What a Film Location Manager Looks For in a Caterer’s RAMS and Compliance Pack

On a professional production, a caterer who can cook but can’t produce paperwork doesn’t get through the gate. Before anyone tastes the food, a location manager or production coordinator needs proof the catering supplier is safe, insured and won’t create problems on site. That proof is the compliance pack: site-specific RAMS, current insurance, food hygiene records and equipment certification, all ready before the unit arrives.

If you’re vetting suppliers for TV and film catering, knowing what good documentation looks like saves time and protects the production. This is what a proper pack includes and why each part matters.

We work on professional sets, so we know the checks a location manager runs and the questions a health and safety officer asks. The suppliers who sail through are the ones who turn up with everything in order and nothing to chase.

What is a catering compliance pack?

It’s the set of documents that shows a catering supplier is safe and legal to operate on your site. On a professional production, it’s a condition of being allowed on at all, not a nice-to-have.

A full pack covers risk assessments and method statements, public and employer’s liability insurance, food hygiene ratings and handling procedures, and gas and electrical certification for the mobile kit. Together they answer the question every location manager is really asking: if I let this supplier on site, am I taking on a risk I’ll regret? A caterer who can answer that with a single, complete document has already made the decision easy.

What are RAMS in catering, and why do they matter on set?

RAMS stands for risk assessments and method statements. They set out the hazards involved in the catering operation and exactly how the supplier controls each one. On a set, they’re the core of the whole pack.

A generic, off-the-shelf template isn’t enough, and an experienced location manager will spot one instantly. What they want is a risk assessment that reflects the real job: site conditions, gas and cooking equipment, power and generators, members of the public if it’s an open location and the specific steps taken to manage each. A supplier who hands over site-specific RAMS without being chased is telling you something useful before they’ve cooked a thing. It means they’ve done this on real productions and understand how a set runs.

What insurance should a film set caterer have?

Public liability and employer’s liability cover, both current and at a level appropriate for a professional production. These aren’t negotiable, and the certificates should be in the pack without you having to ask.

Public liability covers harm or damage to third parties, which on a busy location with cast, crew and often the public around counts for a great deal. Employer’s liability covers the caterer’s own staff. If a supplier is vague about either, or slow to produce certificates, treat that as a warning sign. The last thing a production needs is an uninsured contractor on site when something goes wrong, and by then it’s too late to find out.

What food safety documentation should a caterer provide?

Food hygiene ratings, allergen management and safe food handling procedures, all documented. Feeding a large crew from a mobile kitchen, often outdoors and often in poor weather, puts real weight on getting this right.

A high food hygiene rating is the baseline. Beyond it, a good caterer can show how they handle allergens, keep food at safe temperatures on a remote site, and hold standards when the kitchen is a unit in a muddy field rather than a fixed building. Documentation here protects everyone on the unit, and on a production feeding a hundred-plus people twice a day, it isn’t an area to take on trust.

What about gas and electrical certification for mobile catering?

Mobile catering runs on gas and generators, and both carry certification requirements. Gas safety records and PAT testing for electrical equipment should be in the pack as standard.

This is the part nobody thinks about until it’s missing and the site safety officer starts asking questions. Gas appliances need current safety certification; portable electrical equipment needs PAT testing. A caterer who keeps these up to date and on hand takes the whole operation seriously, and it heads off an awkward conversation at the gate when the documentation is requested and can’t be found.

Why does the compliance pack tell you who you’re hiring?

Because the paperwork is a proxy for experience. A caterer who has all of it ready, without fuss, is one who works on professional productions regularly and knows what a set demands.

On the other hand, suppliers who struggle to produce site-specific RAMS, or go quiet when you ask for insurance certificates, tend to be the ones who’ll struggle on the day. The compliance pack won’t tell you whether the food is good, but it tells you whether the supplier is professional, and on a production where the schedule can’t absorb problems, that’s most of what you need to know before you book.

Cater with a supplier who has it covered

We come to professional sets with the full compliance pack as standard: site-specific RAMS, current public and employer’s liability insurance, food hygiene records and gas and electrical certification, ready before we arrive.

Find out more about our TV and film catering or get in touch and we’ll send our documentation across so you can see it for yourself.