A catering business plan is judged on its numbers, not its menu. A banker or a partner wants to see how each meal sold covers its costs, how many events the kitchen can produce per week, what happens in January, and how much money it takes to hold out until the first deposit. Here are the numbers to include, in the order you will be asked for them.
1. Price per guest and margin
The starting point: what a meal costs and what it sells for. The usual formula is
selling price = (food cost + labour + fixed costs per guest) ÷ (1 − target margin).
For a meal with $14 in ingredients, $9 in labour and $4 in fixed costs per guest, with a target margin of 30%, the price is $27 ÷ 0.70, or about $38.60 per guest. The price per guest calculator runs this calculation with your own numbers. Present it for your three main offers (boxed lunch, buffet, plated meal).
2. Food cost
The share of ingredients in the selling price, as a percentage. Around 30% is a common target; a high-end caterer with service sometimes accepts more on food and less on service, and vice versa. Explain your target and where the number comes from (recipe cards, supplier prices).
3. Capacity
How many guests the kitchen can serve per day, per week, and at peak (a Saturday in June). It depends on floor space, cooking and refrigeration equipment, the number of cooks and the number of vehicles. The business plan shows projected sales below capacity, with room for a big week.
4. Seasonality
Weddings are concentrated from May to October, corporate receptions in November and December, and boxed lunches follow the school year. Present sales month by month, not as an annual average: the curve is what shows the January slump and the cash need that comes with it.
5. Sales channels
Events, online ordering, recurring contracts (schools, residences, companies), counter sales. Each channel has its own average order, cost of sale and payment delay. Recurring contracts smooth out seasonality; events make the margin. A realistic plan shows both.
6. Fixed costs and break-even point
Rent, insurance, fixed salaries, vehicles, software, marketing. Divide the monthly total by the average gross margin per guest: you get the number of guests to serve each month to cover your costs. That is the number everyone remembers.
7. Cash flow
An event is paid with a deposit at confirmation and a balance around the date; corporate contracts are often paid at 30 days. The cash flow plan shows, week by week for the first year, what comes in and what goes out. The deposit required at confirmation is your main lever.
8. Start-up investments
Kitchen equipment, vehicle, dishes and service equipment, website and online store, management software, working capital for the first three months. Separate what is bought, leased and financed.
Mistakes to avoid
- **An annual average.** It hides the winter slump.
- **A price per guest copied from the competition**, without your own costs.
- **Forgetting administrative time.** Quotes, confirmations, invoicing and payment follow-up take hours every week; count them as labour or plan for the tool that reduces them. The [ROI calculator](gt:roi) estimates that time.
- **No guest count guarantee.** Without one, your sales forecasts per event are just intentions.
What software changes in the plan
Catering management software is not a separate line item in the business plan: once the business is up and running, it is the source of the numbers above. Sales by channel and by period, average price per guest, accounts receivable aging and pending deposits come out of the Caterer Manager Reports and KPIs module without re-entry, and the production plan shows the capacity actually used week after week.
