Catering With Your Cart

One of the most asked questions involves catering.  How much do I charge to cater?  The following is an excerpt from the book/course "hot dogs saved my life" available online for less than $10.00

excerpt from Chapter 9:

Catering benefits include having a set time for the job

and usually a set price, which means you know what

you are going to make before you begin. One hot

dogger wrote me about his ten-year stint at a car

dealership. He worked every Saturday for a flat rate of

$600, his take home about $420. Not bad for one day

of work.

You will get the occasional, “Can you do my little

Johnny’s birthday party?” Remember, it will take the

same effort to set up and clean up after serving thirty

hot dogs to some children, as it would if you served 

400 dogs to an office party. 

I don’t do the little parties

and I have a minimum I charge. Your minimum may

be different but, whatever it is, stick to it.

You can determine your minimum with a little simple

math: figure what the minimum you are willing to do

the job or event. Let’s say it’s $150. Remember, you

will have set up and clean up, and you will probably

only want to agree to one hour there for that fee.

Divide the $150 by $5.00 (or whatever price you

decide to charge for your meal). In this case, 150 ÷ 5

= 30.

Add it all up and there is your minimum. Costs per

meal can vary depending on whether you are serving

eight-year olds or eighteen-year-olds.

I use this method to calculate any catering:

I want to bring in the same as if I had sold 100 meals.

My meal price is $5.00, and I give them a $1 discount

($4.00) and my minimum is $400. This covers up to

100 meals (two dogs, drink and chips). This

guarantees you a $400 income, less your costs of

about 32%. You actually profit about $280. Keep in

mind, if they get a larger turn out than expected, let

them know up front that you will prorate the

additional meals at the same rate.

I am very fair when it comes to doing this. I don’t

count all the drinks they take, I don’t worry about the

guy who ate five hot dogs; I just simply serve food and

let them have fun.

Let’s say I bring 300 buns – that’s 100 extra, and I

know I will use approximately 200. When I finish the

event/party, I will quickly count my buns. If I have

eighty left, I don’t worry about the extra twenty. But,

if I have seventy left, I charge for ten extra meals. I

essentially give them a fudge factor of twenty meals for

those big eaters or that kid who drank twelve

Mountain Dews. Most of the time, the person hiring

you will overestimate the turnout; if they estimate 200

people, I will charge them $800. If they use less, I

keep the difference. I don’t verbally price it to them at

$4.00 a meal. I base it on the number of potential

people. In the example above, that is $4.00 per

person.

Is that clear as mud now? Good.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.