Short answer
The SIC code for catering is 5812, Eating Places, which the SIC manual says includes caterers along with restaurants and institutional food service. In NAICS, caterers that serve single events (weddings, parties, business lunches, trade shows), including banquet halls with catering staff, are 722320 Caterers. Contract food service at schools, hospitals, offices and airlines is 722310 Food Service Contractors, and food trucks are 722330. In the UK SIC 2007, event catering is 56210.
- SIC 5812 covers caterers, restaurants and contract food service alike; NAICS splits it into seven codes.
- County Business Patterns 2023 counts 13,222 caterer establishments (722320) with 148,684 employees.
- Food service contractors (722310) are bigger: 29,512 establishments with 618,579 employees.
- SBA size standards: $9.0 million for caterers and food trucks, $47.0 million for food service contractors.
- Federal contracts coded 722310 totaled $1,375.7 million in fiscal year 2025; those coded 722320, $35.6 million.
On this page
This page is for caterers and food service companies filling in a SIC or NAICS field (a bank, insurer, venue vendor form, SAM.gov) and for sellers building lists of caterers.
The SIC code for catering is 5812
In the 1987 SIC, caterers sit in Industry 5812, Eating Places, in Major Group 58 (Eating and Drinking Places). The SIC manual says caterers and industrial and institutional food service establishments are included in 5812, alongside restaurants, cafeterias and snack bars. There's no separate SIC code for catering.
Some data vendors extend SIC with extra digits for subcategories (a "5812" code with a two-digit suffix for caterers, for example). Those extensions are the vendor's own, not part of the 1987 SIC, so use plain 5812 on any official form.
The Census concordance splits 5812 into seven NAICS 2022 codes:
| Part of SIC 5812 | NAICS 2022 |
|---|---|
| Caterers | 722320 Caterers |
| Food service contractors | 722310 Food Service Contractors |
| Full-service restaurants | 722511 |
| Limited-service restaurants | 722513 |
| Cafeterias | 722514 |
| Snack and nonalcoholic beverage bars | 722515 |
| Dinner theaters | 711110 |
Railroad dining car operations on contract, once part of SIC 4789, also went to 722310. UK companies use a different system: in the UK SIC 2007 list Companies House uses, event catering is 56210 (Event catering activities) and 56290 is Other food services.
The NAICS codes for catering, and how to choose
| Code | Official title | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| 722320 | Caterers | Single event-based food service, usually transported to the event or prepared off-premise; banquet halls with catering staff; bartender services |
| 722310 | Food Service Contractors | Food service at other organizations' sites under contract for a set period: school, hospital and office cafeterias, airline food service, concessions at stadiums and convention centers. The contractor always provides management staff |
| 722330 | Mobile Food Services | Food trucks, carts, ice cream trucks and mobile canteens |
The test between the first two is in the Census cross-references: a single event is 722320, an ongoing contract at the client's location is 722310.
| If you mainly... | Code |
|---|---|
| Cater weddings, parties, corporate lunches and events | 722320 |
| Run a banquet hall with your own catering staff | 722320 |
| Rent out a banquet hall without catering staff | 531120 Lessors of Nonresidential Buildings |
| Run a company or school cafeteria under contract | 722310 |
| Prepare airline meals under contract | 722310 |
| Run stadium or convention center concessions | 722310 |
| Sell mainly from a food truck or cart | 722330 Mobile Food Services |
| Run a restaurant that also caters | 722511 or 722513, unless catering earns more |
| Cook as a personal chef in clients' homes | 812990 All Other Personal Services |
| Plan parties without providing the food | 812990 |
| Stock and service vending machines | 445132 Vending Machine Operators |
How many caterers there are
County Business Patterns 2023 counts these establishments with paid employees, on a 2017 NAICS basis (unchanged in 2022):
| Code | Establishments | Employees | Annual payroll ($1,000) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 722320 Caterers | 13,222 | 148,684 | 4,590,259 |
| 722310 Food Service Contractors | 29,512 | 618,579 | 18,649,224 |
| 722330 Mobile Food Services | 12,487 | 38,438 | 996,319 |
Caterers by size: 7,276 establishments have fewer than five employees, 2,237 have 5 to 9, 1,788 have 10 to 19, 1,362 have 20 to 49, 398 have 50 to 99, 138 have 100 to 249, 17 have 250 to 499 and 5 have 500 to 999; the count with 1,000 or more isn't published. The top states are California (1,961), New York (1,266), Florida (993), Texas (866) and Pennsylvania (579). For food trucks, CBP counts the central location a route is run from, not each truck.
Most food businesses in these codes have no staff. Nonemployer Statistics for 2023 count 381,492 special food services businesses with no paid employees (NAICS 7223, which covers caterers, contractors and mobile food together), with $10.56 billion in receipts.
SBA size standards
From the SBA's table effective March 17, 2023, in average annual receipts:
| Code | Size standard |
|---|---|
| 722320 Caterers | $9.0 million |
| 722330 Mobile Food Services | $9.0 million |
| 722511 Full-Service Restaurants | $11.5 million |
| 722310 Food Service Contractors | $47.0 million |
The gap matters if you do both kinds of work: a caterer with $15 million in average receipts is too big for a 722320 set-aside but small under 722310.
Where the code gets used
- Federal and institutional contracts. On USAspending.gov, federal contract obligations coded 722310 totaled $1,375.7 million in fiscal year 2025, against $35.6 million for 722320. Ongoing dining contracts, not events, are where government food service money goes, so a caterer that wants that work should list 722310.
- Tax returns. The IRS Schedule C list groups these as 722300, Special food services (including food service contractors & caterers), a tax code rather than a NAICS code.
- Insurance and permits. Liquor liability, off-premise catering permits and health permits depend on what you do, so describe events, bartending and mobile service separately even under one code.
Finding catering and food service companies
The largest SEC-registered food service contractor is Aramark (Philadelphia, PA; SIC 5812), with $18,506.3 million in revenue for the fiscal year ended October 3, 2025, of which $13,211.9 million came from its US segment. Its 10-K describes food and facilities services for education, healthcare, business and industry, and sports, leisure and corrections clients. Healthcare Services Group (Bensalem, PA; SIC 8050) reported $1,012.5 million of dietary services revenue in 2025, serving healthcare facilities. The EDGAR list for SIC 5812 is mostly restaurant chains, because SIC doesn't separate caterers.
For event caterers, filter by size: the 1,920 establishments with 20 or more employees run a kitchen, a sales team and an events calendar, and buy equipment, rentals, software, insurance and staffing. Venue preferred-caterer lists, local health department permit records and wedding and event marketplaces are the practical sources for names. Bebop finds caterers from a plain-language description and researches each account; the selling to restaurants guide covers how food businesses buy.
Worked example
Illustrative example. The company and figures are invented to show the method.
Copper Spoon Catering (copperspoon.example) has 45 employees in New Jersey. Revenue: 60% weddings and private events, 25% a three-year contract running a corporate campus cafeteria, 15% weekly drop-off lunches for offices.
- SIC for a bank form: 5812.
- Primary NAICS code: 722320. Events and one-off office lunches are single-event food service, 75% of revenue.
- Secondary code: 722310 for the cafeteria contract, and for bidding on institutional dining.
- Size check: average annual receipts of $6.8 million. Small under 722320 ($9.0 million) and 722310 ($47.0 million). Above $9.0 million, only the contractor code would still treat it as small.
- Tax return: activity code 722300.
Next step: compare the restaurant codes on the NAICS code for restaurants page.
Sources
- North American Industry Classification System, United States, 2022 (manual), US Census Bureau, 2022
- 2022 NAICS definition: 722320 Caterers, US Census Bureau, accessed 30 October 2026
- NAICS concordances: 1987 SIC to 2002 NAICS through 2017 to 2022 NAICS, US Census Bureau, accessed 30 October 2026
- SIC Manual: 5812 Eating Places, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, accessed 30 October 2026
- Standard industrial classification of economic activities (SIC 2007) condensed list, Companies House, accessed 30 October 2026
- 2023 County Business Patterns datasets, US Census Bureau, 2025
- Nonemployer Statistics 2023, US file (nonemp23us), US Census Bureau, 2025
- Table of size standards (effective March 17, 2023), US Small Business Administration, accessed 30 October 2026
- Spending by NAICS, contracts coded 722310 and 722320, fiscal year 2025, USAspending.gov, US Department of the Treasury, accessed 30 October 2026
- 2025 Instructions for Schedule C (Form 1040): Principal Business or Professional Activity Codes, Internal Revenue Service, accessed 30 October 2026
- Aramark, Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended October 3, 2025, SEC EDGAR, 25 November 2025
- Healthcare Services Group, Form 10-K for 2025, SEC EDGAR, 13 February 2026
Written by the Bebop team at Blackpearl Group. Published .
Questions people ask
What is the SIC code for catering?
SIC 5812, Eating Places. The 1987 SIC manual includes caterers and industrial and institutional food service in 5812 along with restaurants, so there's no catering-only SIC code. In NAICS, event caterers are 722320 Caterers and contract food service operators are 722310 Food Service Contractors. Extended codes such as a 5812 with a suffix come from data vendors, not the official SIC.
What is the NAICS code for catering?
722320, Caterers, for businesses providing single event-based food service: weddings, parties, business luncheons and trade shows, usually with food transported to the event or prepared off-site. Banquet halls with their own catering staff are included. Ongoing food service at a client's cafeteria under contract is 722310, and food trucks are 722330.
What is the difference between 722320 and 722310?
The Census definitions separate them by the arrangement. 722320 Caterers provide food for single events. 722310 Food Service Contractors provide food service at a client's site under a contract for a set period, such as a school, hospital or office cafeteria, airline catering or stadium concessions, and always provide management staff. Their SBA size standards are $9.0 million and $47.0 million.
What NAICS code is a banquet hall?
A banquet hall with its own catering staff is 722320, Caterers, in the Census index. A hall rented out without catering staff, where the client brings their own caterer, is 531120, Lessors of Nonresidential Buildings (except Miniwarehouses). A hotel with banquet facilities stays in 721110, because its definition includes conference and convention services.
What is the UK SIC code for catering?
In the UK SIC 2007 list that Companies House uses, event catering is 56210, Event catering activities, and the next code, 56290, is Other food services. Restaurants are 56101 (licensed) and 56102 (unlicensed restaurants and cafes). These are a different system from the US SIC 1987 codes, where catering is part of 5812, Eating Places.