Catering Pricing Calculator
Use this catering pricing calculator to add your menu cost per guest, staff hours, rentals and travel, and get a price per head and a quote total. It's free, needs no signup and runs in your browser. Every cost of the event is counted before the margin, so the quote pays you.
Calculator
Per head —Quote —All results ↓Your menu, costed for you
Skip the typing: recipe photo to cost card
Snap a photo of each recipe, paste a link from Instagram, TikTok or YouTube, or dictate it. FoodTechGuru builds the cost card for you, with ingredient prices for your country, prep and cooking loss, and a Google Sheet with the cost per portion you need here.
- New accounts get 15 free credits; one recipe uses one credit
- Cost per serving, margin at your price, and nutrition per recipe
- iPhone today, Android coming
How to price catering per person
- Food cost per guest: each dish's cost per portion × portions per guest, added up.
- Food for the event: × guests, plus overage so the buffet never runs dry.
- Everything else: disposables, staff hours × rate, rentals, travel.
- Quote: total cost ÷ (1 − margin). At 30%, divide by 0.70.
- Price per head: quote ÷ guests.
Example: the taco bar above has $6.84 of food per guest. For 80 guests with 5% overage, food is $574. Staff, disposables, rentals and travel bring the event to $1,197. A 30% margin makes the quote $1,710, or $21.38 a head. Food is about a third of the quote; staff is the next biggest cost.
What goes into a catering quote
Food is only part of it. Staff hours run from loading the van to the last tray washed. Rentals cover chafing dishes, tables and linens. Travel covers fuel and parking. Leave one out and it comes out of your profit. For a full catering business plan with cash flow, see the business plan generator, which has a catering format.
Catering pricing calculator FAQ
Is this catering pricing calculator free?
Yes. It is free, needs no signup and runs in your browser. Your numbers are not sent anywhere.
How do I price catering per person?
Add up the food cost per guest, then every other event cost: disposables, staff hours, rentals, travel. Divide the total by (1 minus your margin) for the quote, then by the guest count for the price per head.
Where do I get the cost per portion?
Cost each dish's recipe and divide by the portions it makes. The free recipe cost calculator does this, or the FoodTechGuru app builds the cost card from a photo of the recipe.
What is overage?
Extra food you make so the buffet never runs out. The calculator adds it to the food cost as a percentage of the planned portions.
Should the service charge be part of the price per head?
Many caterers show it as a separate line on the quote. Here it is optional and added on top of the quote, so your price per head stays clear.
Can an app cost my catering menu for me?
Yes. In FoodTechGuru for iPhone you snap a photo of each recipe, paste a link or dictate it, and the app builds the cost card with ingredient prices for your country plus a Google Sheet. New accounts get 15 free credits; one recipe uses one credit. Android is coming.
Cost your catering menu without typing
Photograph each recipe, get the cost card and the Google Sheet.
Download free on iOS