Guides
The numbers that decide whether the job was worth it.
The guides
Every guide, in full
How to Price Catering
One job, 120 guests, from the ingredients up to the number you send — with the working shown.
Read itHow to Price Food Truck Catering
The same truck costs more per head for 40 guests than for 100. Here is the working, and how to quote around it.
Read itCatering Cost Per Head
Cost each dish per portion, allow for yield, add labour. Your own cost per head, with the working shown.
Read itCatering Food Cost Percentage
Anyone can do the division. Knowing where the top number came from is the hard part.
Read itCatering Deposits and Contracts
Size the deposit from your real commitments, then put the terms in writing before you hold the date.
Read itWhat to Include in a Catering Quote
The parts of a catering quote that stop the questions, with a worked example you can copy.
Read itFood Truck Event Fees
A flat fee rewards a strong day; a percentage protects a slow one. Work out which suits the event.
Read itFind your question
Which guide answers which question
- How much should I charge per head? How to price catering
- How do I price a food truck for a private event? How to price food truck catering
- What does one guest cost me? Catering cost per head
- What should my food cost percentage be? Catering food cost percentage
- How big should a deposit be, and what goes in a contract? Catering deposits and contracts
- What does a catering quote need to say? What to include in a catering quote
- Is this event fee worth paying? Food truck event fees
How these are written
We would rather show you the method than quote a number we cannot stand behind.
Example figures are invented but plausible and are labelled as examples. We publish no market average we cannot source, and no licence or regulatory figure that changes without notice. Where a number rests on an assumption, the guide says so.
Then do the sum
Every guide has a calculator behind it
Pricing calculator
A per-head price with your own costs in it, and a note on which figures are yours and which rest on an assumption of ours.
Food cost calculator
Cost per head and food cost percentage from what you actually spent, with the same honesty about the assumptions.