Dinner Parties

[shakferr]

Hi Chefs:

Maybe you could answer a question that I continually get stuck on. When you are asked to cook a dinner party in the client's home and they purchase the menu items/groceries do you charge them per person or per hour and how much?

For example, I've been asked to cook a 3 course meal (no HD's and guest provides wine) for a kosher birthday party with 20 guests. My role is to cook/clean up on the event day, provide them with menu suggestions, and hire one waiter. I'm not sure how to charge them and WHAT THE GOING RATE IS.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

[tigerwoman]

I'll give you the same answer I gave over at Catersource

You may not like this answer but it really depends.

1. where are you located and what kind of menu and clientele are you servicing.
2. do you consider yourself a caterer or a personal chef

this sounds more like a personal chef job – which is not what most of us around here specialize in, personally I wouldn’t want my client supplying the food I was responsible for cooking (no guarantee they will get all the ingredients and proper quantities even if you have it all spelled out, plus it gives them more information than I would care to share…)

my suggestion is to not charge a per person price, but rather an event fee.

Eg: planning and prep xx
Execution (cooking and serving) xx
Servers and equipment xx
Cleanup and breakdown


However, if this kind of job works for you then, here are some things to consider

estimate the number of hours you might spend organizing (designing menu, meeting and speaking with client, etc) on this event –

estimate the time you will need to execute the menu

and figure out how much you would like to make per hour for your time and maybe throw in a figure that represents your expertise.

Why do they want to do it this way (do they think it will save them money?)

How much do you think your time and talents are worth?

What’s the going rate in your area for personal chefs?

How much would a caterer charge for a meal of similar stature (what level of food and presentation are they expecting?)


We did an 8 person event for $1500 last year and by the time we finished with providing them all the food, service, rentals, etc, I realized I had undercharged them drastically. On the other hand, that particular client probably wouldn’t have spent anymore and therefore not used my services. It was an interesting and intricate menu that we enjoyed creating and working on and it lead to another event for a friend of theirs for ten times that amount. There is no straightforward answer
and you might want to go to a personal chef forum and ask this question.

There is no going rate that is universal - even within a speciic area there is always a range but from state to state, country to country - a going rate?? Ha!

[shakferr]

thank you again. i never know if anyone is going to answer so i try to post on both sites especially when i'm under the gun.

thank you, thank you, thank you.

extremely valuable adivse.

[Frizbee]

I hope you don't mind my asking this, but
Could you please provide both the actual numbers that you charged and maybe the menu? Or if that is too personal, maybe a sample of just the invoice? I am asking because I am the exec. chef at a catering spot with a restaurant background as well. I am seeking to expand business, and was hoping for a couple of pers. chef gigs over the year. I as well was wondering if and when it comes up how to price it out. I like your idea, b/c your covering all your bases and the work your putting in. personally I was thinking about costing it out per person based on sit down dinners we already do for many. But that really didn't include the depth of the work entailed.

I would appreciate everyone’s input answer here. First let me say that we are a small catering firm. We price everything down to the per person amount, even individual app items. The prices for some of the same menu items are different based on staffing needs and such. Rather that adding an additional invoice line for staffing and whatever else, she prefers to build it into the price per person for the entrees...meaning if we catered out to a small group lets say simple apps the price would be different that if we catered out the same menu item for larger groups (because of staffing), or even if we catered to our own facility. This seems odd to me, but I am not the boss. I have only seen it always the same price and additional charges for staffing or whatever else needed to be added, like clean up...etc.
Thanks as always,
Frizbee