the step up, expected if you want to run a shift or be the person in charge. Worth doing if you are aiming at catering supervisor.
- Alcohol training: bar staff at a licensed event serve under the venue's premises licence and the designated premises supervisor's authority, so they do not need their own licence. Caterers who run bars still expect Challenge 25 and responsible service training, and a personal licence helps if you want to run event bars.
- Allergen training: the free Food Standards Agency online course or a Level 2 allergen award is short and it stands out on a catering CV, because allergy covers at weddings are where things go badly wrong.
- Emergency First Aid at Work: not required, but a plus at large events.
- A full UK driving licence with no or few penalty points, if the job involves the van or getting to venues at dawn.
Catering assistant CV with no experience
This is one of the easiest hospitality jobs to break into, because caterers are always short-handed for a Saturday. What they need is proof you will turn up and can stay on your feet for eight hours.
- 1Get a Level 2 Food Hygiene certificate before you apply. It costs very little, takes an afternoon, and it moves you above most other applicants with no experience.
- 2Write a career objective naming the venue type you want (hotel banqueting, off-site caterer, workplace dining) and the shifts you can work.
- 3Pull the transferable parts out of any job you have had: retail lines, fast food, stocking shelves, cleaning, warehouse. Carrying, speed, standing, customer contact and closing routines all count.
- 4Add unpaid work honestly: church suppers, school prom setup, a family restaurant, volunteering at a charity dinner. Give the guest count.
- 5Finish with a plain availability line. "Available evenings, weekends and bank holidays; own transport" is worth more than any adjective.
Retail worker with two years on busy weekend shifts, looking for a catering assistant role with a hotel or events company. Comfortable on long shifts, carrying and stacking, and dealing with customers under pressure. Level 2 Food Hygiene certificate in hand; available evenings, weekends and bank holidays.
Volunteered at a monthly community dinner for 120 guests: table setup, buffet replenishment, clearing and the pot wash, working a five-hour shift with a team of eight.
Format, length and keywords
- One page. Catering managers read fast and hire fast.
- Plain headings, reverse chronological, no photo and no date of birth. UK CVs do not need either, even though some catering CVs still carry a photo.
- Put your availability and food hygiene certificate in the top block, next to your contact details. Those two facts decide half the shortlist.
- Mirror the advert's words: banqueting, function sheet, covers, plated service, buffet, chafing dish, room turnaround, clear-down, off-site, tray service, food hygiene, allergens.
- If you have worked seasonally or through an agency, group it: "Banqueting waitress (agency), 3 hotels, 2022-2023, approx. 60 events". That reads better than six short jobs.
- Send a PDF unless the job advert asks otherwise, and name the file with your own name so it does not get lost in the pile.
Read it back and ask one question: does this tell a manager how big an event you can be trusted on? If the answer is not obvious in the first four lines, move a number up.
Frequently asked questions
How do you write a catering assistant CV?
Lead with a three-line personal statement that names your years, the biggest event you have worked and your food hygiene certificate. Then two or three jobs with bullets that carry guest counts, event types and turnaround times. Finish with a skills block, certificates and an availability line. Keep it to one page.
What skills should a catering assistant put on a CV?
Service styles (plated, buffet, passed canapés), reading a function sheet, tray carrying, table laying, chafing dishes and hot boxes, food temperature control, allergen handling, and load-in and load-out for off-site work. Add the human ones that matter here: taking direction during service and staying calm when a course runs late.
What is the catering assistant job description for a CV?
Written as duties you performed: prepping cold food, packing and loading equipment, setting rooms to the function sheet, building and replenishing buffets, serving plated courses, handling dietary covers, clearing the room, and cleaning down at the end. Attach a number to each one.
Do I need a certificate to be a catering assistant?
There is no licence, but UK employers must make sure food handlers are trained, so most caterers want a Level 2 Food Hygiene and Safety certificate before your first shift. You do not need a personal licence to serve at a bar run under the venue's licence, though Challenge 25 training is expected. Check the advert, because caterers set their own requirements.
How do I write a catering assistant CV with no experience?
Get the Level 2 Food Hygiene certificate first, then write a career objective naming the venue type and your shifts. Use retail, fast food, cleaning or warehouse jobs to show you can carry, stand and work fast. Add volunteer event work with a guest count, and state your availability plainly.
What is the difference between a catering assistant and a banqueting waiter?
A banqueting waiter or waitress works front of house at events, serving courses and drinks. A catering assistant usually does more: prep, packing, loading, setting up on site and clearing down as well as serving. If the advert says banqueting waiter, lead with covers and plated service; if it says catering assistant, lead with range.
Should I use a career objective or a personal statement?
Use a personal statement if you have worked events before, because it lets you open with guest counts. Use a career objective if this is your first catering job, so you can explain what you are aiming for and what transfers from retail or fast food. Either way, three sentences at most.
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How this page was made: a first draft was written with AI assistance from cvplex's example library, then edited and fact-checked by the cvplex Careers Team. Examples are fictional composites; numbers are illustrative. Report an error via the editorial policy page.