Catering By Ericka
Wedding Caterer
+1 919-205-4764
Standalone profileThe Menuevents on the kitchen's roster
Standing Servicepractice overview
Catering By Ericka is a wedding caterer in Oakland covering corporate events and office catering, plus wedding receptions and cuisine-specific menus.
The hidden risk most callers miss is that the dispatch voice often is not the same person who actually shows up.
Catering By Ericka shows up in Oakland, CA as a catering service candidate worth scoping before booking.
The notes below separate public-source documentation from what still needs to come from the dispatch line.
Public-source signals for this catering-service listing surface 4 cues: corporate events, wedding catering, cuisine-specific catering, staffed events.
Use them as the anchor of the dispatch conversation, not as a guarantee of crew skill.
California and the broader Pacific-mixed climate (CA) blends coastal humidity, drought ordinances, and wildfire-season risks; local providers usually know the regional regulations better than imports.
Before booking, ask the provider which exact services they handle in-house versus sub out, what their average response time is, and whether they offer a written estimate before any work starts.
Vague answers usually mean overflow staff who do not know the company's actual practices.
House Notesfrom the kitchen's own page
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Shrimp Po’ Boy Sliders Sliders on a french roll with Remoulade or French Mayo Sauce Wings BBQ, Garlic and Parmesan. Mango Habanero, Lemon Pepper, and Bufflo choose 2 . Shrimp Cocktail Tray Chilled shrimp with a fa
From their site
Mise en Placebooking facts
- Phone+1 919-205-4764
- Siteiamcheferickameans.com
- Kitchen base2700 Fairmont Dr, San Leandro, CA 94578, United States
- SpecialtyWedding Caterer
- Service areaOakland · Anaheim · Bakersfield · Fresno
- Profile tierStandalone
- Data score100 / 100
Regional Practicepermits & service customs in this region
On the Pacific seaboard — California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Hawaii, and Arizona — every catered event must come from a permitted commercial kitchen; home-kitchen catering for a paying event is illegal in most counties. ABC license rules vary by city, and off-site bar service usually needs a Type-58 caterer's permit. Travel-fee surcharges scale with mileage outside the kitchen's home county. Plan to pay an 18 to 22 percent service charge on top of the food and labor totals.
Consider Before You Callfive questions to bring to the booking
- What's the minimum headcount for a corporate booking, and is there a separate weekday vs. weekend rate?
- How far in advance do weddings book up, and is a tasting offered before the contract is signed?
- What's the server-to-guest ratio you staff at, and is bar service an additional package?
- What is included in the per-head price — appetizers, dessert, non-alcoholic drinks, gratuity, taxes?
- Do you carry a current health-department permit and a certificate of insurance the venue can request?
Table Questionsfrequent asks at the booking
- How is catering priced — per head or per dish?
- Most catering is priced per-person ("per-head") for a fixed package: appetizers and main and dessert and non-alcoholic drinks. Service staff, rentals, and the bar are usually separate line items. À-la-carte and weight-based ("market price") pricing is common at high-end and cuisine-specific kitchens. Confirm whether tax, service charge, and gratuity are inside the per-head number before signing.
- How far ahead should the kitchen be booked?
- Wedding caterers typically book six to twelve months ahead for prime spring–summer dates. Corporate events book two to four weeks ahead, sometimes shorter. Drop-off catering for office events can be twenty-four to seventy-two hours. Last-minute bookings limit the menu, since the kitchen has to source from what is already in their order rotation.
- Drop-off versus full-service — what is the practical difference?
- Drop-off means the kitchen delivers food (hot or cold) and leaves — no servers, no bar, no on-site staff. Full-service brings servers, bartenders, an event captain, and sometimes rentals (linens, glassware, china). Full-service typically costs thirty to sixty percent more than drop-off for the same food.
- How is the menu tasting handled?
- Most full-service caterers offer a tasting before the contract is signed (sometimes free, sometimes a credit-on-booking fee). The tasting is a curated four to six dish version of the proposed menu. Bring the decision-makers and write notes on each dish; the tasting is to lock in the menu, not redesign it from scratch.
- What is the difference between a wedding caterer and a regular caterer?
- A wedding caterer specializes in reception dining at scale — typically fifty to three hundred guests with a fixed timeline (cocktail hour, plated dinner, dessert station). Wedding caterers often have venue partnerships, contracts written for wedding contingencies, and staff trained for the wedding-day flow. A regular ("event") caterer covers a broader range of events but may not be staffed for the long, multi-stage flow a wedding needs.
- Tipping and service charges — how do they work?
- Service charge (typically eighteen to twenty-two percent) is added by the caterer to cover front-of-house labor; it is not a tip — it goes to the company. If the contract says "service charge" not "gratuity," a separate tip for the captain, servers, and bartenders is appropriate. Standard tipping for catering staff is ten to twenty percent of the food bill, distributed among the team.