Terms & Conditions

These are the booking terms and conditions of Abbotts Events Limited ("we", "us" or "our"), registered in England and Wales, company number 12029745. They apply to every booking we take, including bookings requested through this website.

By sending us a booking request or paying a deposit, you accept these terms. The version in force on the day you pay your deposit is the one that applies to your booking, and we keep a record of it.

We may update these terms from time to time. Changes do not affect bookings that are already confirmed.

1. Booking Process

• A booking request, whether made through this website, by email or by phone, is not a booking.
• We will check availability and send you a written quote. Quotes are valid for 14 days.
• Your booking is confirmed only when we have confirmed it in writing and your deposit has cleared. Until then, your date stays available to other customers.
• Minimum guest numbers or minimum spend are as stated on your quote.

2. Prices and What Is Included

• Prices are as shown on your quote and include VAT unless the quote says otherwise.
• Your price includes our staff, setting up, serving, and clearing our own working area.
• Travel is included where your quote says so. Otherwise it is shown as a separate line on the quote.
• We may change our price lists and run special offers from time to time. Confirmed bookings are not affected, and your price is fixed once we have received your deposit.

3. Deposit and Payment

• A deposit of 25% of the booking value, paid in cleared funds together with a completed booking request, secures your date. The deposit is non-refundable.
• The balance is due 14 days before your event unless we have agreed something different in writing. Bookings made less than 14 days before the event are paid in full when booked.
• You can pay by bank transfer, by card over the phone on 029 2117 5100, in cash, or by cheque made payable to Abbotts Events Limited and sent to our registered office.
• If the balance has not reached us on time and we have not agreed otherwise, we may treat the booking as cancelled by you, keep the deposit and release the date.

4. Guest Numbers, Menu Choices and Dietary Needs

• Final guest numbers and all menu choices must be confirmed to us in writing 14 days before your event.
• After that, numbers can go up subject to availability, charged at the per-head rate on your quote. Numbers cannot go down: we charge for the numbers confirmed at 14 days, or for the numbers on your quote if none were confirmed.
• Where numbers fall below the minimum on your quote, the minimum is charged.
• Allergies and dietary requirements must reach us in writing by the same deadline. See section 11.

5. Your Site and Access

• We trade from the Abbotts Street Kitchen van. Your confirmation states what we are bringing and what it needs. As a guide, the van needs a space of 6 metres by 3 metres, the same as a double gazebo.
• You are responsible for making sure we can get onto your site and set up safely. That means:
  • a firm, level pitch of at least 6 metres by 3 metres;
  • a route in with at least 3.5 metres of height and 2.5 metres of width clear along its whole length: no low branches, overhead cables, narrow gates, tight turns, steps, steep slopes or soft ground;
  • the venue's permission, with any venue rules about generators, gas and open flames cleared with them before the day;
  • water and electricity where your quote asks for them. The van is otherwise self-sufficient.
• Tell us about anything unusual on your booking request, or in writing before we confirm. We may ask for photos, a what3words location or a site visit. A site visit may be charged, and we will agree the cost with you first.
• If on the day we cannot reach the pitch or set up safely because of access, ground or space problems we were not told about, we will look for an alternative spot with you. If there is none, we will not be able to provide the service and the full price remains payable, because the staff, food and equipment have already been committed to your event.
• We need access to the site 2 hours before service starts, and 1 hour after it ends to pack down.

6. Our Vehicles, Equipment and Setup

• Photos on our website and social media show typical setups. Where it is operationally necessary, for example a breakdown, access at your site, weather, or availability across bookings, we may provide a different vehicle, gazebo, equipment or layout of an equivalent standard.
• We will tell you as soon as we know. A change of this kind is not grounds for cancellation or a refund, provided the food and service are as quoted.
• We may adjust our layout on the day for safety reasons.

7. Timings and Service

• Your service period and start time are set out on your quote and confirmation.
• If service is delayed by you, your venue or your guests, for example a late ceremony or speeches overrunning, we will do what we can to accommodate it. Delays of more than 30 minutes are charged at £100 per hour or part hour, and we may also have to shorten the service period.
• Our food is cooked to order and cannot be held back. Food not collected within the service period is not refunded.

8. Weather

• We operate in most weather. For outdoor events, please have a wet-weather plan.
• If conditions become unsafe, for example high winds, lightning or flooding, we may delay, move, reduce or stop service. We will discuss it with you first wherever we can. Partial service is not refunded.
• If the weather means we cannot provide any service at all, section 10 applies.
• If you cancel because of the forecast, that is a cancellation by you under section 9.

9. Cancellation and Changes by You

• Cancellations must be made in writing and take effect when we acknowledge them.
• Your deposit is non-refundable whenever you cancel.
• If you cancel more than 14 days before your event, the deposit is forfeited and there is nothing more to pay.
• If you cancel 14 days or fewer before your event, the full price is payable. By then we have bought stock, rostered staff and turned away other bookings.
• You may move your booking to a new date once, provided you ask more than 28 days before the original date and we have availability. Your deposit carries over. A second change, or a new date we cannot do, is treated as a cancellation.
• Reductions to your package made 14 days or fewer before the event are not refunded.

10. Cancellation by Us

• If we cancel your booking for any reason within our control, however much notice we give, we will refund everything you have paid plus 10% of the total booking value as a goodwill payment, within 14 days. This is the limit of what we owe you in that situation.
• If we cannot go ahead because of events outside our control, for example severe weather that makes the site unsafe, flooding, road closures, government restrictions, or illness in the team that we cannot cover, we will offer you an alternative date first. If that does not work, we will refund everything you have paid, with no further liability.
• We may also cancel, keeping your deposit, if your balance is unpaid, if access or safety concerns at your site cannot be resolved, or if your booking request contained materially incorrect information.

11. Food Safety, Allergens and Leftovers

• Our food contains allergens and we work with allergens in our kitchen. We can cater for special diets where they are confirmed to us in writing 14 days before the event, but we cannot guarantee that any dish is free from traces.
• It is your responsibility to pass allergen information to your guests and to tell us about their needs in advance. We may decline to serve a guest who tells us on the day about an allergy we cannot safely check.
• Food not eaten within two hours at room temperature should be thrown away. Anyone taking food away, or eating it later, does so at their own risk.
• If a product is unavailable, we will substitute one of equal or better quality.

12. Alcohol

• We serve alcohol only where the venue's licence or a Temporary Event Notice allows it.
• Our staff may refuse to serve anyone. Adults must not buy alcohol for under-18s at any event; this is illegal and would put our licence at risk.

13. Conduct and Damage

• Equipment lost or damaged by you or your guests is charged at the cost of repair or replacement.
• We may stop service, without refund, if our staff face abuse, threats or unsafe behaviour.
• We take care at your venue and are responsible for damage caused by our negligence.

14. Liability and Insurance

• We hold £10 million public liability insurance and can provide a certificate on request. We strongly recommend that you arrange your own event cancellation insurance.
• We are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, and our total liability to you is limited to the amount you have paid for the booking. Nothing in these terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, or for anything else the law does not allow us to exclude.
• We are not responsible for the safe keeping of your or your guests' valuables at any event.

15. Photography

• We may photograph our setup and food at your event for use in our marketing. If you would rather we did not, tell us in writing before the event.

16. Complaints

• If something is not right on the day, tell our team leader straight away so we can put it right. Formal complaints should be sent to us in writing within 7 days of the event.

17. Your Information

• We handle your personal details in line with our Privacy Policy. Booking requests made through this website are stored in encrypted form.

18. General

• These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales.
• These terms, your quote and our written confirmation form the whole agreement between us.
• If any part of these terms cannot be enforced, the rest still applies.

Questions?

Please feel free to contact us, we would love to talk to you:

By sending a booking request or paying a deposit, you confirm that you have read, understood and agree to these terms and conditions.