Catering & Banquet Costing: Per-Guest Pricing, Guarantees, Staffing & Event Profit

What you'll build

What you will be able to do

Each lab ends with a concrete result that you build yourself and the checker confirms, cell by cell.

• Scale a plated main course to 140 guests, allow for trimming and cooking loss, round the purchase up to full packs and work out the food cost per guest.
• Total the food cost of three banquet packages, price each one at a target food cost %, round to a clean price and check the margin that is left.
• Bill six banquets on the guarantee or the actual number, whichever is higher, plan the overset the kitchen prepares and price the covers that were never eaten.
• Staff six events from service-style ratios, add set-up and breakdown time, cost the labour and compare it per guest.
• Estimate how much a wedding party will drink, compare a per-head bar package with paying per drink and work out what the caterer earns on the package.
• Work out how many guests each set-up fits, flag bookings that are too big for the room and bill the shortfall when a booking misses its food and beverage minimum.
• Build a banquet quote from its lines, add a service charge on food and beverage only, apply an illustrative sales tax and split the total into a deposit schedule.
• Turn eight finished events into contribution and margin, roll them up by event type with pooled margins and chart which kind of event really pays.