Are we supposed to pay for food tasting?

vwhitney2107 · May 2011

I have no idea what the right answer is here. My FI and I have already booked the reception site. It will be held at a restaurant in their banquet room. We will be going in next week for food tasting so that we can finalize the dinner menu. There will be 6-8 of us going. We were just told that they will be charging us full price for the food tasting. Which is close to $500 for a full 8 course meal! My FI said that was outrageous and he won't pay that much to taste the food. They said it's because it's special occasion food that the restaurant doesn't make on a daily basis. They then offered to let us taste the food for half the price...which still seams pretty steap to me. But maybe I'm wrong....is it normal to have to pay so much to taste the wedding reception food?? I wasn't expecting it to be free but I also wasn't expecting to pay an arm and leg.

Wiscisbliss · May 2011

Look at your contract. If it doesn't specify that it is free, then you'll have to pay.

$500/8 people is about $62 per person for 8 courses... that doesn't seem that bad. If they cut it in half, that is only $31 per person.

If you want to cut the cost, then only have a few people go to the tasting (ie the people paying for it).

Amandarose531 · May 2011

I agree with PP, while I know it's nice to have a bunch of opinions that is quite a lot of money to fork over.

If you two are paying, I'd take your FI and FMIL, and your mom - at least men in our families don't care about food tasting anyway.

If that isn't the case, take your FI and whoever is contributing to the food budget (godmother/aunts/etc.)

We didn't pay anything for an insane amount of cake - over 8 flavors, but cake and meals are a little different, we're also self catering so that's nothing i'm familiar with.

jessicabessica · May 2011

8 people for the tasting seems like a lot to me, so I think $250--you said they offered to halve it--isn't bad. If they gave you a "free" tasting, it would probably actually be included somewhere else in what you're paying them.

Our reception venue is an inn that has a restaurant, so when we were looking at the inn, they treated us to lunch in their restaurant so we could get a feel for their chef's work (they don't do an actual tasting since they use local, seasonal foods). I think that was part of their sales pitch, though.

HYDROPHILE · May 2011

A tasting by our caterer was $150 for two people.
Going to the caterer's restaurant and having the same exact meal was $45.

Guess what we chose?

031107 · May 2011

Holy cow - 8 people are going to your tasting? Why? Our reception site had a strict limit of 4 people for the tasting. That was plenty of people (myself, DH, mom and MIL). We were going to pick what we liked anyway so it could have been just the 2 of us really.

Now, about your post, for what you are getting (let alone the fact you are brining 8 people) I think the price is fair.

vwhitney2107 · May 2011

Ok, so it sounds like the price is about what I should expect. I won't freak out over it then, haha. The reason why we are taking so many people...well it will probably be closer to 5 or 6 but that includes myself and my FI, his parents, his aunt, and my son. My parents were going to come as well but they won't be able to make it. His parents and aunt feel that they have to be there because we are hosting a Cambodian/American reception and the food is very important to them. It's different with Cambodian wedding receptions...his side of the family is inviting 200 Cambodians to the reception only (which is their custom) and they need to make sure the food is "good" enough in a sense.

arrabelle · May 2011

we paid $100 for our tasting and then $50 of it goes towards the catering bill. (which will pay for like 15 chair rentals but whatever, it's money!)

agree with pp's, for how many people you're bringing that is reasonable. our caterer even needed us to set up a "tasting menu" several days in advance so they could shop for all the ingredients. and it was SO MUCH FOOD. they boxed up leftovers for us and we had 2 full meals out of it!

we also wanted our family's opinion since we're doing cultural food too. but, we did the tasting ourselves and brought them goodie bags.

make sure YOU like the food too, not just your relatives!

Allycat11 · May 2011

As others said, check your contract. Many include it but others charge for it. It is an incredible deal that they are only charging you 250 for 8 people. Our tasting is included for a max of 4 people and we have the chance to sample 3apps, 2 salads and 3 entrees as well as sides. Because it is a tasting, food will be split and we have a chance to sample a few options before finalizing our menu.

katiedidthat · May 2011

Ours was included for 2 people, but anyone more than that and we had to pay menu price. We also had to schedule it for an off-time at the restaurant if we wanted to do more than 2 people. Our cake tasting however, we had to pay for, but its deducted off our final contract since we booked with their bakery.

arrabelle · May 2011

i was just thinking about this again and - what if you had dinner with 8 people at a restaurant where they served you a several course menu with multiple varieties of each course? i'd think that would be way more than $250!

so i think you're actually getting a good deal for a night out, so long as they're not splitting typical tasting portions 6 or 8 ways!

have fun!

unplainjane · May 2011

we had to pay for our tasting. that's fine to bring 8 people but they don't all have to have an entree. it's a "tasting" not a meal. the idea of the tasting is to test the food not to host a full meal for 8 people. so each of you can have a taste of the food and give feedback to your caterer on the food.

cmp1986 · May 2011

We didn't have to pay. But every venue is different. Some places (like yours) doesn't make the food on a regular basis, so they might have to charge something to be able to provide you with a tasting.

Ljacks87 · June 2011

That seems steep at first glance. As PP said, check your contract to see of there's anything about this subject. I'm also wondering if each person gets a full meal and that's why it's so much $$. Maybe they would work with you to try 2 or 3 entrees (not provide a full meal for 8 people) and cut you a better deal.

Our testing was free. There was no limit of people that could attend, but they only provided us one plate of 3 different entrees of our choice (ie: we were not each provided a full meal). Since I'm OOT, the only say I could do it was Christmas Eve and the Chef was willing to work with us on that.

ButterflyChickadee · June 2011

I am sorry any and all of you had to pay for a tasting. That's crazy. My fiance and I do catering in with our other busy life things we are doing, and we don't make our brides/grooms, etc pay for the tasting. It's as if we are having guests to dinner with us, I wouldn't make my guests pay. That's like having a family dinner and charging your aunts and uncles for their presence. I'm sorry if you have had to deal with that. MY fiance and I are afraid we may have to pay to do that with our own wedding. Hopefully our friends we know may cater for us who work in the same business we do. What's your take on this? And what all were they offering you all for tasting? Was it even a full meal or just a 'taste'?

Are we supposed to pay for food tasting?

Re: Are we supposed to pay for food tasting?

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