CARTHAGEKITCHEN

By event

Film Production catering in Los Angeles.

Film production catering in Los Angeles — run-of-show crew meals on cycle, talent tables and wrap parties, all halal. Sets, backlots and locations.

$34
Per guest, from
72 hours minimum
Typical lead time
On request
Custom spreads
Film Production Catering
FILM & TV
50+Events catered
20+Years in hospitality
40Catering services & programs
22Menus, one kitchen

The occasion

Film & TV catering in Los Angeles & Orange County

What it takes to cater film & tv well — the logistics, the timing, and how we make it work.

Feeding a film or television production is catering against a clock that someone else controls. Call times move, a setup runs long, a scene that should have wrapped at noon wraps at three, and the meal has to be hot and ready the moment the AD calls it regardless. We build production service around the run-of-show: crew meals on cycle, talent tables held to their own needs, and the flexibility to push a meal break thirty minutes without the food suffering for the wait. The job is to be the part of the day that goes exactly to plan.

Los Angeles production happens everywhere — soundstages and backlots, location shoots in the desert and on the coast, night exteriors that run past 2am. That means hot service at any call time, second meals for split days, and overnight crews fed properly rather than handed cold leftovers at 3am. Our kitchen is set up for it, and we plan load-in around the shoot so catering never costs the production minutes it doesn't have. Vehicles and access are worked out with transportation ahead of time, not improvised at the gate.

Crews talk, and they remember who fed them well on a hard day. Every dish runs the same dietary tracks the rest of our catering does — vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and halal · zabiha-sourced — labeled on the line so a grip with a restriction isn't left picking around a buffet. From a week of crew meals to a wrap party that finally lets everyone exhale, we cater the whole arc of a production with the same kitchen and the same standard.

Why Carthage

Why Carthage for film & tv

What you get with us for film & tv specifically — not a generic catering pitch.

  • Hot service at any call time

    Early calls, second meals on split days, and overnight crews fed properly — our kitchen runs to the production's clock, including the meals that land well after midnight.

  • Flexible meal breaks that don't punish the food

    When the schedule slips and a break moves thirty minutes, the food holds and arrives right — catering is the part of the day that goes to plan, not the part that adds to the delay.

  • Crew and talent, fed to their own needs

    Crew meals on cycle plus talent tables held separately, with vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and halal · zabiha-sourced tracks labeled on the line for every department.

  • Load-in planned around the shoot

    We work access and timing with transportation ahead of time so catering never burns shoot minutes at the gate — on soundstages, backlots, and remote locations alike.

Credentials

Built for institutional buying

The same standards behind our LA County contract — an awarded, SAM-registered, insured vendor set up for procurement. Not a claim; a record you can verify.

  • Awarded government vendor

    LA County Dept. of Mental Health

    Boxed-meal term contract MA-IS-2640355-1

    Term 2026–2029

  • Registered & verified

    SAM.gov · UEI JKSRSFUCUL54 · CAGE 17AN4

    LA County vendor #228518

    LAUSD vendor #1000032065

  • Insured & experienced

    $2M liability insurance

    Founder · 20+ years in hospitality

    COIs on file · allergen sheets · net-30

  • Built for procurement

    NAICS 722320 · 722310 · 722330 · 311991

    Per-head invoicing · bulk & boxed at scale

    Halal · zabiha-sourced · dietary tracks

Film & TV catering runs about $34$91 per guest for food. Multiplied out, that is what a spread costs at the counts people usually ask about.

Estimated film & tv catering cost by guest count — food only
GuestsEstimated food costPer guest
25$850 – $2,275$34 – $91
50$1,700 – $4,550$34 – $91
100$3,400 – $9,100$34 – $91
150$5,100 – $13,650$34 – $91

Food only. Staffing, rentals, delivery, setup and breakdown are separate lines, and a mandatory service charge and California sales tax apply on top — so the invoice for a staffed event runs meaningfully above the food figure. Smaller counts sit at the top of the band: setup and delivery cost the same at 25 guests as at 100. Every menu halal · zabiha-sourced.

Questions

Before you ask

What’s your minimum notice for a shoot?
72 hours for standard crew service. Same-week additions to an existing production run are usually possible — call us.
Can you feed split calls and overnight crews?
Yes — second-meal and overnight service run from our 24-hour-capable kitchen, with hot service at any call time.
Do you have studio lot clearances?
We hold standing COIs with the major lots and pre-clear vehicles through transportation, so load-in doesn’t burn shoot time.
Can you cater a location with no power or water?
Yes — that is the normal condition on location. We bring heat, coolers and ice, tables, service ware and waste removal, and plan the load-in around wherever base camp actually is rather than where the map says. Tell us the location and we will confirm what the site can and cannot give us before the day.
What happens when the schedule slips?
It always does, so we plan to hold rather than to serve on a call time. Hot food is held at temperature and placed when the unit actually breaks, and where a meal penalty is in play we work to your AD's window, not ours. A moved lunch is a message, not a change order.
Do you cover craft service as well as meals?
We cover the meals — breakfast, lunch, second meal and overnight — plus grazing and walking food where a unit cannot sit down. Everything is halal · zabiha-sourced with vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free running alongside and labeled, so a mixed crew and cast eat from the same truck.

Dietary

Dietary needs?

Every film & tv menu is labeled per dish and built around the guest list — here's how we handle the requests we hear most.

Working out a budget first? See what catering costs in Los Angeles across every service style.

A candlelit table raised in a toast

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$2M · liability insured1 · business-day reply50+ · events
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