18% Gratuity for food delivered, not served? Catering customers or experience input please??!?!?!

For how many people? If it's over 25, yes, you will have to pay for all of that. Just because they aren't serving doesn't mean that: a) there won't be a fully staffed kitchen working; b) people that have to pack up and expedite to deliver to keep fresh and hot.

Seriously, think about it.

When we go out to eat at restaurants, some of them mention that at 18% gratuity is automatically applied if the party is larger than 6 or 7 persons total. I'm going to assume that's also what's going on here.

I think for the best answer, you could just call and politely inquire about the charge.

The caterer at our venue also does full menu delivery for several other venues in our area. The food is to temperature when leaving and the food trucks have warmers to keep it hot on delivery. The caterer automatically adds an additional 10% more food to the final count. The final bill indicates the automatic 10% in food amt. Delivery fee if greater than 5 miles is $100.00 and the service fee is $150.00. If servers are requested an additional charge of 20% is added to the bill.

I'm also not sure what the gratuity is for. Seems like they should have a separate delivery fee, but the cost of having a kitchen staffed etc should be built into the food. Typically, a gratiuty is for servers isn't it?

I would think it would be fees or gratuity not both especially if they are literally just dropping food off. But agree with @jay that you should just call the restaurant and ask

@Jenny-Typically the kitchen gets a portion of whatever the waitstaff is tipped, usually 10-15% of their tips. At least that's how it was in all the kitchens and restaurants I worked at.

I think gratuity on delivered food at 18% is highly unusual. Have you signed contract yet? If not, all you can do is compare total prices.

No, it's not normal. Find another caterer.