Private & Event Catering in Devon
Parties, family celebrations, dinner parties and corporate events across Devon, Cornwall and Somerset — cooked on site by Dave Corker and his team, from 30 guests upwards.
Planning a wedding? That's a different conversation — see our wedding catering instead.
Celebrations, and the dinner party you'd rather not cook
Landmark birthdays, anniversaries, christenings, retirements, the wake that turns into a proper send-off — these are a steady part of our year, and they get the same kitchen and the same team as a wedding does. What changes is the shape of the day, not the standard of the food.
Smaller and more formal works too. Our private dining menus started life as the way Dave cooks at home: not overly complicated, brought to the table in a big bowl, and everyone digs in. Where a table would rather be served, our carvery boards come out whole to be carved or portioned by someone at the table.
We arrive fully self-contained, so the venue doesn't need a kitchen — a marquee in a field is as workable as a village hall. For marquee events we'll usually do a site visit first to check access, power and water, because the unglamorous logistics are what decide whether the day runs smoothly. Almost everything we cook is sourced within Devon, Cornwall and Somerset, and some of it we grow, forage or pickle ourselves.
Corporate catering across Devon
Launches, client events, conference lunches, away-days, summer and Christmas parties. Corporate work has one requirement the others don't: it has to land on time and get out of the way of the agenda. Bowl food and finger buffets do that well — guests eat standing, nobody has to be seated, and the room keeps moving.
We take vegan and vegetarian corporate catering seriously rather than treating it as a box to tick. Dave eats plant-based himself and the team cooks meat and fish alongside him, so a plant-based bowl-food menu gets built as its own thing rather than assembled from what was left over. If half your room is plant-based and half isn't, that's an ordinary brief for us.
Everything comes with a fully itemised quote, so whoever signs it off can see exactly what they're paying for.
Buffets, bowl food and packages
- Finger buffet
- Pick your own six items and the buffet is unique to you — from home-made scotch eggs with pickle and pork pies with cider, apple and ginger chutney, to koftas, satay, quiche and wood-fired pizza slices. Ideal for parties and evening receptions. Minimum 30 guests.
- Bowl food
- Mini meals, served without sitting anyone at a dining table. The menus move with the seasons and the influences run from Thai and Moroccan to Mediterranean and British classics. If there's a dish you love — a Sunday roast, a full English — we can scale it down into a bowl. Served from food stations or circulated warm around the room.
- Bespoke knife & fork buffets
- Choose one dish from meat, fish or vegetarian, two from the salads, two from potatoes and pulses, then two from dessert and cheese. Set up as stations your guests come to, or served by our team. From 30 guests.
- Sandwich buffet
- A selection of sandwiches served with Pipers hand-cut crisps, on your choice of bread — granary, ciabatta, white, wholemeal, or warm Mezzalula Italian flatbread pockets.
- Devon classics
- Built around older, uncomplicated dishes from yesteryear — shepherd's pie with English cheddar mash, toad in the hole with red wine gravy, beer-battered cod with mushy peas and twice-cooked chips. The most economical line we run. Minimum 30 guests.
- Barbecue package
- One fish, one meat, three marinades or dips and two salads, built from the full menu — Cajun rub, mesquite marinade, harissa dressing, and the rest. Disposable serving plates and cutlery included; crockery on request.
- Burger & sausage package
- One burger, one chicken thigh, one sausage and two salads, served with rustic buns. Elston Farm pork sausages, Garlandhayes Farm venison and pear, rustic 6oz beef steak burgers, lamb kofta burgers.
- Wood-fired pizza
- Hand-rolled to ten inches and baked in a wood-fired oven at 400°C for a crisp base and a light flavour. Organic flour, wood from well-managed forests, and takeaway boxes that are 100% biodegradable. Toppings customised on request.
- Evening food
- For the second half of the day: hot pork loin rolls with apple sauce and crackling, smoked bacon rolls, hot chunky pasties and pies.
- Children's meals
- Fish fingers and chips, organic chicken goujons and chips, or pizza and chips — with vegetables or salad on request.
Grazing boards and carvery boards live on our grazing and buffet menu. Prices are quoted per event rather than published, because the honest figure depends on your format, headcount and service style.
What we bring to your venue
01 / SETUP
Fully self-contained
We bring our own kitchen equipment, cooking setup and service team to any venue. No commercial kitchen required.
02 / SOURCING
95% local ingredients
Almost everything on your plate comes from Devon farms and producers we've worked with for years.
03 / FORMAT
Bespoke menus
No set menus. Every menu is built around your tastes, dietary needs, and what's in season.
Vegan and vegetarian menus stand on their own here, and gluten-free, dairy-free and allergen-aware options are all available. Tell us what the room needs and we'll build around it.
Event catering — your questions
- Which areas do you cover for private and corporate events?
- Our kitchen is in Bradninch, near Cullompton, and we cater events across Devon, Cornwall and Somerset. Within roughly an hour of Exeter we're there as standard. Further out there may be a travel charge depending on the distance and your guest numbers — it goes in your quote as a clear line, never as a surprise later.
- What's the minimum number of guests?
- We take bookings from 30 guests upwards, and several of our formats — the finger buffet, Devon classics, the knife and fork buffets — are built around that number. For canapés, grazing and barbecue formats we're more flexible on smaller numbers. Send your date and rough headcount and we'll tell you honestly whether it works.
- What does corporate catering look like in practice?
- Usually one of three shapes: a working lunch or conference spread that has to arrive on time and not slow the day down, a launch or client event where the food is part of the impression, or a staff party in the evening. Bowl food and finger buffets suit the first two; barbecue, pizza and evening food suit the third. Tell us the room, the timings and the headcount and we'll shape it around them.
- Can you cater vegan, vegetarian and other dietary needs?
- Yes, and plant-based food here isn't the sad tray at the end of the table — the person who runs this kitchen eats that way, so it gets designed properly. Gluten-free, dairy-free and allergen-aware options are all available too. Because we make everything ourselves we can identify any of the fourteen recognised allergens in a dish, and we go through that with you once the menu is settled. Most guests with an allergy will introduce themselves on the day anyway, which makes it easier still.
- How does quoting work?
- Send your date, venue and rough guest count and we'll come back within 48 hours. Every quote is completely itemised, so you can see exactly what each part of the catering costs rather than a single figure at the bottom of a page. If you're not sure which format suits you, we're happy to quote two or three combinations side by side.
READY WHEN YOU ARE
Tell us about your event
Send your date, venue and rough guest count — we'll reply within 48 hours with a free, no-obligation quote, fully itemised. Or message us directly on WhatsApp. We cover Devon, Cornwall and Somerset.