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Pricing coffee service

709 views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  meezenplaz 
#1 ·
I'm a new caterer and  I'd love some help in determining the cost and amount of a coffee service for a buffet.  I'm catering a buffet for a bar mitzvah luncheon for about 160 people.  At least 100 of the guest are 16 or older.  In addition to coffee, there will be tea, iced tea, water and lemonade available.  I'm assuming that not all of the 100 guest who may drink coffee will do so.  Any thoughts on how many I should plan for?  And how do I price the coffee service?  I know the cost per pound of coffee, cream and the other items that go along with it.  Triple the cost of coffee and other items?  Thanks so much!
 
#2 ·
This has been discussed before but there really is no times 3 rule to set a price in catering. Youll just lose money that way. Catering expenses just vary too much.

For instance, say you spend say 50 bucks in drinks and condiments
for 160 people. Times 3 is 150.00 Do you really want to charge
less than a dollar per person to shop, load up equipment, drive to
the site, set up, serve, clean up and drive home ? Would you
do that for 100 dollars, MINUS your travel expense and time to
and from?

The only accurate way to cost out an event is to sit down with a pencil and paper and list out all of your expenses, including labor, fixed and varied costs, rentals, food cost equipment and anything else that you can think of. THEN add profit, THEN divide by number of people to get price per person. Dont cheat yourself, this is a service business.
 
#3 ·
Are you planning on a separate coffee service, or is coffee just one of your drink options?

If it's a separate service, then I would add on the standard rate for a cup of coffee in your area.  Where I am, that would be $2 per person.  

And no one, NO ONE, charges 300% on drinks.  Hell, I rarely do that on food items these days.   At $2 I have paid for the entire pot nearly 3 times over...and there's several $2 cups in the pot.
 
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