Taking a Booking
What to ask, what it costs, what you can decide, and when to get Jojo.
The five questions, in this order
Almost every enquiry can be priced from these. Ask them in order — each one narrows what you offer next.
The date decides everything. Check availability first — if the date is full, nothing else matters and you save them the conversation. The occasion tells you which service to lead with.
Adults and children are priced differently. Children 3–12 are $35 flat on every service. Under 3 eat free and don't count. Guest count drives the minimum, the servers and the permits.
30A, Rosemary, PCB or Destin is home turf. Anywhere else and only bachelorettes travel — everything else is local. And a beach event needs a permit, which changes the price.
This is the big fork. Plated service is indoors only — it needs a kitchen beside the table. Anything on the sand is buffet.
Ask every time, even when they've already said no. Write down exactly what they say, in their words. This is the one thing we cannot get wrong.
Don't quote from memory. Walk them to the service page or chefjojo30a.com/book-here and let the system price it. It gets the permits, the minimums, the servers and the tax right every time — and it takes about four minutes.
The nine services
What each one is, what it costs, and the thing that catches people out.
The Essential
- We cook, set it out, clean up and go
- No server — they serve themselves
- Full kitchen reset included
The Signature
- Full service — plated, brought out, cleared between courses
- Glasses kept full
- Server included
The Premier
- Plated or buffet, full service
- Linens, napkin rings, plated service ware
- For anniversaries, proposals, the last night of the trip
Dinner Under the Stars
- Light canopy, tiki torches, buffet setup
- Tables AND chairs — a proper seated table on the sand
- Full table setting — linens, glassware, plates, flatware
- Permits included · no setup fee · no delivery fee
Bonfire & Buffet
- Bonfire, run by It's Lit PCB
- Chairs around the fire only — there are no tables
- Covered buffet, s'mores station
- At their rental or on the beach
The Mahjong Table
- One-hour American mahjong lesson, table by table
- Tiles, racks, current-year cards, cheat sheets to keep
- Eight courses named on the tiles, plus dessert
- Host stays the whole session
- Extra guests $150 each, added in fours so tables stay even
Brunch
- Coffee service running the whole time
- A full brunch table, not a continental spread
- Ask about The Morning Of for wedding mornings
Lunch
- Lighter than dinner, so the afternoon still happens
- Good paired with a dinner the same day — one visit, better value
Multi-Day Retreat
- Breakfast, lunch and dinner every day
- Lighter, simpler cooking than event menus
- They can switch off any meal they'd rather go out for
The extras
Always applies
| Deposit | $500 | Non-refundable. Due at booking with any permit |
| Children 3–12 | $35 | Flat, every service. Under 3 free |
| Tax | 7% | |
| Gratuity | 23% | On service only — not food, not décor |
| Change fee | $15 | Once the booking is confirmed |
Outdoor and beach
| Special permit | $150 | Food service, up to 25 guests |
| Special permit | $300 | Over 25 guests |
| Beach delivery & setup | $150 | Not on Dinner Under the Stars — already included |
Bonfire — priced by group size
| Up to 6 | $500 | Run by It's Lit PCB. Their fee covers the fire permit |
| Up to 8 | $600 | |
| Up to 15 | $800 | |
| Up to 20 | $900 | |
| Over 20 | Quote | Get Jojo |
Décor — priced by group size
| Up to 6 | $250 | Full place setting — glassware, plates, flatware,
runner, placemat, charger, napkin ring, candles and flowers. Sixteen themes |
| Up to 12 | $400 | |
| Up to 16 | $500 | |
| Up to 20 | $800 | |
| Over 20 | from $1,000 |
Everything else
| Server | $150 | |
| Tables | $40 | Each — one per 8 guests |
| Chairs | $7 | Each |
| Plate rental | $50 | |
| Flatware rental | $50 | |
| Cake cutting | $50 | |
| Birthday cake | $100 | Specialty $150 |
| Printed menus | $50 | |
| Karaoke | $40 | |
| Balloon package | $450 | Bach Haus · 30A · indoors only, never on sand |
| Bartender | $50/hr | Quoted |
What you can say about cancelling
| Notice given | What they owe beyond the deposit |
|---|---|
| More than 14 days | Nothing — everything else refunded |
| 8 to 14 days | 50% of the balance |
| 3 to 7 days | 75% of the balance |
| Under 48 hours, or no-show | The lot |
The deposit is never refunded. Any notice, any reason.
Permits are never refunded and never transfer. If they move the date, the permit is bought again at full price.
Postponing
| More than 30 days out | Free | Once |
| 15 to 30 days | $100 | |
| Inside 14 days | — | Counts as a cancellation |
Menu, guest count and timing are final seven days before the event. Inside that window the food is bought and the team is committed. We'll always try, but we can't promise.
What you decide, what needs Jojo
- Anything the system prices
- Answering questions about what's included
- Availability on a date
- Adding a server, tables, chairs, décor
- Waiving the $15 change fee once, for a good client
- Explaining the cancellation terms
- Sending the invoice and the agreement
- Any outdoor event over 20 guests
- Any retreat — food cost isn't set
- Anyone asking to go below a minimum
- A menu built with the menu builder — she approves it
- A severe allergy, or anything that worries you
- A cancellation inside 7 days
- Any request for a refund
- Weddings over 50 guests
- Anything that feels wrong
Say "let me check with Chef Jojo and come straight back to you." Nobody has ever minded that. Everybody minds being told the wrong number.
What happens after they book
- The email arrives. Subject: New event. Everything is in it — what they want, their details, the money, allergies, what to do next.
- Check the date works. The system has already checked, but look at the calendar anyway.
- If they used the menu builder, it'll show in the portal as Menu waiting on you. That's Jojo's — tell her.
- Build the agreement and invoice in HoneyBook. The deposit is $500 plus any permit.
- Paste the HoneyBook link into the portal. It goes into the client's portal and emails it to them automatically.
- When the deposit lands, mark it Confirmed. This is what puts it on the calendar. Nothing before this is on the calendar.
- Assign a chef. They get the BEO by email and it appears in their portal — arrival times, menu, allergies, recipes, shopping list, gate code.
- Anything that changes after this goes through the portal so the whole team is told at once.
Always use the portal. The spreadsheet doesn't tell anybody — the portal rebuilds the BEO, emails the chef and raises the change banner. A change made in the sheet is a change nobody knows about.