A caterer's price per person is the full cost of one guest, plus your margin. The full cost isn't limited to food: it includes kitchen and front-of-house labour, equipment, delivery, packaging and a share of your overhead. Most caterers who lose money on an event calculated their price from the ingredients alone. Here is the method, item by item, followed by an example.
The six items in a price per person
- **Food and beverages**: the ingredient cost of each dish, multiplied by the planned portion, plus waste (trimmings, surplus, breakage).
- **Kitchen labour**: preparation and production hours, at real cost (wages and payroll costs), divided by the number of guests.
- **Service**: servers, maître d', bartender, including setup, teardown and travel.
- **Equipment**: dishes, linens, chafing dishes, rentals, washing, breakage.
- **Delivery and packaging**: vehicle, driving time, containers, ice.
- **Overhead**: commercial kitchen rent, insurance, software, accounting, advertising, spread over your annual volume.
Add up these items, divide by the number of guests, then add your margin. Taxes are added afterwards, according to the rules of your country.
An example for 50 people
Illustrative example, to be replaced with your own figures:
| Item | Total | Per person |
|---|---|---|
| Food and non-alcoholic beverages | 650 | 13.00 |
| Kitchen labour (12 h) | 420 | 8.40 |
| Service (2 servers, 6 h) | 360 | 7.20 |
| Equipment and rentals | 150 | 3.00 |
| Delivery and packaging | 100 | 2.00 |
| Share of overhead | 200 | 4.00 |
| Full cost | 1,880 | 37.60 |
| Target margin (25% of selling price) | 12.53 | |
| Price per person before taxes | 50.13 |
In this example, food accounts for only a third of the cost. A price set at "three times the ingredient cost" (39 per person) would have left only 1.40 of margin per guest, barely 3%.
What makes the price vary
- **The number of guests**: labour and delivery are spread over more people; the price per person drops as the group grows. Set a minimum order for small groups.
- **The type of service**: a buffet or delivered platters cost less in staff than a plated meal.
- **The date and time**: weekends, late evenings, peak wedding season.
- **The distance**: beyond a certain radius, bill delivery separately rather than burying it in the price.
Show a price per person… or an itemized price?
The price per person is what the client compares. But a quote that also itemizes service, equipment and delivery holds up better when the client negotiates: they can see what they give up by asking for a reduction. Many caterers show a price per person for the menu, and services on separate lines.
Recalculate often
Ingredient prices and wages change. A price set two years ago is probably too low today. Review your prices at least once a year, and after every significant increase from a supplier.
Calculate faster
The price per guest calculator gives a first ballpark figure in a few fields. For the big picture of the business, see Catering business plan: the numbers to include. In Caterer Manager, reports then show what each event actually earned.
