Catering is catering, right? Not quite. There’s a huge difference between serving a crowd at a festival and catering for TV production crews on location during a live sports shoot. The audience might never see us, but the crew can’t function without us.
Event catering is built for scale and spectacle. OB catering is built for precision, timing, and repeat reliability. You’re not cooking for fun days out – you’re supporting technical teams working long hours under tight deadlines.
At Rhubarb Rhubarb, we tailor every aspect of our service to suit production. That means meals that align with shooting schedules, food that travels well, and service that happens fast. We prep for early call times, sudden changes, and awkward locations. Sometimes we’re parked next to OB trucks on a gravel verge. Other times, we’re sandwiched between generators and flight cases.
The food must be portable, hot (or cold, as needed), and easy to eat standing up if necessary. And the team serving it needs to blend into the background, never disrupt the shoot, and be ready to move if the space is needed for kit.
Event catering often has downtime. OB catering doesn’t. There are constant moving parts. We build menus that energise, not slow people down. Protein-heavy lunches, balanced carbs, vegetarian and gluten-free options that aren’t an afterthought, they’re a priority.
Most importantly, OB catering is crew-first. We feed the engine of the production. If a live camera feed goes down, it’s a crisis. If the crew miss lunch, that affects morale, focus, and performance. That’s why our job matters. Working in OB catering means understanding the pressures of broadcast production and meeting them head-on. It’s not glamorous, but it’s essential. And at Rhubarb Rhubarb Catering, we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Planning a live broadcast or OB shoot?
We provide dependable, location-ready catering tailored to the demands of production. From early starts to unpredictable schedules, we’re used to working behind the scenes to keep everything running smoothly. Get in touch to book OB catering that works.
