Catering job for 80-100 need help please!!!

How many people are you feeding approximately? If unclear, you may want to price by the lb. YMMV!

15 per with no bells and whistles and extra labor off the top of my head.

Around here I'd charge at least double my food cost. Are they reselling this meat or is for a special party? If a party I'd charge the usual price. If for resale I would at least double my costs.
I usually get $9 per pound for pulled pork. I'd haven't done loin but the price is pretty good so I think I'd charge $9 for the loin, too. I usually get $18 per slab for ribs. I don't charge for sauce but I'd think you should be able to get $10-12 per quart.

If for resale and was pretty sure of follow-on business I'd look at $6 for the pork butt and loin and $12 per slab for the ribs. They cost me about $7 per slab raw right now so that's where I'm basing that cost.

So, depends on what the customer wants and is expecting. If it's a straight up catering, charge your usual per pound/slab.

Are you serving or just supplying meat to the restaurant? If just supplying then I would sell it by the Lb.

FYI, I have been doing these gigs for a long time. Never consider lowballing to get future business. Folks looking for the low bid will always be looking for the low bid. Price it to make money or let someone else lose. If you do the job cheap remember that you probably just took money from someone who does this for a living and screwed the market up a bit. Just something to consider.

You will find that there is a lot of prep time involved with bigger jobs. I try to make good money and figure my time is worth $1000 per day unless for a relative then it's free. You need to ask yourself, "what are you worth?"

Pulled Pork is easy, it's like set it and forget it and pull when it's done, you almost can't mess up. Loin can get dry in a hurry so consider that you have to pay attention to that a little bit more.

Now the ribs..... they can be a bear, you need to keep an eye on them then you need to remember they can cost a few bucks. When I have done ribs and I try not too if I can help it, I will usually cook based on case lots which are usually 12-15 racks per case. I always go with cases of St. Louis cut because trimming yourself turns into a long project when you got a lot to do.

In the end, my question about what are you worth needs to be considered. Good luck.

$12 / pound @ 1/3# per head here.

jbrink01 said:

$12 / pound @ 1/3# per head here.

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so $4 per person?

Muzzlebrake said:

so $4 per person?

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Meat Only, dropped off cold. No nothing with it.

jbrink01 said:

Meat Only, dropped off cold. No nothing with it.

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Unless it's more than 15 miles then I add for travel.

tony76248 said:

FYI, I have been doing these gigs for a long time. Never consider lowballing to get future business. Folks looking for the low bid will always be looking for the low bid. Price it to make money or let someone else lose. If you do the job cheap remember that you probably just took money from someone who does this for a living and screwed the market up a bit. Just something to consider.

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I think Tony misunderstood what I was saying. I was not advocating "low balling" a bid. I was thinking in terms of a realistic long-term relationship. You cannot sell retail to another retail establishment. I've talked with a lot of folks that tried to work in this area and nearly all said they would NOT do it again.

That's why I worded my response like I did. I agree that if this is for a party, a one time deal, go full bore. I'm sure they'd charge you full price for their products. Food cost is food cost and they can't buy at "retail" price and mark up to a realistic price.

That's all I was sayin'. :-D

I knew what you were saying, I didn't think you were attempting to low ball. I just got off track and was rambling. :doh: