How to hire a cook for a function or a wedding in Bengaluru

The cook route adds up to more than people expect. The cook's own figure is a small part. The groceries alone cost more than the cooking, and the servers cost about as much. A caterer buys its groceries wholesale and uses the same vessels for many functions.

We don't have a cook on mytribe who comes to your place and cooks your own groceries. The caterers we work with are in the fourth step above, and at the end of the page.

What a cook always gives you is your own menu, your community's way of cooking and your own hands on the groceries. If those matter more than a few thousand rupees, a cook is worth it at any size.

For 30 to 50 guests, with the family serving, a cook costs about the same as the cheapest caterers, or a little less. One cook and a helper or two can do it, and you may manage on one commercial cylinder. A cook usually charges his full day however small the function, and many caterers don't take fewer than 50.

Leaf meals from a nearby hotel or mess are another cheap way for a small pooja, with your own people serving. Ask your nearest one what 30 or 50 meals cost and whether the sambar and rasam come in cans.

A day rate for the team is the usual way. We'd expect a head cook to charge about ₹2,000 to ₹3,500 for the day, a cook ₹1,200 to ₹1,800 and a helper ₹1,100 to ₹1,300, so about ₹6,600 to ₹9,700 for five people. Those rates are above Karnataka's minimum day wage for catering work.

A per-head quote for the cooking alone works out to about ₹66 to ₹97 a guest for 100. If a cook quotes much more a head, he has probably put the groceries or the servers in, so ask him.

Per kg, for biryani, ask "per kg of what". It can mean raw rice, raw meat or cooked biryani, and the price changes a lot. Plan about 300 g of cooked biryani a guest, so about 30 kg cooked for 100.

Per kg, for sweets: a Bengaluru caterer sells assorted sweet boxes at ₹250 to ₹350 for 500 g, which works out to about ₹500 to ₹700 a kg with the ingredients in. A halwai cooking at your place on your ghee and sugar charges for his labour instead.

About half to most of the gap is his own fee. A head cook people know by name charges for his years, and he books out first on good dates. His vessels can cost you less than hiring them, because he owns them.

The two ranges overlap. A good local cook can cost as much as a famous one on a slow day, and a famous cook may not take a lunch for 100 on a muhurtham day at all. Two real quotes for the same menu and the same count would settle it for you.

The groceries stay the same. Whoever cooks, you buy them. A richer menu raises the grocery bill, and the cook's fee stays about the same (Q4).

What to ask either one: how many functions he cooks that day, who will be at the stove, how many servers come and whether they have served on the leaf before.

A richer menu is where the money goes. Twenty items with pure ghee, gingelly oil, nuts and a welcome drink come to about ₹180 to ₹220 a guest in groceries, about ₹8,000 to ₹10,000 more for 100 (our estimate). The cook's fee barely changes.

For biryani, plan about 300 g of cooked biryani a guest. In raw weight that's roughly 100 g of basmati and 100 g of mutton or chicken a guest. For 100, mutton biryani groceries come to about ₹11,500 to ₹13,500, and chicken about ₹6,000 to ₹8,000 (our estimate).

Count everyone who eats. Drivers, the building staff, the purohit and the cook's own team are plates too. One Bengaluru caterer keeps a 10% buffer in its portions for this.

Keep the list in your hands. Ask for it a week before, have someone who has done a function read it, buy it yourself, and have one person hand things out from one room. Whatever is unopened at the end comes back to you, and nobody has to accuse anyone.

For leftovers, keep boxes and fridge space ready before the day, and pack the food before the team leaves. Cooked food shouldn't sit out for more than two hours, so give away or chill what you can't eat soon. Settle with the cook beforehand that the leftovers are yours to keep.

1. A week before

   He gives you the grocery list. You buy it, and agree who brings the vessels, burners and gas cylinders.

2. The day before

   The groceries are stored in one room. Sweets, and anything to be ground, may be made that evening.

3. 4 to 5 am

   The team comes. Someone from the family is up to let them in and hand over the store.

4. Morning

   Fresh vegetables, curd, leaves and flowers come. The team has its tea and breakfast.

5. Before serving

   The servers lay the leaves and serve each item in order.

6. After

   Leftovers go into the boxes you kept ready, the big vessels are washed and loaded, and you pay the balance.

Servers are a separate job. The cook's team may not serve at all. For 100 on the leaf you need about seven people serving, or relatives who know the order of the leaf. A buffet needs about three, which saves about ₹4,400 to ₹5,200 (our estimate).

Gas: settle who brings it. Either the cook brings commercial cylinders and adds them to his figure, or you arrange them. Home cylinders are meant for household use, and a cook's big burners usually run on the 19 kg commercial ones. In March 2026 commercial cylinders ran short at Bengaluru agencies and some weddings went without, so book them early. Don't hand him your home cylinders without asking first.

Washing the big vessels takes hours. If nobody is booked for it, the family ends up doing it at midnight.

If your place says no, a caterer gets round it. One Bengaluru caterer uses only induction and hot boxes in flats, so no gas cylinder goes in. Another brings an oven to reheat where a hall bans cooking.

Live cooking needs its own space. Where a venue allows it, a caterer can make dosa, starters or breads in front of guests. Bhandary's Kitchen needs about 10 ft by 10 ft for that, and a canopy if it's in the open.

Asking about his practice is the polite way. For madi, ask whether he bathes before cooking, keeps separate vessels, prefers brass and copper, and who he has cooked for in your community. You don't have to ask his caste to find out.

For Bengali, Tamil or North Indian food, ask for his last three menus and where he cooked them. A cook who makes kosha mangsho or a Tamil samayal every week is a safer bet than one who says he can do everything.

On mytribe, Authana Caterers is a caterer with a Brahmin cooking team from Udupi, priced per plate. Its owner told our team they make prasada and naivedya, satvik and Jain menus, no onion or garlic, with separate vessels for Brahmin events. It cooks at the venue for big weddings and in its own kitchen for everything else, and takes nothing under 100 plates a meal, so it doesn't fit a small shraddha.

Checks a friend would make:

• Eat at a function he cooked, or ask the family who hired him how it went.
• Ask how many functions he cooks that day, and who leads yours if he has two.
• Ask who his backup is if he falls sick.
• Ask him to write down what he brings: people, vessels, burners, gas.

On mytribe there's no cook like this. We have caterers who cook some food live at the venue, a caterer who cooks in her own kitchen and brings it, and a chef who cooks fine-dining dinners in your kitchen with his crew. They're under "The providers in this guide" below.

Write it down on WhatsApp. Send him one message with:

• The date, the meal and the time you serve
• The menu and the headcount
• How many people he brings, and whether they serve
• Who brings the vessels, burners and gas
• The advance you paid and the balance

Call him the evening before. If he doesn't answer or sounds unsure, call his backup that night, while there's still time to arrange someone.

Keep two numbers ready: his backup cook's, and a caterer near you who takes orders at short notice. Caterers usually want a day or more, so ask now what they'd do for your count at a few hours' notice.

If nobody comes by 6 am, call the cook and then his backup. For a small count, a nearby hotel or mess can often send leaf meals by lunch. For a big count, call the caterer early.

Book early for the season. November to February is the busy wedding season, and Sri Lakshmi Caterers says it charges more then.