Backstory: We're looking to just do hors d'oeuvres, but the pricing on the first catering company my mom found has the per-person listing at $7.50 (for two hot, three cold). Does this seem expensive, or am I just not used to spending this much money? :)
Also, this may be a dumb question, but is there any kind of vendor that just sets up food that you've made?
I don't know of any kind of vendor that just sets up food that you've made. You might contact your local community college or high school and see if you can hire students to do that kind of thing? Are you looking for someone just to set up and keep trays full, or someone to actually pass trays?
Actually, and depending on the appetizers you can select from and the actual number of pieces, $7.50 per head sounds like a pretty good price. Every place we looked at counted a "per person" serving as two pieces, so with two hot and three cold you should be looking at ten pieces per person, which is a fair amount of food.
We spent a little less than that on the appetizers (both for the reception and for the RD), but we served dinner as well, so only needed to give people a little something to snack on during the cocktail hour. The dinner itself was $23 - $25 per head, and with appetizers our grand total came to $30 per head.
Often bartending companies also offer serving staff services. They may be able to act as "butlers" passing around hors d'oeuvres you have made on trays.
Typically, when you're doing a passed app hour they tell you to estimate 6 apps per guest so 10 per guest is definitely going to be plenty of food. I know that our caterer has options ranging from $1.50 a piece up to $3.00 a piece depending on the type of app. Any app with meat will be around $2/piece, so it sounds like you're actually getting a good deal!
Catering costs are totally dependent upon your region. Your best bet, to see how this price stacks up in comparison to others in your area, is to get other quotes for similar items. Then you can tell if that is reasonable, or even a great deal, for your area.
What's "normal" for a per-person catering cost?
Backstory: We're looking to just do hors d'oeuvres, but the pricing on the first catering company my mom found has the per-person listing at $7.50 (for two hot, three cold). Does this seem expensive, or am I just not used to spending this much money? :)
Also, this may be a dumb question, but is there any kind of vendor that just sets up food that you've made?
posted by ladyjane 14 posts 2 months agoI don't know of any kind of vendor that just sets up food that you've made. You might contact your local community college or high school and see if you can hire students to do that kind of thing? Are you looking for someone just to set up and keep trays full, or someone to actually pass trays?
Actually, and depending on the appetizers you can select from and the actual number of pieces, $7.50 per head sounds like a pretty good price. Every place we looked at counted a "per person" serving as two pieces, so with two hot and three cold you should be looking at ten pieces per person, which is a fair amount of food.
We spent a little less than that on the appetizers (both for the reception and for the RD), but we served dinner as well, so only needed to give people a little something to snack on during the cocktail hour. The dinner itself was $23 - $25 per head, and with appetizers our grand total came to $30 per head.
posted by suzanno 1,955 posts 2 months agoOften bartending companies also offer serving staff services. They may be able to act as "butlers" passing around hors d'oeuvres you have made on trays.
posted by RyanT 70 posts 2 months agoTypically, when you're doing a passed app hour they tell you to estimate 6 apps per guest so 10 per guest is definitely going to be plenty of food. I know that our caterer has options ranging from $1.50 a piece up to $3.00 a piece depending on the type of app. Any app with meat will be around $2/piece, so it sounds like you're actually getting a good deal!
posted by mschampagne 54 posts 2 months ago7.50 per head is CHEAP. I'm from Michigan, and looking to do the same thing for my wedding in a rural area was going to run me around 27.00 per head.
posted by maureen9004 256 posts 2 months agoCatering costs are totally dependent upon your region. Your best bet, to see how this price stacks up in comparison to others in your area, is to get other quotes for similar items. Then you can tell if that is reasonable, or even a great deal, for your area.
posted by CarolineG 284 posts 2 months ago