Ludwig's Catering is located on the Rockaway Peninsula. (Belle Harbor, Queens, NYC, to be exact.)

Our address is 533 Beach 126th Street, (corner of Beach Channel Drive) overlooking the beautiful Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, and is easily accessible by car from the Belt Parkway.

Directions:

From Manhattan/New Jersey/Staten Island: Belt Parkway East to Flatbush Avenue South, over Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge, east on Beach Channel Drive to Beach 126th Street.

From Long Island: Belt Parkway West to Cross Bay Blvd. South, west onto Beach Channel Drive to Beach 126th Street.

Ludwig's Catering, Inc.
533 Beach 126th Street
Belle Harbor, New York  11694-1724

Phone 718 634-4939

While our kitchen sometimes operates around the clock, our Office Hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 AM until 4 PM.

These are the hours in which we handle phone calls, e-mail and other correspondence.
If you are unable to get through to us directly, please leave a message and it will receive our prompt attention.

The number of selections is based on the number of people that you are ordering for:

30 - 49 people,
select 4 items

50 - 64 people,
select 5 items

65 - 79 people,
select 6 items

over 80 people,
select 7 items

Additional selections add $2.95 per person, per item.

Please note:

There is a minimum of 30 people required for Ludwig's Hot Buffet Menu.

Click here for pricing events with less than 30 people.

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You will always have more than enough food when you order Ludwig's Hot Buffet.  Our customers are always telling us about how much food their guests took home with them after the party, or that their family was eating leftovers for days!

If, however, you are thinking about adding to your menu, Ludwig's offers you a vast selection of "a la carte" items which you may wish to consider.

In addition to our Hot Buffet Menu, you may opt for a selection of appetizers and hors d'oeuvres to entice your guests.  Click on these links to see our appetizer menus, such as Ludwig's Appetizer Stations, our individual Party Starter Platters, our selection of truly Gourmet hors d'oeuvres, and our Cocktail Hour selections.

You can also order whole roasts from our Carving Board Menu, as well as a selection of Ludwig's garden fresh Home-Made Salads!

You can also supplement your buffet with Ludwig's Famous Six-Foot Hero Sandwiches, or you may opt for a Sit-Down Dinner, formal or casual, instead of a buffet.

If you are going to stick with a buffet format, but would like something a little different, consider Ludwig's Summer Menu, a gourmet version of our standard menu.  We also offer a Brunch Buffet for a lighter, earlier celebration.  And there is always our Italian Buffet Menu, featuring the finest regional Italian recipes.

If you are planning a theme for your party, check out our Theme Menus and Holiday Menus.  You're sure to get some ideas from our selections.

Also, if you desire the complete package, finish off your party with our Coffee and Tea service, and our Finishing Touch dessert menu!  Just surf through this web-site and you're sure to come up with plenty of great ideas for your party.  

And don't forget to hire a waitress.  Let someone else do the work!  If you hire a bartender, we can also provide a bar set-up. 
Note: Waitress/Bartender Service and Bar Set-up are only offered to our neighbors in the Rockaways. 

When we leave your location, your party is ready to go!

Ludwig's will usually leave you completely set up for your party, so all you have to do is wait for your guests to arrive and have a great time!

However, sometimes we will have to leave some of the work to you.  If your guests won't be eating for several hours, we will leave instructions for you to light the sternos and get the buffet prepared.  

We will set everything up . . . the racks, plates, napkins, rolls etc.

You or a waitress, if you hired one, might have to light the sterno, which will be in place under the water pans, two hours before you plan to feed your guests.  That's all you have to do . . . light the fire and wait for your party to begin!  Click here to view Sterno instructions.

Some don'ts:
- Don't remove the lids.  Don't Peek.  Don't check.  Don't mix. 
- Don't remove the plastic liner until the food has reached serving temperature.
- You don't have to stir anything, just let the food sit on the heat for the entire two hours, after which it will be perfectly heated through.

After two hours, replace the used sternos with the fresh replacements which we provide, and your food will be kept hot for several hours!

When it is time to open the buffet, carefully remove the entire aluminum lid and the entire plastic liner.  Be very careful of the escaping steam!  The food will be very hot.  Place the serving spoons in the dish and dig in!

Our delivery  staff is very competent, and they will never leave you unsure of what to expect.   They will explain everything that you need to know, and can answer any questions that you might have.  They will also provide you with a cell-phone number where you will be able to reach them after they leave your location.

Relax and enjoy yourself!

Minimum $10 delivery charge on all local orders (11694, 11691, 11692, 11693, 11695, 11696, and 11697).
 

$20 delivery charge on orders to southern portions of Brooklyn and Queens with minimum $450 order (11229, 11234, 11235, 11236, 11414).


An additional $10 charge will be applied to orders less than $450.

Delivery to most other portions of Brooklyn* and Queens: $35.
*Delivery to Downtown Brooklyn: $125.
Delivery to Staten Island and Nassau County: $45.
Delivery to The Bronx, Northern New Jersey and Suffolk County: $90.
Delivery to Manhattan and *Downtown Brooklyn: $125.
Rates for delivery to other areas on request.

Full payment is due on delivery.  We accept cash or checks.  (We no longer accept credit cards.)

Please make checks payable to Ludwig's Caterers.

New York State law requires us to collect 8.625% sales tax, without exception.
If your organization is tax-exempt, please submit a valid tax-exempt form with payment. 
If you do not have a tax-exempt form, we are required to collect sales tax.

Please note:
Ludwig's Hot Buffet Menu is priced at $15.95 per person for a minimum of thirty people.
If you are ordering for less than thirty people, prices for our Hot Buffet Menu are as follows:

21 - 29 people . . . $18.95 per person

16 - 20 people . . . $19.95 per person

10 - 15 people . . . $20.95 per person

Catering not available for less than 10 people.     

Ludwig's Catering requires a minimum 10% deposit at booking.
Your order is not considered booked until a deposit is received.

An additional 50% payment is required 72 hours before your event.
This payment is applied to our purchases of supplies for your party.

If, for any reason, you have to cancel your party before the 72 hour deadline,
all of your money will be gladly refunded, no questions asked. 
We don't want your money if we didn't provide you with any
goods or services - - - That just isn't right!

However, if you don't cancel by the 72 hour deadline, we will assume that the party is on, and we will go ahead and start purchasing whatever we need to complete your order.
If you cancel after the 72 hour deadline, then we must charge you for any expenses related to preparing for your party, as well as any labor that went into preparing your event.  All other money will be returned to you.

Seventy-two hours.  Three days before your party. 
By then you should know whether or not your guests are coming. 
You'll have heard the weather forecast, so if there's going to be a snow-storm, please CANCEL!
We won't take it personally.  We just need to know within 72 hours, so we don't have to spend your money needlessly.

Customers outside of Rockaway are responsible for returning the equipment to Ludwig's within one week of their event.

Ludwig's requires a nominal security deposit.  Amount of security is based on the actual amount of equipment used.  Security deposits are returned in full upon the customers timely return of all equipment.

Security deposit may be in the form of a separate check which will be returned to you un-cashed when you return the equipment to Ludwig's Catering.  Naturally, if you pay cash, you will receive a cash refund.  

Delivery rates stated above will apply if you request that Ludwig's pick up equipment.

Please make checks payable to "Ludwig's Catering".

If your party is here in Rockaway, Ludwig's Catering can provide excellent waiters, waitresses, bus-persons, bartenders, or any service personnel, for that matter.  Our wait-staff personnel all live and work here in the community.  They are prompt, neat, courteous and experienced.  They are a pleasure to work with!

Ludwig's All-Star Service Staff:

• Uniformed Waitress/Server/Bartender:
  Our professional team of service staff is generally attired in black tuxedo vest with black bowties and white tuxedo shirts. More casual uniforms, such as khakis, or theme costumes, such as matching Hawaiian shirts, are available upon request. All staff is booked for a minimum of five hours of service.
   

• Our staff will organize and set up your kitchen and serving area.  They can have the dining room set-up early in the day, or sometimes even the night before.      
  Our staff may cook and serve appetizers, dinner, dessert and beverages, depending on the menu. (Some meals may be prepped at Ludwig's and prepared to order on site.)
   

• Each member of our staff -- the server, bartender, event coordinator -- takes great pride in making your event a memorable celebration.

CLICK HERE FOR WAIT-STAFF PRICING

There are also many waiter/waitress agencies in the Yellow Pages, and most local restaurants usually have personnel available for hire.  If you have a favorite waiter or bartender at a restaurant that you frequent, consider asking him/her to work your event.  It's always nice when you know the people who are working for you.

If your party is here in Rockaway, Ludwig's Catering can provide any equipment or supplies for your event - - - plates, silverware, glassware, tables, chairs, linens, even tents.  We work with several reliable rental companies, and we would be happy to help provide you with any equipment needs.

Ludwig's does not provide decorations, other than the beautiful presentation of our delicious food!

We always recommend Carol at Bookworm Balloons for their fantastic latex and Mylar balloon creations!

We also recommend Danielle's Rockaway Florist for their inspiring floral arrangements.

80!  Always order for the number of people that you are expecting.  

At Ludwig's, we guarantee that you will have enough food for the number of guests that you order for.  

The food that you order may feed more than that number, but that is not guaranteed.  

There is always more than enough food at a Ludwig catered event!  But why risk the embarrassment of running out of food.  If you are having 50 guests, order for 50.  If you are having 250 guests, order for 250.  That way you are assured of having more than enough food for your guests.  If you order for less, you are risking a disaster.  Is saving a couple of dollars worth ruining your party?  We don't think so.  

If you have any questions about ordering, please feel free to contact us at any time.  We would be happy to help!

Unless the party that you are planning is a "children's party", we suggest that you not build your menu around the children who might be at the party, but build it around the adults.

Treat your guest list as two separate lists, one being the adults, the other being the children.

Order for the adults as you normally would.  In other words, if there will be 80 adults and 22 children, decide on a menu for the 80 adults first, then you can deal with the children separately.

After you have decided on a menu for the adults, the best option is to order a few individual trays for the youngsters, such as:

• chicken tenders with honey-mustard sauce    ($55. per tray)

• ziti and mini-meatballs    ($55. per tray)

• macaroni and cheese    ($55. per tray)

• baked ham with pineapple    ($65 per tray)

• mashed potatoes    ($55. per tray)

This will end up costing less than if you tried to use a formula such as "3 children = 1 adult", etc.  It also gives the children their own "little buffet", with their own menu.  Their food can be opened earlier than the adults buffet, too, so the kids don't have to wait to eat!

Make sure that the other parents are aware of this setup, so they don't have to worry about serving the children from the adult buffet (and to make sure the adults don't eat the kid's food!)

On the other hand, if you are planning a "Children's Party", check out our kid's options at Ludwig's  Children's Menu Page.  You'll get some helpful ideas here, whether we cater the party for you, or even if you do it yourself! You will see information on how you can build your own Ice Cream Sundae Bar, as well as make your own Children's Beverage Bar.

There is a very important reason for this.  It's the food-safety law!

Once food is fully cooked, it must either be served immediately, or quickly brought down to a much lower temperature.  This is because bacteria thrives and spreads rapidly at warm temperatures.

When you eat in a restaurant, the food that you are served has been thoroughly cooked and heated through, and served to you immediately, thereby eliminating the threat of bacteria.

If the food cannot be served immediately, then it must be quickly chilled, and kept refrigerated, which is another way of eliminating bacteria.

This is the method that we use at Ludwig's.  The food for your party is perfectly prepared, then quickly chilled (never frozen!), and the cooking is finished by re-heating at your location.

This method is designed to bring you the safest and most delicious food available!

And, no, our food is never frozen.  We begin with the freshest, highest quality ingredients, and we prepare and cook your selections at the last possible moment, and deliver to your location as quickly as possible.  Ludwig's food is always fresh and, we believe, the finest that you can buy.  Our customers agree!