How to Price Food for Catering

Catering prices for food such as seafood must be higher than costs.

Pricing food for a catering job means balancing affordable prices for the client and setting a price that provides a profit. Food costs can be high, especially for dairy and meat products, so food items with those ingredients should cost more money. Most catering companies give customers a price break for ordering more food because the cost to make more isn't that high and the lower prices are an incentive to the customer to buy more food.

Things You'll Need

• Calculator
• Pen
• Paper

Instructions

1. Decide if the catering business will use a fixed price, each item costs a fixed amount. If it's using tiered prices, items cost less based on a larger quantity ordered. WIth custom pricing, information is based on event details. The last option involves pricing the food after talking to the customer and deciding how expensive the event will be to cater, including transportation costs and time involved, according to Food Service Warehouse.

2. Calculate how much each food items costs to make. Add up the amount every ingredient costs. Divide that cost by the number of food items yielded from all the ingredients. Include labor costs in the total costs by adding in the wages for the person preparing the food. For example, for hot dogs add up the costs of the hot dogs and buns and divide by the number of hot dogs. Add on an hour worth of labor to cook and prepare the hot dogs. .

3. Multiply the food costs times three for each item to determine menu price.

4. Find the competitor's menu online to compare prices. If the competitor's prices are much lower then the price determined above, lower the price.

5. Offer discounts on food costs as incentives and sales to boost business.

References

• Restaurant Equipment and Supplies: Pricing a Catering Menu