Retreat hosts tell us the same thing: guests forget the playlist, but they remember the food. After a morning of practice, people are hungry in a particular way — they want food that feels clean and generous at the same time, served on time, without anyone in the group having to think about it. That is what retreat catering is: a chef who runs the kitchen for the whole programme, so the host can run the retreat.
We cook for yoga, breathwork and wellness groups in villas and small retreat venues across Ubud, Canggu and Uluwatu. Here is how it works and what to decide before you book.
What Retreat Catering Covers
A typical booking is three to ten days for a group of eight to thirty people. The chef — with an assistant for bigger groups — shops, cooks and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus fruit, snacks and drinks between sessions, and leaves the kitchen clean after every meal. From twenty guests, service staff are part of the job. Menus are agreed in advance for the whole programme, so you can print them in the welcome pack.
Build the Menu Around the Schedule
The most useful thing a host can send us is the daily timetable. Food should follow practice, not interrupt it:
- Before an early session — fruit, ginger or lemongrass tea and coconut water on a side table. Nothing heavy.
- Brunch after morning practice, usually around 09:30–10:00 — the big meal of the morning: bowls, eggs or tofu scramble, porridge, fruit and fresh juices.
- Lunch — the most substantial meal of the day, with time to digest before any afternoon session.
- Early dinner, 18:00–19:00 — lighter and warm: soups, curries, grilled fish or tempeh and vegetables, early enough for a gentle evening class and a good night's sleep.
If the programme includes silent mornings, fasting days or a cacao or breathwork ceremony, tell us: the kitchen goes quiet, the menu adapts, and nobody rattles pans outside the shala.
What We Cook for Retreats
We cook plant-forward by default, with fish, eggs and chicken as add-ons for groups that want them. Bali makes this easy: tempeh (an Indonesian invention, and far better fresh than anything you will find abroad), tofu, young jackfruit, red and black rice, moringa leaves, and more coconut, turmeric and ginger than any retreat can use. A sample day:
| Meal | Example |
|---|---|
| Early | Papaya with lime, ginger-lemongrass tea, coconut water |
| Brunch | Black rice porridge with coconut and palm sugar, tofu scramble with tomato sambal, fruit platter, turmeric jamu |
| Lunch | Red rice, sweet soy tempeh, gado-gado with peanut sauce, urap salad with grated coconut, clear vegetable soup |
| Dinner | Young jackfruit curry, grilled mahi-mahi or tofu with sambal matah, wok greens, banana in coconut cream |
Across a week we rotate cuisines — Balinese, wider Indonesian, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, Japanese-leaning — so day six never tastes like day two. The produce comes from the same markets and organic farms we use for every booking; our market guide explains where.
The Dietary Sheet
A group of twenty will include vegans, someone gluten-free, a nut allergy and at least one person who "just doesn't do mushrooms". The fix is simple: collect diets and allergies on your registration form and forward the list to us two weeks before arrival. We build one menu with proper variations rather than five separate menus, label every dish on the buffet, and keep allergy portions separate and named. This is everyday work for us — see our healthy and dietary menus. Halal groups are covered too; our halal guide explains how.
Where We Cater Retreats
Ubud is the retreat capital, with jungle venues and the island's best organic produce almost next door; our usual Ubud travel fee is waived for multi-day bookings. Canggu suits surf-and-yoga weeks, with big villas and an easy supply run. Uluwatu gives you clifftop venues and sunsets — and we bring everything with us, because the Bukit's shops are thin. Local details are on our Ubud, Canggu and Uluwatu pages.
How to Budget Retreat Catering
We quote retreats as one fixed package per guest per day, covering all meals, groceries, chefs, service and clean-up — so your food cost is locked before you set the ticket price. The number depends on how many meals a day, the headcount, and how much fish or meat is on the menu. Our published rates show the two ends of the scale: weekly meal prep at IDR 1,800,000 per person for fifteen dishes (about IDR 120,000 a meal), cooked and packed rather than served, and event catering from IDR 600,000 per person for a fully served buffet. Your quote tells you exactly where your programme sits. Groups of twenty or more reserve with a 30% deposit; the rest is paid at the end.
What We Need From the Venue
A retreat kitchen works hard for a week, so we check it before we quote: a gas stove with a spare cylinder, fridge space for two to three days of produce, a clean water supply (we cook and wash produce with gallon water), a serving table in the shade, and somewhere for rubbish and compost. If the venue kitchen is small, we plan a menu that respects it rather than pretending it is bigger.
Booking Timeline
- Six to eight weeks before: send dates, headcount, venue and timetable; we confirm and quote.
- Two weeks before: forward the dietary sheet; we send the full menu for your welcome pack.
- One week before: confirm final numbers and kitchen details — fridge space, gas, oven, serving tables.
- Arrival day: we open with a welcome dinner, so the group sits down together on night one.
Hosting in high season — July, August or the Christmas and New Year weeks — lock the chef in earlier; those weeks fill first.