Caterers

Principles⁠

Price per person, not per event⁠

Catering margin lives in the per-head calculation. Build the package from its components and the total takes care of itself when the guest count moves.

Guest numbers will change⁠

They always do, usually late. A quote built on a calculation absorbs a change in covers. A quote typed as a total has to be rewritten.

Allergens are not a note⁠

Dietary requirements belong on the package and on the run sheet the kitchen actually reads, not in a paragraph at the bottom of an email.

The kitchen needs its own version⁠

The kitchen needs covers, timings and allergens. The client needs none of your purchase prices. That is one document with audiences.

Know your cost per line⁠

Record what you paid next to what you charged, on the same line. Margin should be a fact you can see per package, not a number you find out afterwards.

Late changes get priced⁠

Forty extra covers on Wednesday is a change order, not a favour. Price it, send it, and let it flow to the invoice.

Practices⁠

Build packages from components⁠

Assemble a menu from products with their own costs, and see the margin per person as you build rather than after you have quoted.

Save the calculations you repeat⁠

A dinner package, a bar package, a canapé reception. Save the calculation once and apply it per event.

Flag allergens on the package⁠

Mark gluten free, dairy free and nut free on the package so the information travels with the food rather than beside it.

Move the covers and let the total follow⁠

Change the guest count and quantities, costs and totals update together. No hunting for the cells that depend on it.

Give the kitchen its own briefing⁠

Set the audience so the kitchen version carries covers, timings and allergens, and the client version carries neither costs nor staffing.

Keep purchase prices internal⁠

Line items can hold your purchase reference for margin tracking and stay hidden from what the client receives.

Put the checklist on the shift⁠

Reading the allergen sheet can be a required item on the shift, ticked off in the app before service starts.

Price the change order⁠

Late changes in covers become a priced change against the event and reach the invoice without a separate conversation.

Turn the signed package into an invoice⁠

A signed proposal converts to an invoice with its line items and VAT intact, so the food you agreed is the food you bill.