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Re. Buffet or Sit Down Dinner????

post #1 of 40
10/2/09 at 1:38pm
Thread Starter 
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.:chef:
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post #2 of 40
10/2/09 at 3:32pm
For me, there is no difference in "profitability" as I price by adding my "expected profit" to the actual costs involved. Of course, buffet is generally less cost to the client because of reduced labor requirements

Buffet is "easier" but sit-down allows for more "WOW", IMHO.
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post #3 of 40
10/3/09 at 4:41pm
Same profit on both because you offer more food than labor on a Buffet . A buffet doesn't take as much experienced people. A sitdown needs experienced wait staff and people helping to serve and plate............Bill
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post #4 of 40
10/4/09 at 4:20am
Thread Starter 
I agree 100%. Only bad part is that on sit down you have total control of food consumption, buffet sometime is crapshoot, but as you say buffet is labor saving.
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post #5 of 40
10/5/09 at 3:59pm
I prefer buffet for entree, plated desserts
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post #6 of 40
10/6/09 at 9:58am

Full Service Sit Down Dinner

I prefer Full Service Sit Down Dinner to Buffet Dinner as it provide me more control over the arrangements at the party. Also people don't waste much food in Full Service Sit Down Dinner.
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post #7 of 40
10/6/09 at 1:33pm
Thread Starter 
I tend to agree with you , years ago I would not have. Food is so expensive today, that to have to supply unlimited is almost impossible to control. In these economic times when people go to buffet ,they tend to take more and even take it home so to save on their next household meal. At a buffet, labor cost I can control/ food is harder, and food cost today sometime figures equal to labor cost especially in catering.:chef:
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post #8 of 40
10/6/09 at 2:38pm
Depends on the site, depends on the number of guests, depends on staff......lots o' depends. Some of my contracts specify amounts, ie....1.25 cocktail sandwiches pp, 2 skewers pp, etc. No specifications on crudites.....

So many of my parties are heavy aps, many times finger food.

Small dinner parties under 20, plated sure. But larger ones I still go for buffets, stationary & passed hodos...
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post #9 of 40
10/8/09 at 4:25am
Same profit no matter which way I look at it.

A full service sit down dinner allows for control over the menu and portion size and will help my profit margin provided I do not go over budget.
Buffet, too many variables.




Petals
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post #10 of 40
10/8/09 at 7:04am
P & C, would you mind elaborating on which variables a buffet has that would make plate more desirable?
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post #11 of 40
10/8/09 at 8:36am
Hello There,


I can only go by my own experince. What works for one may not work for another. I have catered for large weddings (200-600), conferences (800 plus) etc...but only because I was asked to.
Catering is your Main Forte, something I cannot do. I simply applaud you when I read about all the work you do. Supply and demand at a buffet for 400 requires an acute foregleam of all the "work and details".

Can I say that I am more in my comfort zone , deciding what amount of people I must plate for in a day, wheather it be 120 or 30, or "Wherever" my clients are ?

My clientele demand french cuisine , I cater to that.

My accalades go to you, because you can do large scale buffets, I on the other hand, plate.
Forgive me if I said something to upset you, that was not my intention.

"I am just a button mushroom among some pretty giant Portobello's."
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post #12 of 40
10/8/09 at 8:57am
No offense, just wanted to expand the conversation and have info for newbies to go on.
So are you onsite? There are few venues in STL that have equipment to manage a plated meal for several hundred.
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post #13 of 40
10/8/09 at 9:16am
I spend one part of the day (early 4:00 am where I plan the day, the menu and the staff) at an estate. I have what you would call as seen on the Food network, Mission Impossible. I live with a laptop ...I go nowhere without it, always in the kitchen , where I am right now.

I only get a weeks notice to plan and prepare for and I get two answers out right away, how many guests and what taste ?

The other gendre is catering to private parties (50-150)

I have learned that the money is in the details.

Petals
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post #14 of 40
10/10/09 at 6:52am
would you mind elaborating on "details"? TIA
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post #15 of 40
10/11/09 at 9:54am
Buffet for sure, but I say that because I am the only one in the kitchen. Last month I had to do a event for a murder mystery dinner event. 120 guest and it was sit down. Two entree choices, salad, dessert all by myself. Yuck, so yea buffet till I get hire people lol
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post #16 of 40
10/11/09 at 10:43am
Ah, but "on reflection", there are three choises: "chow line", buffet, and plated.
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post #17 of 40
10/12/09 at 10:40am
chow line?!!!:eek:
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post #18 of 40
10/12/09 at 10:50am
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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post #19 of 40
10/12/09 at 11:28am
been there done that.....lunch for 200, profit was still there.
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post #20 of 40
10/12/09 at 1:53pm
Yup, for 200 is one thing, for 20 is another!
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post #21 of 40
10/13/09 at 8:57am
Some chow lines are way more lucrative than more formal events....guest count!
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post #22 of 40
10/13/09 at 9:50am
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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post #23 of 40
10/13/09 at 3:26pm
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?
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post #24 of 40
10/13/09 at 4:39pm

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.
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post #25 of 40
10/13/09 at 5:03pm
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.
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post #26 of 40
10/13/09 at 5:28pm
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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post #27 of 40
10/13/09 at 6:18pm
:roll:yep ditto
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post #28 of 40
10/15/09 at 4:47am

A buffet anytime, alot let hassle!

:thumb: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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post #29 of 40
10/15/09 at 5:43am
Thread Starter 
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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post #30 of 40
2/8/10 at 12:17pm

How about the "other" choice?

How about a family style service?
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