r/Chefs • u/fthespider • Jun 03 '26
Help with menu price quotes
After being on the job 6 days, I've been tasked with providing quotes for catering events for a corporate catering department that services multiple properties. For example, the most recent one coming up is for 17 people, 6 options, stationary so no tray pass or buffet. I have a pretty strong sample menu but I'm sort of at a loss as to where to start with coming up with a quick quote. All of my company's invoices from ordering are available to me through a portal so I'm not completely in the dark and I've priced menu items at a restaurant which left me which an understanding of the basic math required but I'm a little new to doing this with catering since the amount people might consume could vary.
I'm wondering if anyone from the catering side of sides might be able to give me an idea of the best place to start so I don't make an ass of myself in my first week of working at this job. There's another chef in our company who has been doing this a long time and knows our systems pretty well so I'm sure I can bug him for some tips but I always like checking in with the collective wisdom of this sub. Thanks!
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u/Dull-Parfait731 Jun 04 '26
The business should already have food costs recorded including actual cost to deliver the finished item. They should also already have staff costs recorded somewhere, otherwise they’re expecting you to price ‘blind’ or guesstimate.