Small dinner party minimums

[shroomgirl]

I've burned myself on small dinner parties got over it and started using a minimum for me to walk in the door.....
Got a call from a catering virgin the end of last week who has 2 staff people that work for her and will help serve. Told her my minimum is $750...that is starting.

So 2 passed aps
winter squash soup/guyere biscuits
veal with shrooms, pasta or risotto
salad
choc. crepes with creme goo and raspberry sauce. Made it up over the phone, never made prior too she went nuts over the idea now I need a good choc crepe recipe....

No bev from me.
Just got to the point that it wasn't worth my time to do small parties.
So, what are your policies on small in home dinners?

[tigerwoman]

depending on when it is I have made the minimum from 1,500 to 2k

Have done very well on parties of 25 this way - otherwise not worth it.

However I did do one this summer for 8 people for 1,500 and didn't charge enough for the food and service we gave them.

[shroomgirl]

Really hard to justify when a cocktail party for 100 would be several thousand.....
but it's only me and if it's slow I'll do it. Anyway just wanted to know what others are doing....
NYC is a very different market from the midwest.

[Txacoli]

We are probably stupid, but we have no minimums. I have done a one on the beach......a divorce party. We find that small parties lead to big ones, and this time of year, when the outside work is gone....all those little parties add up. And the friend to friend referral is invaluable. We have two people fighting over us for a gig in April, on a Monday. Gotta love that!

[lentil]

Sheesh! I have got to rethink my pricing! For $750 minimum, I'd clean their bathrooms.

[David Chenelle]

We have had to institute minimums in my business only if you have a crew to pay for. Ours is $1000 dollars. Otherwise you are spending your profit on just paying for the labor. If it is a catering drop off that requires no waitstaff or crew to work the function then our minimum drops to $500. It's the labor that kills and eats up your bottom line profit. If it is a pickup where there isn't a delivery involved then our minimum drops to $250. The guest comes by and picks up there product. Otherwise you are just wasting your time.
All of these small parties can definitely lead to bigger ones. You have to have a standard so you are not wasting your precious time (your most valuable commodity) on looky lous or cheapos. The time spent on this type of guests can be used to selling to a higher end client. What happens is that you end up profitting rather then breaking even. That is the circumstance you want to be in. I will sell to a cheapo but they will be on my terms not theirs. Most of all, I will profit and not break even.
David