How to Read a Wedding Catering Quote - And Compare Two That Look Nothing Alike

Every week I hear from a couple who has two quotes in front of them and no idea how to compare them. One is a single line: 120 guests, £95 a head. The other is two pages of itemised everything. One of them looks cheaper. It might not be.

I write quotes for a living, so let me show you how to read one. This is not about picking us. It is about making sure you are comparing the same thing.

Step One: Find the Food Number

Every catering quote has a food cost hiding in it somewhere. Sometimes it is called the menu price, the per-head, the feast, or nothing at all. Find it, and find out what it includes.

Ask each caterer directly: is the per-head price food only, or food and service? A £95 per head that includes staff, tableware and set up is a very different number from a £95 per head that includes a plate of food and nothing else. Neither is wrong. They are just not the same.

Once you have the food-only figure from both, multiply by your guest count. That is your first honest comparison.

Step Two: List the Set Up Costs

These are the costs of getting a kitchen to your venue and running it for a day. They exist in every quote, whether or not they are written down.

• Travel and accommodation: If your venue is three hours from the caterer, someone is paying for that. Ask if it is in the per-head or on a separate line
• Kitchen and equipment hire: A field has no kitchen. Someone is bringing one. For fire cooking that means the grills, the asado cross, prep tables and hand-washing stations
• Refrigeration: A chiller trailer for 120 people's worth of meat, salad and dairy. Non-negotiable in summer
• Admin and planning: Some caterers charge for the tastings, site visits and planning calls that happen before the day. Some fold it into the per-head. Ask

Add these to the food number. Now you have the cost of the meal, delivered to your venue.

Step Three: The Third-Party Lines

Here is the thing most couples do not know: on a lot of a wedding catering quote, the caterer is not making any money. They are passing through the cost of things they have to hire on your behalf.

• Waiting staff: The people who serve your guests, clear tables and pack everything away. Usually agency staff, billed at cost
• Tableware: Crockery, cutlery, glassware, linen. Hired in, priced per head, returned dirty and washed by the hire company
• Furniture, marquees, lighting: Sometimes on the caterer's quote, sometimes on the venue's, sometimes on yours. Make sure it is on exactly one of them

When you compare two quotes, check whether these are in both. A quote without waiting staff is not cheaper. It is incomplete, and the staff will appear later.

I would rather send a quote that looks expensive and is complete than one that looks cheap and grows. Most of the difference between two wedding quotes is not the food. It is what one of them left off the page.
- Cai

Step Four: Watch for the Adjustments

Every quote has some maths that is not obvious.

• Small number surcharges: Feeding 40 people costs almost as much in staff and set up as feeding 100, so the per-head goes up for small weddings. Fair, but it should be visible
• Midweek and off-season discounts: If you are getting married on a Wednesday in November, ask. We take money off for both
• Children: Usually a lower rate. Check whether they are counted in the headline guest number
• Evening food: The late night bacon rolls are often a separate line and often forgotten until the week before
• VAT: Is the total inclusive or not? A 20% difference is the single easiest way to misread a quote

What Is Actually Different

Once you have done all of the above, you will usually find the two quotes are much closer than they first looked. What is left is the real difference: the food, the people, and whether you trust them.

That is the comparison worth making. And the way to make it is to go to the tasting with a list of questions, eat the food, and pay attention to how the caterer answers.

If you have two quotes and one of them is ours, I am happy to walk you through both. Honestly. Drop me a line.