Catering pricing calculator
The only number that matters on a catering quote is the true cost per head — food plus this event’s own overheads. Price from that, not from the food alone.
- True cost per head
- $16.50
- Price per head at 35%
- $47.14
- Whole event quote
- $2828.57
food plus this event's overheads spread across the guests
runs at 35.0% cost
Overheads divided across guests is why small parties need higher per-head prices: the same $420 of staff and travel is $7 a head at 60 guests and $21 a head at 20.
Getting the food number right first
This page assumes you know your food cost per head. If that number is itself a guess, build it from pack prices and yields with the food cost calculator — per-head menus are just recipes with portions set to the guest count.
Common questions
- How do I price catering per person?
- Work out the food cost per head, add this event's own overheads divided by the guest count — staff hours, travel, equipment hire, rentals — and price the total at your target percentage. The per-head food number alone is not the cost; the overheads are what sink under-priced jobs.
- Why do small events need higher per-head prices?
- Because overheads do not shrink with the guest list. $420 of staff and travel is $7 a head across 60 guests and $21 a head across 20. Quoting the same per-head price for both means the small job pays you least for the most awkward work — the calculator makes that visible before you quote.
- What margin do caterers typically work to?
- Total cost (food plus event overheads) commonly lands between 30% and 45% of the quote, varying with market and menu. There is no universal number — the point of the target field is to make yours explicit rather than inherited from a guess.
- Should I quote a total or a per-head price?
- Clients compare per-head; your costs are part fixed, part per-head. Quote per-head with a stated minimum guest count (or a room fee), so a shrinking guest list cannot quietly turn a good job into a loss.