How to price catering: a per-person formula with a worked example

To price catering, add up what the event will cost you per guest (food, disposables, labor, delivery, rentals and a share of your overhead), divide by one minus the profit margin you want, then add sales tax and ask for a deposit. A 60-guest lunch buffet that costs $1,200 to deliver is priced at $1,500 at a 20% margin, or $25.00 a guest. The quick rule of dividing food cost by a target food cost percentage is a good first check, but it ignores the labor and delivery that make one catering job different from the next.

How do you price catering?

There are three common ways to set a catering price. Most caterers use the first two together and check the result against the third.

The rest of this guide uses cost-plus, because it shows where every dollar goes, and then compares it with the food-cost rule.

What goes into a catering price?

Worked example: a 60-guest corporate lunch buffet

These are illustrative numbers, the same ones the catering price calculator opens with, not a benchmark. A local office orders a hot lunch buffet for 60 people, delivered and set up.

Food per guest: herb roast chicken $4.20 + two sides $1.60 + green salad $0.90 + bread rolls $0.40 + dessert bars $1.10 + iced tea and water $0.80 = $9.00.

Compare it with the food-cost rule. At a 30% target food cost the same menu would be $9.00 ÷ 0.30 = $30.00 a guest. Cost-plus says $25.00 already covers every cost and a 20% margin, so $30.00 would leave more room, or might lose the job to a cheaper bid. Neither number is wrong; the point is to know which costs each one covers.

Why does a smaller party cost more per guest?

Labor, delivery and overhead stay about the same whether 48 or 72 people turn up. Only food and disposables move with the headcount.

This is why catering quotes carry a minimum headcount and a date for the final count: if the client drops from 60 to 48 guests after you've priced at $25.00, you lose $1,350 − (48 × $25.00) = $150 of the margin you planned.

Should you price per person, per tray or per package?

How to price catering, step by step

1. Cost the menu per guest: for each menu line, the ingredient cost of one guest's portion from your recipe and latest invoices.
2. Add disposables and extras per guest: plates, cutlery, napkins and fuel, from your last orders.
3. Count every labor hour: prep, cooking, packing, travel, setup, service and clean-up, times what an hour costs you.
4. Add delivery, rentals and an overhead share: one amount for the trip and anything you hire, plus the event's part of rent, insurance and admin.
5. Set your margin and divide: price = event cost ÷ (1 − margin), then ÷ guests for the per-guest price.
6. Check it two ways: against the food-cost rule (food per guest ÷ target food cost) and against what local caterers charge for a similar menu.
7. Add tax, deposit and terms: your state's sales tax, the deposit to hold the date, the minimum headcount and the final-count date.
8. Send the quote and keep the numbers: put the price into a written quote, and after the event compare what it really cost with what you priced.

The catering price calculator does steps 1 to 7 and shows the per-guest price at 20% fewer and 20% more guests. The free catering quote maker turns the result into a quote PDF, and the catering invoice template bills it.

Service charges, gratuities and sales tax

These lines look alike on an invoice but are treated differently, and the rules are set by each state, so check yours before you send a quote.

• Sales tax on catering. In New York, a caterer's charges for the food, drinks and services for a customer's event are taxable, including rentals and supplies built into the price. Food that is only delivered, with no service after delivery, is treated as a sale of food for off-premises consumption (New York Tax Bulletin TB-ST-110).
• Service charges. The same bulletin says a caterer's service charge "is always subject to sales tax" in New York.
• Gratuities. A mandatory gratuity is not taxable in New York only if it is shown separately on the bill, called a gratuity, and paid in full to employees. Tips a customer chooses to leave are not taxable.
• Payroll. For federal purposes, the IRS says a payment is a tip only if the customer voluntarily decides to pay it and sets the amount. A service charge you add is generally treated as wages when you pay it to staff, so it goes through payroll.

If you add a service charge, say in your terms what it is for. Clients often assume a "service charge" is a tip for the staff.

What should a catering quote include?

The food-safety line is not just reassurance: the FDA Food Code, the model code that state and local health departments adopt, requires time/temperature-controlled food to be held at 135°F (57°C) or above when hot and 41°F (5°C) or below when cold (section 3-501.16). Plan the chafers, ice and delivery time around it.

What does catering ordering software cost?

If clients order catering online, the software's fee is another cost line. Some platforms charge a percentage on each catering order: ChowNow, for example, says it "charges a 5% fee per catering order placed through your direct channel" (ChowNow FAQ, 6 July 2026). On a $1,500 order that is $75, or $1.25 a guest in the example above, so put it in the price or the overhead line. Our list of catering ordering software scores six US platforms on cost, catering-order fees, contract and POS links, with the dates of their prices.

How Menuthere helps

Menuthere is an ordering platform with 0% commission. It is not a full catering system, but it covers the simple, high-volume end of catering: trays, boxed lunches and party orders that customers order ahead.

• Scheduled pre-orders. From the Lite plan ($17 a month), customers pick a date and time at checkout. You set how much notice you need, how far ahead they can book and the slots you offer (Prebooking settings).
• Dishes that need notice. You can make specific dishes, such as party trays, bookable only in advance, with the days they're made, while the rest of the menu orders as normal (Lite).
• A minimum order. Set the smallest delivery order you'll take, so a single sandwich doesn't trigger a delivery run.
• Free pricing and paperwork tools: the catering price calculator, the catering quote maker and the catering invoice template, with no sign-up.

What Menuthere does not do: there is no catering module with headcounts, deposits, invoice terms or event orders (BEOs). For full-service events, quote and invoice with the tools above, or compare the platforms in the catering ordering software list. For more on taking catering orders online, see online ordering for catering and Menuthere for catering.

Take catering pre-orders on your own page, with 0% commission.

Create your free ordering page

For pricing the rest of your menu, see how to price menu items, the food cost percentage guide and the restaurant profit margin guide. The food cost calculator checks a single dish.