Guides
From inquiry to first course.
Six steps, no mysteries. Kauaʻi runs inquiry-first — the written quote comes before any date is held — and this page is the whole sequence.
The sequence
Every booking, the same six steps:
- Inquiry — dates, shore, headcount, occasion; two minutes
- Written quote — itemized: menu, staffing, travel, 20% service, GET up to 4.7120%
- Deposit — 50% locks the date; only ever after the quote
- Menu call — courses, dietary flags, timing, the kitchen check
- Service day — shopping that day, arrival before service, courses at the table’s pace
- The kitchen left clean — and the receipts envelope where groceries ran at cost
The honesty rules, printed
We never hold a date we can’t crew — if the roster can’t cover your date, you hear it in the inquiry reply, not the week of. The written quote is the confirmed total; nothing is added later. And the deposit only ever follows the quote — never precedes it.
Timelines
Inquiry to quote: within a day, honestly. Quote to deposit: your pace. Menu call: once the date is locked. Far-North service past Hanalei adds the 72-hour notice rule on top.
Questions, answered
Within a day, honestly — with a written quote or an honest no. Kauaʻi’s chef pool is thin; we’d rather decline early than hold a date we can’t crew.
The 50% deposit follows your approval of the written quote; balance timing is stated in the quote itself. No payment ever precedes the quote.
Menu changes are normal until the menu call locks the shopping plan; after that, changes quote honestly if they move cost. The written quote updates in writing.
Keep reading
- guide Chef at the house, or the dining room?
- guide Private or personal? The honest split.
- guide The Facebook chef vs. the written quote.
- guide The marketplace vs. the written quote.
- guide The planning library.
- guide How to hire well on an island.
- guide What a kitchen needs.
- guide Signature dinners: food in the band. Stay Chef: groceries at cost.
Get a written quote
Kauaʻi runs inquiry-first: you tell us the table, we send a written quote — and that quote is the confirmed total. We never hold a date we can’t crew.