Catering pricing--how does it work?

[Anonymous]

We are in the early stages of planning a bar mitzvah. How is it done these days? Is it still price per head and within each price point we get choices? I am trying to learn now so that I don't waste time asking basic questions. I realize there might be variation between caterers. Do people typically set a budget first and then shop around? Or can we get approximate prices, taste the food, and then choose based on what we think was the best value?

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are in the early stages of planning a bar mitzvah. How is it done these days? Is it still price per head and within each price point we get choices? I am trying to learn now so that I don't waste time asking basic questions. I realize there might be variation between caterers. Do people typically set a budget first and then shop around? Or can we get approximate prices, taste the food, and then choose based on what we think was the best value?

Thank you!

There is probably a person at your temple who coordinates Bar and Bat Mitzvahs who can recommend a few caterers. I would start with them and see how they handle pricing.

[Anonymous]

This will sound trite.. but really, it depends on the caterer and how they set up their pricing schedule.

You’re probably best to set yourself an approximate budget first, and then deal with your facility to recommend caterers that can fulfill that budget.

[Anonymous]

OP here-
We did reach out to a few and it was confusing. We were asked to name a budget but we don't have one. We have a limit, yes, but a budget, no. We want to best food for the best price. No one was able to give me a price per head ("...and that includes the chicken, but not the short rib, etc.")

Maybe my expectations are off but I thought they'd have some fixed prices with the options to upgrade. Instead, we were told "Tell us what you're willing to spend and we will give you a price based on how much money you are willing to give us."

Can someone here tell me a reasonable price per head (or range?) for a "nice" caterer for a Sat evening affair with a sit-down meal? (We don't want to do a buffet.)

[Anonymous]

Will you need to rent tables and chairs and linens and glasses and flatware? Will you serve beer, wine and liquor? It really depends. Will you be in Washington, DC or in Germantown?

[Anonymous]

For what its worth everyone that we talked to that charged per plate always added "but estimate down because its a ton of food." So we had 72 people come to ours and they said ordering service for 60 was well sufficient. And it was still SO MUCH FOOD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For what its worth everyone that we talked to that charged per plate always added "but estimate down because its a ton of food." So we had 72 people come to ours and they said ordering service for 60 was well sufficient. And it was still SO MUCH FOOD.

You cannot do this if you are doing a sit down.

[Anonymous]

I've got a wedding coming up. They gave us a per plate charge, plus a per person charge for the appetizers, plus the charge for the staff. I think the appetizer charge varied depending on how may you picked and to some extent what you picked (we have a lobster one which may have had an upcharge). I don't recall there being much of a price difference in the entree choices. You also need to be prepared for service charges and tax, which in our case is another 30%.

One of the venues we looked at had an all inclusive set of options at 4 levels depending on what you wanted (premium liquor for example, or raw bar). Each option was per person.

Look online at someplace like Ridgewells to get an idea of how they price it - I think they show pricing for some things.

[Anonymous]

Windows catering will show you the per person costs.

[Anonymous]

Sit down is usually less expensive than buffet because they can't run out of food with a buffet so they have to prepare extra food that won't get consumed. With sit down everyone rsvps for fish, beef, chicken or vegetarian so they can work with more specific numbers.

To get started say you want a $50/person meal and see what you get. They'll usually offer a choice of appetizers, entrees, and desserts that will fit your budget.