How do caterers work out a price per person?

Two common ways. Cost-plus adds up everything the event costs you (food, staff time, disposables, fuel, rentals) and adds the profit you want on top. The food-cost method divides your ingredient cost per guest by the share of the price you want food to be, so $6 of food at a 30% target gives $20 a guest. Working out both and quoting the higher one keeps you from under-pricing.

Why should the price per guest drop for bigger events?

Some costs stay the same whatever the headcount: driving there, setting up, the time before the first plate. Spread over 200 guests they add less to each plate than over 40, so a bigger event can carry a lower per-guest price and still earn the same or more.

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What should I charge for catering?

Q: Should I charge a minimum?

If your fixed costs for turning up are high, yes. The smallest event worth taking is the one where the per-guest price still covers them. The table on this page shows where that point falls for your numbers.

Put in what an event costs you. The calculator works out a price per guest two different ways, and shows how that price should change as the guest count goes up. Nothing you type leaves this page.

Your costs

Rough numbers are fine. Change anything and the price updates.

Guests at this event

Per guest

Food and ingredients

Plates, cutlery, napkins

Staff

People working it

Hours each

Count prep, driving and cleanup, not just service.

Pay per hour

Include your own time at what it is worth.

Per event

Fuel, rentals, permits, ice

Share of overhead

Insurance, kitchen or truck payments, software, spread across the events you do in a month.

What you want to earn

Profit on top of costs

The share of the price you keep after every cost.

Food as a share of price

Your target. Lower means a higher price.

Your price

Quote at least this.

$0per guest
$0 for the event

Cost-plus$0covers every cost, plus your profit

Food-cost method$0food at your target share of price

How it changes with the headcount

Guests	Per guest	Event total

Staff and per-event costs are spread over more plates as the event grows, so each guest costs less to serve. Staff hours are assumed to stay the same, which is roughly true until you need another pair of hands. Where the price stops falling, your food cost has taken over as the floor.

How this works out the number

Cost-plus adds up everything the event costs you: food and disposables for every guest, every hour of staff time, and the fixed costs of turning up at all. Then it sets the price so your profit share is left over after all of it. With a 20% profit target, costs of $1,600 become a price of $2,000.

The food-cost method starts from ingredients only. If food should be 30% of the price and a plate costs you $6 in food, the plate sells for $20. It is quick, and it is how many menus get priced, but it knows nothing about your labor or your drive, so on a small event it can come in low.

The calculator shows both and quotes the higher one. If the two are far apart, that gap is worth a look: a food-cost price well under cost-plus usually means labor or travel is eating the margin.

Why the price per guest falls on bigger events

Some costs barely move with the headcount. The drive, the setup, the insurance share and a crew's first hours cost the same whether you feed 40 or 200. Spread over more plates, each one carries less of it. That is why caterers often publish a lower per-guest price for bigger groups, and why a minimum makes sense on small ones.

Should I charge a minimum?

Look at the table above. The smallest row where the per-guest price still feels normal to you is roughly your minimum. Below it, you are paying the fixed costs of showing up out of your own pocket.

This is $21.75 a guest on your website.

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100 guests

An example of the form, using the price you worked out above. The other two packages are made up to show the choice.