Driving a hard Bargain with your Caterer may not always benefit you!

From Weddings to Anniversaries, from Birthday celebrations to Corporate parties, there is no denying the fact that the most important and exciting ingredient in all these ceremonies is the food. To have a perfect party the food needs to be perfect. However good food costs money! And no wonder your catering budget may take up a significant portion of your total budget. Therefore the urge to negotiate a hard bargain with your caterer is understandable.

Relying on your instincts, you feel starting the bargain @ 50% of the quoted price is logical, much like your local grocer. And you will start feeling ecstatic as you would close the discussion with Best caterers in Kolkata at somewhere close to 25% less than the quoted price without compromising on the menu spread. But hold on! You may have bitten more than you can chew unknowingly!

It would be advisable that even before you start on the process of bargaining, some idea on the fair value of the catering arrangements are necessary! And this is where Event management companies in Kolkata can play an important role.

Here are some pointers that will help you to grasp the factors that contribute to your catering costs.

Catering is not only about food

Contrary to the general perception, the per plate price quoted by the caterer includes not only the price of food which usually contributes to more than 60% of the input costs but also the “Presentation” costs which includes the types of cutlery used and decorative items used to create the right ambience for your occasion.

Another factor that contributes to the cost is the cost of “Service”. It is apparent that to deliver service, adequately trained manpower is a must! Needless to say, more qualified the service personnel higher is the cost.

Seasonality

It is important to remember that some of the food items are seasonal and price can be substantially higher in case order is placed during off-seasons. Take for example Hilsa, a bengali delicacy and is available in plenty during the months of July and August however the bengali wedding season generally spans between the months of November to February I.e the winter months when the supply of Hilsa reduces to a trickle and price goes through the roof. Obviously the same menu card will get priced differently due to seasonality.

Number of Guests

It is logical that your caterer would calculate your menu price based on the guaranteed number of guests. It is possible for the same menu, the price might be somewhat different for different number of headcounts. For example, if a particular menu gets priced @ 1100 INR for 200 pax, might be priced @ 1000 INR for 500 pax and might be priced @ 880 INR for 1000 pax and vice-versa. The main reason for this phenomenon is economies of scale.

However it is important to note that the price will not be coming down indefinitely as the head-count increases! The reason being, catering prices have both fixed and variable components! While the variable costs do vary with head-counts but fixed costs tends to remain constant and therefore there is a limit to which the price of a menu would vary against varying head-count.

Venue Location

Based on whether your venue is located within the city limits or is in a remote place, determines the transportation cost of the vendor. In case the venue is far away from the city or does not have a good market nearby, the raw material sourcing can get expensive impacting the menu price. This may be particularly true for Destination Weddings.

A fair margin of profitability is important

It is important to realize that the vendor is in the Catering business to generate a fair return. In the current competitive market scenario, the fair profitability ranges between 20% to 30% though for certain branded caterers, the profitability can be as high as 50%.

However when the caterer gets squeezed during negotiations, sometimes desperate caterer might agree to some rates which is not rational. And then they do a reverse calculation and work out the cost of raw-materials and service and cutlery that is possible in order to retain their margin. The impact of this primarily affects the procurement of raw-material which contributes to the lion share on input costs resulting in procurement of lesser quantity than that ought to have been procured. Surprisingly the logic works the same way true for both branded and non-branded caterers.

As the D-day arrives, you may find that some of the non-veg food counters going empty between 8.45pm to 9.30pm which is the peak time for food consumption. The service personnel would continue to insist that food is on the way but will never appear soon. So the poor guest will wait for 15mins to 20 mins and would give up and probably move on to the next items or desserts. But surprisingly before a hue and cry is raised, the items appear once again @ 9.30 pm.

Let’s take a relook

Now let us take a step back and analyze what has happened. We know because of the hard negotiation the caterer has procured less of the costly non-veg items and saved cost on raw-materials. So it is apparent that the caterers’ non-veg items will not be able to cater to all the guests and probably 25% to 35% guests would not be served those items. However in the buffet setup, how is this done without creating a ruckus.

The caterer knows that consumption of food primarily happens between 7.30pm to 10.30pm and prime time for consumption is between 8.30pm to 10pm. So the caterer stops the replenishment of the costly non-veg items for about 45 mins and accomplishes his mission in a polished way.

Feeling apprehensive! Help is at hand! Just connect to Holydelights – the best wedding planner in Kolkata and leave the rest on them. They have the best caterers in kolkata working for them offering great quality at reasonable price.