Knowing your cost per head is half the job. The other half is turning that cost into a menu the client chooses from, a quote they sign, and terms that get you paid — without the slow leak of scope creep that turns a profitable booking into a break-even favour. Costing is arithmetic. Pricing a menu is arithmetic plus the structure that protects the number once a real client starts asking for changes.
Start where costing ended
This piece assumes you already have a true cost per head — food, labour, rentals, overhead, stacked honestly. If you do not, start there: a quote built on a soft cost is a soft quote. The catering cost per head stack is the foundation everything below sits on. With that number in hand, the question becomes: how do you turn cost into price, and price into a menu a client can buy?
Margin and markup are not the same number
This is the error that quietly underprices half the catering quotes written. Markup is added on top of cost. Margin is a share of the final price. They produce different numbers from the same cost, and confusing them costs you points of profit on every job.
Take a $78 cost per head. A "30% markup" gives $78 × 1.30 = $101.40, and your actual margin on that price is only 23%. A "30% margin" gives $78 ÷ 0.70 = $111.43. Same cost, same headline "30%", nearly ten dollars a head apart — $600 on a 60-cover event. Decide which one you mean, and quote in margin: it is the number that tells you what you actually keep.
Build three tiers, not one price
A single price is a yes-or-no question, and "no" loses the whole booking. Three tiers turn it into "which one" — a question with no losing answer. The classic structure:
| Tier | What changes |
|---|---|
| Essential | A complete, honest menu at your floor margin — the price that protects you, nothing stripped to look cheap |
| Signature | The one most clients pick: better proteins, an extra course, a little more service. Your target margin lives here |
| Premium | Showpiece menu, top proteins, full service. High margin, and it makes Signature look reasonable by comparison |
The middle tier is where the business is, and the top tier earns its place even when nobody buys it — it is the anchor that makes the Signature price feel like the sensible choice. Most catering clients do not want the cheapest option; they want to feel they chose well. Tiers let them.
Price the add-ons separately — on purpose
Everything that is not the core per-head menu is a line item, named and priced: extra canapé rounds, a grazing table, late-night food, cake cutting, staffing beyond the standard ratio, travel beyond a set radius, equipment hire. Two reasons this matters. First, it keeps your per-head number clean and comparable. Second — the important one — it gives you something to say when the client adds to the event after you quoted.
The proposal is part of the price
How you present the number changes whether it is accepted. A bare figure invites haggling; a structured proposal sells the value behind it. A catering proposal that holds its price has, at minimum:
- The menu, written to tempt — this is the marketing document, not the kitchen's costed version
- Per-head price × guest count, with the guaranteed-count basis stated plainly
- Itemised extras — the named add-ons, so changes have a price already attached
- What is included, explicitly — staffing, service, basic rentals — so "I assumed that was in there" cannot happen
- Deposit, payment schedule, and the guarantee deadline
- A clear acceptance line — a signature turns a proposal into a booking
Deposits and payment terms protect the margin you priced
A perfect price you collect late, or partly, is not a perfect price. Standard catering terms that keep cash flow and commitment aligned:
- Deposit to book — commonly 25–50% — non-refundable past a stated date. It secures the date and covers your early commitment of deposits to your suppliers.
- Balance due on or before the event, against the guaranteed count. Chasing a balance after the plates are cleared is the weakest negotiating position there is.
- The guarantee deadline in writing — the date the final count locks, after which the client pays for that count whether or not the guests arrive.
For the broader economics of how hospitality businesses structure pricing and revenue against cost, research from the Cornell Nolan School of Hotel Administration covers the same margin-and-revenue thinking that scales down to a one-van catering operation.
In ProChefDesk
The Event tool costs the menu against your real recipes, then lets you set itemised charges, a service-charge percentage, a deposit and a payment schedule on top — and prints a clean client proposal that hides your internal cost and profit while showing exactly what the client is paying for. The guaranteed-guest field drives the billable number. Build the quote and the kitchen production sheet from the same event. Open the app to price one.
What to do this week
- Check whether you quote in margin or markup. If it is markup, you are thinner than you think — switch.
- Turn your standard menu into three tiers. Put your target margin on the middle one.
- List your add-ons and price each. Next time a client adds to the event, you have a number ready.
- Write your deposit and guarantee terms once and put them on every proposal.
The point
Costing tells you what an event takes from you. Pricing a menu is how you turn that into a number a client chooses, signs, and pays — while protecting it from the dessert table and the extra hour that quietly eat the margin. Quote in margin, offer three tiers, price the add-ons, and put the deposit and guarantee in writing. The booking you win that way is one you actually profit from.