Catering quote calculator

Build a catering quote from your real costs: food, staff time, rentals and delivery. You get the total to quote and the price per head at your target margin. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

Guests Food cost per head ($) Staff hours (all staff) Hourly rate ($) Rentals ($) Delivery ($) Target margin %

Staff hours are the total for everyone, e.g. 3 people × 8 hours = 24. Quote = total cost ÷ (1 − margin).

Need a solid food cost per head first? The Recipe Cost Workbook keeps one ingredient price list for every recipe, handles kg/g, l/ml and dozen, and adds labor, packaging and overhead. $12, instant .xlsx download.

How it works

Total cost = guests × food cost per head + staff hours × hourly rate + rentals + delivery. Quote = total cost ÷ (1 − margin). Price per head = quote ÷ guests.

Worked example (the values above): food is 50 × $9 = $450, staff is 24 × $18 = $432, plus $250 rentals and $60 delivery, so the total cost is $1,192. At a 30% margin the quote is $1,192 ÷ 0.70 = $1,702.86, or $34.06 per head.

Check whether your quote needs tax, deposits or a service charge added on top; this calculator leaves them out. To work out food cost per head from a recipe, use the free recipe cost calculator. See also more calculators.