What is a function sheet?
A function sheet is the single operational document that tells a venue's kitchen, bar and floor staff exactly how to run a booked event — its timing, guest count, menu, room setup, dietary notes and staffing — on one printable page. It is the same document North American venues call a Banquet Event Order (BEO).
If the contract says what was agreed and the invoice says what is owed, the function sheet says how the event actually runs on the day. When a detail is on the sheet, it happens; when it is missing, it usually doesn't.
One page, one source of truth.
The function sheet is written by whoever coordinates the event — a banquet or catering coordinator, sales manager, or venue operations lead — once the booking is confirmed. It pulls together everything scattered across emails and the contract into one sheet the team can act on: staff call time, room setup style, the full menu with an explicit dietary breakdown, the bar package, AV and rentals, a run-of-show timeline, and the named captain running the floor. Every staffer on shift works from that same sheet.
"Function sheet" is the standard term in UK, European, Australian and South African venues; North American hotels and caterers usually say "BEO" or "banquet event order." Regardless of the label, it is finalized a few days to a week before the event — once the guest guarantee, menu and timeline are locked with the client. The most common failure on the night is not a missing sheet but an old one: someone printed last week's version and never saw the updated headcount or the new vegan count.
Because the client, date, room, menu and pricing are already captured when a booking is confirmed, modern catering software generates the function sheet automatically as a live view of that record — so there is one current version, and every change is tracked rather than re-typed by hand.
Example: A function sheet for a 120-guest wedding reads — 3:00 PM staff call, 4:00 PM setup complete, 5:30 PM guest arrival, plated menu (chicken / salmon / vegetarian), 8 vegetarian + 2 gluten-free, house bar to 11:00 PM last call, banquet captain D. Naidoo, 9 servers on rounds of 10.
- What is a BEO? — the same document under its North American name
- Run sheet — the minute-by-minute timeline, often a tab inside the function sheet
- Banquet event order template — the field-by-field guide to building one
- Full banquet & catering glossary
Function sheet — common questions.
Is a function sheet the same as a BEO?
When is a function sheet finalized?
See a function sheet build itself.
Confirm a real event and print the function sheet — timing, headcount, menu, room and dietary, straight from the record. Try it free for 14 days, no credit card to start.