Methodology / worked examples
Menu Cost Desk guide
Catering cost is often distorted by yields and labor rather than a single ingredient price. Enter what one production batch actually yields, how many portions each guest needs, and who is working prep and service. The planner rounds up batches, shows leftovers, prices labor, and then applies overhead and target margin.
1. Convert guests into production batches
Required portions are guest count multiplied by portions per guest. Because production is discrete, batches round up to a whole batch and leftover portions remain visible.
Batches = ceiling(guests × portions per guest ÷ usable yield)
2. Price labor explicitly
Prep and service hours are entered per staff member for each dish line. Multiplying their sum by staff count and the blended hourly rate makes labor visible instead of hiding it in a markup.
Labor cost = (prep hours + service hours) × staff count × hourly rate
3. Quote from full event cost
Overhead is a transparent percentage of direct ingredients and labor. A contribution-margin target is applied after overhead, so the quote remains auditable when guest count or yields change.
If total event cost is $1,000 and target margin is 30%, the suggested quote is $1,000 ÷ 0.70 = $1,428.57, or $23.81 per guest for 60 guests.
Limits and assumptions
- Ingredient costs and usable yields are manual assumptions; no recipe catalog, food-cost feed, or live commodity data is used.
- This is a planning worksheet, not food-safety, allergen, nutrition, tax, payroll, or regulatory advice.
- Pricing excludes delivery, rentals, venue fees, taxes, gratuity, payment fees, and other costs unless you include them in overhead or a batch cost.