Posted by Carl Jones on November 11, 1999 at 23:22:26 :
In Reply to: 3 course dinner for 20 ppl, what to serve and what to charge? posted by cryss on November 11, 1999 at 05:01:58 :
: Hi
: I was wondering if any body out there had and set menu ideas, I have a function comming up for 20 ppl, they want to see a choice of set menus.
: I have only recently taken on this position and I'm finding it hard to work out costings per serve, I'm not sure how to calculate labour costs, then how to add that to the cost of the food, then how to include beverage costs ... I'm drowning here a life bouy would be appreciated.
: thanx cryss
It sounds like you really need a consultant. In January, I am available... I work very reasonably and will pay for my services in very little time, the rest will be gravy for you....
Ok, advertisement is finished.
First you need to know your costs, so take the time to add them up. You will need to do the following.
Figure the amounts of meat, vegetables, bread, salads, dressings, beverages, desserts you will need per person. Getting the costs will be simple, just ask your distributor. No offense, but you need some very basic accounting skill or moderate mathematics for the rest.
Once you have added all of the food and beverage costs, ask the chef/cooks how long it takes to prepare. Determine how many servers you need (I think two servers and one kitchen type worker at the event.) Figure what you need to pay each of them (payrate x # hours) and add it up, that give you the labor costs.
If you are buying any paper supplies, or renting dishes, add that up.
Now the fun part
Total Food Costs
+ Total Labor Costs (=rate of pay x 1.16 [labor burden] )
+ Total Supplies/rentals
= Total Costs
+ overhead (here I would add labor again)
+ 200.00 (or how much you wish to make)
= Total Price
divided by 20
= Price per person
example of one I did
6oz Beef Tenderloin with Porcini Sauce, Asiago Mashed Potatoes, Blanched Asparagus, Spring Mix Salad with Rasp. Poppyseed, walnuts and gorgonzola, tangerine mousse in wafer baskets. Tea and Coffee
My cost for 20 was about 200.00. I had 200.00 in total labor and
no rentals.
200.00 Food
+ 250.00 Labor
+ 250.00 overhead
+ 200.00 profit
= 900.00
div / 20
=45.00 per person
Remember price per person would be higher for 10 ppl)
Establish a reasonable amount of profit you wish to make on each event (based upon difficulty in execution.)
All of the above would work on a simple grilled chicken or even hot dogs... you may wish to lower your profit figure....
So I said I wanted to make 200.00 on that event that night, and on another night I might make 4000.00 on an event. Alot has to do with difficulty and numbers of guests etc.
Just make sure that you are charging enough to cover all direct costs of the event and at least double that to get your price. That works well on 100 person events, but will be too low on 8 ppl events.
I have a 500.00 minimum on dinner parties, no matter how few guests there are.
I hope this helps, it is only a model.... there are many thoughts on this subject, no one is wrong, except those who lose money or those who price themselves out of jobs.... find your happy medium and play with it.
As long as I have been in business (19 yrs), I am constantly evaluating costs and looking for any excuse to charge as much as I can... Life is too short and this business is too tough.... What amazes me are the home based caterers who work their fannies off and make less than minimum wage and dont know it...
example: a lady who catered a wedding I attended shared with me that she made 100.00 on that wedding of cake, punch, nuts, veggies, dip and fruit/cheese for 100 ppl (she did a nice job). I asked her did she pay herself for her time, she said "no". I asked her how much total time she had in it,(including consultation), she said 25 hours total (she did it by herself) I said, "so you make 4.00 per hour, huh? Wanna come work for me, I will pay you 9.00 per hour" She now works for me. As we dug into it, I found that many times she was making anywhere from 2.00 to 6.00 per hour.
Blessings,
Carl