An organiser looking for a caterer for a county show, a wedding or a corporate day isn't reading a listing closely. They're scanning ten of them in a row, deciding in a few seconds which two or three are worth an actual message. What separates the ones that get contacted from the ones that get scrolled past is rarely the food — it's whether the listing answers the questions an organiser is actually asking.

What organisers are actually checking for

  • Where you'll actually travel. "Based in Bristol" tells an organiser in Somerset nothing about whether you'll come. A clear list of counties you cover, not just a home postcode, is the difference between a maybe and a message.
  • What kind of event you're set up for. A van built for festivals with no power on site is a different booking from one that wants a marquee pitch at a corporate day. Naming the event types you actually do well — weddings, agricultural shows, private parties, whatever it is — does more work than a general "available for all events" line.
  • What you actually serve. Vague categories like "street food" make an organiser guess. "Wood-fired pizza" or "Caribbean" tells them in one word whether you fit the event.
  • Some evidence you're a real, running business. A working website or social page, even a modest one, reassures an organiser that they're contacting an established trader and not a listing nobody's touched in a year.

The gaps that quietly cost you the booking

None of these are dramatic — that's exactly why they're easy to miss.

  • No photo, or an old one. A listing with no image reads as unfinished, whatever the copy says.
  • A coverage area so broad it means nothing. "Nationwide" from a two-person van operation reads as optimistic rather than reassuring. Naming the counties you'd genuinely travel to for the right booking is more convincing than claiming everywhere.
  • Missing the event types you actually want. If weddings are your best margin but you never ticked the box, you won't show up when a wedding organiser filters for it — an easy gap to close and an easy one to leave open by accident.

Why this matters more the earlier you list

A directory fills up county by county, and an organiser searching a thin county sees every listing in it. An organiser searching a crowded one only sees the ones near the top of the results, or the ones with the clearest listing. Getting the basics right while a county is still quiet is worth more than getting them right later, once you're one of twenty.

Free to fix, free to list

None of the above costs anything to correct — coverage, event types and a decent photo take minutes, not money. Eventibites is free to list on and free for organisers to search, with no commission on anything booked and no contract. If you're not listed yet, or your listing hasn't been touched since you added it, five minutes now is worth more than five minutes in a busier season.

List your van free, or see who's already listed at find a food truck.