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10-11-2009, 12:43 PM
| | Registered User Culinary Experience: Host | | Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Porterville, CA
Posts: 354
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Ah, but "on reflection", there are three choises: "chow line", buffet, and plated.
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Chef/Owner
Le Bistro
33 W. Putnam Ave.
Porterville, CA 93257
559-783-8151 |
10-12-2009, 12:40 PM
|  | ChefTalk Moderator Culinary Experience: Professional Caterer | | Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: St. Louis Mo
Posts: 6,856
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chow line?!!!  |
10-12-2009, 12:50 PM
| | Registered User Culinary Experience: Host | | Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Porterville, CA
Posts: 354
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Quote:
Originally Posted by shroomgirl  chow line?!!! | Yeah!
Makes it tough when a majority of one's competitors offer "chow line" buffets at $8-10//person, you know, similar to soup kitchen or mess hall service.
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Chef/Owner
Le Bistro
33 W. Putnam Ave.
Porterville, CA 93257
559-783-8151 |
10-12-2009, 01:28 PM
| | ChefTalk Moderator Culinary Experience: Professional Caterer | | Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: St. Louis Mo
Posts: 6,856
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been there done that.....lunch for 200, profit was still there. |
10-12-2009, 03:53 PM
| | Registered User Culinary Experience: Host | | Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Porterville, CA
Posts: 354
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Yup, for 200 is one thing, for 20 is another!
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Chef/Owner
Le Bistro
33 W. Putnam Ave.
Porterville, CA 93257
559-783-8151 |
10-13-2009, 10:57 AM
| | ChefTalk Moderator Culinary Experience: Professional Caterer | | Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: St. Louis Mo
Posts: 6,856
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Some chow lines are way more lucrative than more formal events....guest count! |
10-13-2009, 11:50 AM
| | Registered User Culinary Experience: Host | | Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Porterville, CA
Posts: 354
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Quote:
Originally Posted by shroomgirl Some chow lines are way more lucrative than more formal events....guest count! | Absolutely!
$/person TIMES # of persons = gross revenue (that should be obvious to all), as long as there is a large enough "paid head count" you win, the problem that surfaces, when quoting $/person and NOT specifying a minimum head count, is when you quote $x/person for 200 and the client then reduces the head count to 50 or even 20 and expects the same $x/person.
When I quote $/person, which is RARELY, I also include a minimum total $$$ amount.
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Chef/Owner
Le Bistro
33 W. Putnam Ave.
Porterville, CA 93257
559-783-8151 |
10-13-2009, 05:26 PM
| | ChefTalk Moderator Culinary Experience: Professional Caterer | | Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: St. Louis Mo
Posts: 6,856
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that's a very very short learning curve.....some caterers have the same price irrespective of the # of people. That does not work when you have an informal event.
Many in our area have 25 guest minimum.
It needs to be a mutually acceptable deal to work.....
What has worked for us:
250-300 guests $xyzpp
200-249 guests $eghpp
etc.
Don't be surprised with this one if they come back with 250 to get a lower pp price, make sure the math works.
or for $$$ we will provide food & staff for up to 200 guests, everyone over 201 is $$$pp
Does this make sense? |
10-13-2009, 06:39 PM
| | Registered User Culinary Experience: Professional Chef | | Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Michigan
Posts: 20
| |  do the math
this question is more of a math problem than one of opinion.
The first question is," what is the budget of client?" usually the higher the per person budget the more you`d lean to a beautiful plate presentation.
next question would be how many options of entre do they want? more options/ selections typicaly ups the price of a buffetbecause of portion percentages, and the "crap shoot" of whitch item will be most selected by their guests.
Next is the "back of the house"study between food cost and labor cost. Buffets use more food while sit down events use more service labor ( but if you schedual the service labor smartly you can slow these costs down too).
The whole trick is to simply "do the math". If you keep your combined food and labor cost to 52-57% you`l make good profit. |
10-13-2009, 07:03 PM
| | ChefTalk Moderator Culinary Experience: Professional Caterer | | Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: St. Louis Mo
Posts: 6,856
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It also comes down to what size operation you have....if you have people on salary or staff waiting to work it's very different than being a small operation with hired help hired as necessary. |
10-13-2009, 07:28 PM
|  | Registered User Culinary Experience: Former Chef | | Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Monroiva, CA
Posts: 3,169
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Assuming the guest list is small enough, the kitchen large enough, and the budget sufficient, sit down -- regular, "silver-spoon," and/or "family-style" -- is more fun. Or, at least was for me.
What can I say? I liked putting out a nice plate.
BDL
___________
Ex owner operator Predominantly French catering; ex cook at a couple of decent joints
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Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering? |
10-13-2009, 08:18 PM
| | ChefTalk Moderator Culinary Experience: Professional Caterer | | Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: St. Louis Mo
Posts: 6,856
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 yep ditto |
10-15-2009, 06:47 AM
|  | Registered User Culinary Experience: Professional Chef | | Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Tampa Bay Florida
Posts: 33
| | A buffet anytime, alot let hassle!
Quote:
Originally Posted by ED BUCHANAN Many of you are doing banquet catering to groups of 100 or more. I notice a lot of Buffets.
Which do you think more profitable, or easier a Buffet or a Full Service Sit Down Dinner.??
Give this some thought.  |  A Buffet is alot less hassle, time management is better.
Once I served 5,500 and they had to be served in 30 minutes, (it was a convention)
It would have been almost impossible to do plate service.
It was difficult enough to find enough waiters to serve coffee.
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I don't like food that's too carefully arranged; it makes me think that the chef is spending too much time arranging and not enough time cooking. If I wanted a picture I'd buy a painting. ---------------------Andy Rooney |
10-15-2009, 07:43 AM
|  | Registered User Culinary Experience: Culinary Instructor | | Join Date: May 2006 Location: PALM BEACH FLORIDA
Posts: 2,246
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PeteMcCracken Absolutely!
$/person TIMES # of persons = gross revenue (that should be obvious to all), as long as there is a large enough "paid head count" you win, the problem that surfaces, when quoting $/person and NOT specifying a minimum head count, is when you quote $x/person for 200 and the client then reduces the head count to 50 or even 20 and expects the same $x/person.
When I quote $/person, which is RARELY, I also include a minimum total $$$ amount. | In NY in on premise catering( multi room,) each room has a minimum guarantee. Lets say the Holiday Room minimum is 150 guest , therefore 150 times $20.00=$3000.00 Revenue. If you have 130 guest its $3000.00 divided by 130 guest, it's 23.25 per guest. The room minimum revenue is still $3000.00.
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