providing food and services
"The wedding planner booked a local venue for catering, ensuring guests would enjoy fresh appetizers before the ceremony began."
The business of providing food and related services; foodservice.
"The local event hall specializes in catering, offering everything from appetizers to full dinner service for weddings and corporate parties."
In plain English: Catering is when someone prepares and serves food for an event like a party or wedding.
"The wedding was successful thanks to excellent catering."
Usage: Use catering as a noun to refer specifically to the business or service of preparing and serving food at events like weddings or corporate parties. Do not use it as a verb meaning "to provide for" someone's needs, which is an incorrect substitution for the verb cater.
present participle of cater
"The kitchen staff spent all morning catering to every guest's dietary restrictions before the reception even began."
In plain English: To cater means to provide food and drinks for an event like a party or wedding.
"The hotel offers catering services for weddings and corporate events."
Usage: Do not use "catering" to mean the act of cooking or serving food at a single event; instead, use it only when describing the business of providing food and services for various groups on an ongoing basis. The correct everyday usage refers to the industry itself, as in "a company specializing in wedding catering."
Derived from the French verb cater, catering originally meant to provide food or drink, specifically in the context of serving meals at events or establishments. The term evolved through Middle English before entering modern usage to describe the business of supplying food and services for large groups.