Fordguy1987
MemberGot rid of the matchlight.
I’m doing a banquet for 80-100 people. I plan on doing pulled pork, chicken quarters, baked beans and Mac and cheese. What would you guys charge for this. I was thinking 10-12 dollars a head. Thanks
Price quote
- Thread starter Fordguy1987
- Start date
SmoothBoarBBQ
is Blowin Smoke!
It depends on whether you're doing it legally or just something "under the table." Generally I made decent money (but not amazing) calculating my food costs and tripling that as a final price.
Make sure you calculate everything down to the penny ; it sounds kind of intense but otherwise things on the backend will dig into your ability to make any money. Rubs, BBQ sauce (how many flavors, sauce bottles, etc), wood / charcoal, plates, meat, buns, forks/knives/spoons, napkins, plates or trays, drinks, etc. If you're doing it legally make sure you also include your insurance, any fees paid out to the venue / location, credit card fees incurred, and taxes collected (city, county, and state).
As far as food costs goes it also depends on how is this being served? If you're catering (ie NOT a buffet) then you've got a pretty good control on how much food each person gets. 1/2Lb raw usually equates to about 1/4Lb fully cooked, and that's a good portion. You could get away with a bit less since you're doing 2 meats and 2 very starchy sides.
If you are doing a buffet style then your only option is to have smaller serving spoons as that will reduce the chance of people over-serving themselves. Put your sides up front to let people load up on those, and this will keep their portion sizes for meat a bit smaller. When it comes to a buffet you'll need to control the number of plates available, or you're almost guaranteed to run out of food. If they say 100 max then have 100 plates (+ about 10% for accidents / broken plates), and if they want more plates you'll need to increase your charge.
I know this is extra work but just throwing out a number of $10-12 doesn't really reflect every situation. When I was running my BBQ food truck I was doing 2 meats, 2 sides, and a drink for $12. This worked well on Pulled Pork / Chicken drumstick days, but didn't work so well on Rib / Brisket days.
Make sure you calculate everything down to the penny ; it sounds kind of intense but otherwise things on the backend will dig into your ability to make any money. Rubs, BBQ sauce (how many flavors, sauce bottles, etc), wood / charcoal, plates, meat, buns, forks/knives/spoons, napkins, plates or trays, drinks, etc. If you're doing it legally make sure you also include your insurance, any fees paid out to the venue / location, credit card fees incurred, and taxes collected (city, county, and state).
As far as food costs goes it also depends on how is this being served? If you're catering (ie NOT a buffet) then you've got a pretty good control on how much food each person gets. 1/2Lb raw usually equates to about 1/4Lb fully cooked, and that's a good portion. You could get away with a bit less since you're doing 2 meats and 2 very starchy sides.
If you are doing a buffet style then your only option is to have smaller serving spoons as that will reduce the chance of people over-serving themselves. Put your sides up front to let people load up on those, and this will keep their portion sizes for meat a bit smaller. When it comes to a buffet you'll need to control the number of plates available, or you're almost guaranteed to run out of food. If they say 100 max then have 100 plates (+ about 10% for accidents / broken plates), and if they want more plates you'll need to increase your charge.
I know this is extra work but just throwing out a number of $10-12 doesn't really reflect every situation. When I was running my BBQ food truck I was doing 2 meats, 2 sides, and a drink for $12. This worked well on Pulled Pork / Chicken drumstick days, but didn't work so well on Rib / Brisket days.
