About this vendor
Karen Bevels Custom Catering is a wedding caterer based in Hayward, CA that operates throughout the San Fransico Bay Area. They provide tastefully crafted cuisine helping you to create an elevated event with the perfect ambience that matches your preferences and vision.
Owner Karen uses food to connect people and is an artisan at heart. She has been in the catering industry for over 30 years, and first built her business by word of mouth. She curates a complete experience around food, taking into account every detail to create the right personality for the occasion.
Karen Bevels Custom Catering provides catering for events in all sizes and styles. Getting to know you is at the heart of what they do. There are no set details, and they work to deliver a stunning wedding celebration and dining experience through collaboration with you. From plated dinners to buffets or stations, they aim to bring your vision to life with impeccable attention to detail and expert execution. The company also offers customized menus that can accommodate dietary restrictions, such as vegan, paleo, vegetarian, and much more. Other services include bar options, generation of themes for the event, photography, lighting, planning and budgeting, and assistance with many of the event's other elements.
Details
Business Attributes
- Asian-owned Business
- Hispanic or Latinx-owned Business
- Pacific Islander-owned Business
Cuisine
- African
- American
- BBQ
- Cajun
- Chinese
- Eastern European
Dietary Options
- Gluten Free
- Organic
- Vegetarian
Food & Catering
- Buffet
- Seated Meal
Reviews
Your trust is our goal. Our community relies on honest reviews to help you make those big decisions with ease.
5
out of 5.06 reviews
If I could give more than a 5 star rating I would! I could RAVE on and on about Will Mankin & the Karen Bevels team, but I will try and highlight the most important things.
My hu...
sband and I booked KB to do the catering for our wedding in fall of 2019. At that time, Will Mankin who was our point of contact for KB, offered his services as a day of coordinator and we had decided to take him up on that. Fast forward a few months to the beginning of COVID.
Will was incredibly understanding and accommodating when we had to move our wedding not once but three times. I know this wasn't an easy time for them either, but they never made it seem that way. About 4 months prior to our actual wedding date, Will and I spoke very regularly and met in person multiple times. He managed not only the food but all the flatware rentals, bar rentals, etc. His depth of knowledge in this space made it very easy for me, he knew all the questions to ask and all the details that would need to be ironed out.
The day of our wedding ran smoothly because of Will and his team. He had picked up all of our wedding decor earlier in the week and his team set-up everything, and more importantly they were incredibly self sufficient! The entire team was very personable, we had multiple people come up to us during the night to say how great they were. They managed the timeline magnificently, all the clean up, and so many small details in between. They made it possible for my husband and I to focus on our day and not worry about any of the logistics.
Now, the food. How often do you leave a wedding and say 'that food was really good?' Ours was that wedding! And it wasn't just one item that stood out, it was everything. We were told later that people were darting around the cocktail hour look for more trays of the lobster mac & cheese because it was that tasty! The main reason that we picked KB was because our tasting with them was so fantastic, and they had so many options of dishes to choose from. It can be hard to scale food, but they know how to do it.
Pricing. KB was one of the most reasonable as far as price. Beyond that, Will made so many changes for us, with no push back or frustration. At the end of it all, I really saw the value in the money we spent with them.
The last part of my review is for Will as our day of coordinator, (DOC). If you are reading this review you are probably planning an event and you know that it isn't easy. The money we spent on catering & DOC was the best money we spent for our wedding. Will has a calm demeanor which was very helpful to me, since I am a bit more high strung. He listened to our vision and helped make our plans happen! He was thoughtful, detail oriented, and really took pride in making sure that we and our guests had an amazing day. We truly can't thank this team enough for all they did. I honestly hope this review shows what great hands you can be in with KB & team!
Would highly recommend Karen Bevels catering for your wedding reception! Their food was amazing and their staff understands the timeline and professionalism of wedding catering. Th...
ey were extremely flexible and helpful throughout the times of Covid weddings. Everyone is still raving about how great the food was.
KB was an amazing partner while planning my client's wedding. We worked with Will who is professional, helpful, and genuinely a kind person. As a planner who has worked with many...
caterers, I can see that Will went above and beyond to help our couple and make their wedding day great. He was helpful and great to work with throughout the planning process and also on the day of the wedding. The entire team was great to work with on the day and the food was also delicious! As a planner, or as a couple, you want to know you have a solid team of vendors working together to make your wedding day amazing. Will and his team were a big part of that, and I will definitely recommend them to future couples and other planners.
Karen Bevels Catering came up with a wonderful menu for our wedding! Will was very communicative and professional work with, and was able to help us with all our requests and conce...
rns. They made sure there would be enough food, considering that we wanted a cocktail-type reception with small-plates rather than a sit-down dinner. They were able to accommodate our need for a fully vegetarian menu with gluten-free options. The food was delicious!
The day of the wedding, Connie made sure that we had enough snacks in our Bride and Groom getting ready rooms and made sure we were in the right place at the right time. She was amazing! We need to give Will a special shout-out because he also did month-of wedding coordination for us and made sure that all the various vendors were able to work together smoothly. They made the wedding a successful event!
There are not enough words to describe how grateful I am for the care, attention to detail, and overall execution shown by Karen Bevels Catering and her staff for my wedding recept...
ion. Karen is a consummate professional who is absolutely awesome at translating the customer's vision to reality. Every detail was on point. It was a great pleasure to work with Satahe who was the lead person for the day of my wedding. They transformed our peaceful garden into a majestic venue. Everyone commented on the awesome food. No matter what your food selection, Karen Bevels delivers!!! She handled not only the food, but also the design, flowers, and rentals!!! For me Karen Bevels Catering was one stop shopping. I will most certainly use Karen Bevels Catering for my future events. Can't say enough!! the best experience of my wedding planning.
Working with Karen was one of the genuinely enjoyable parts of the wedding planning process. Most importantly, the food was delicious. Karen and her staff were always calm, kind ...
and thoughtful in their interactions with this harried bride. They answered all my questions, brought up their own concerns, and were enthusiastic about the wedding ideas that I had.
Sometimes I really had to follow up on my questions, or they might go unanswered, but if you're more or less on the ball, I don't think that would be a big problem.
Karen's staff was really wonderful the night of the event--friendly, pleasant, professional. I'm really grateful to Karen and her company for the wonderful job they did.
Contact
1327 61st Street, Emeryville, CA
Karen Bevels Custom Catering