Do I need a skill?

or is the catering skill just to make the dish? because i can buy a dish but the wiki says the effects will be based on the layer's rank. and if I don't have it that won't be very long or good.

If you don't have it, I think you can still use it, albeit that it won't last long? At least from what I gathered from reading this page.

I've laid out a catering dish before I learned catering. The skill is only used for creating. The stats gained are based off the food that was used and the duration of the feast is based off the creator's rank.

My bad, I'm wrong. Stats gained is based off the food put in by the creator. Duration of feast being placed and clickable is based on the creator's rank. The duration of the buff is based on the placer's rank. No rank is probably the same as Novice rank.