Am I asking the impossible? (catering)

MCmeow

Hi everyone! I've posted here a few times in the past and lurked the boards. Me and my fiance got engaged in July and we decided to have a wedding on a Friday in May 2017. It's far away but I've been excited to start planning, and started all kinds of research.

We figured out the budget and most of our guest list. We have narrowed down a few lesser known venues that are pretty and very cheap for NYC standards. But now I'm getting nervous about what the catering costs may end up as. I know it's too early but I think it's good to expect how much we may end up paying.

We went to a vendor event in prospect park and emailed a caterer afterwards, we loved their food so much. (The only low budget caterer had food that tasted like refrigerator)

Anyway we got an email back stating that they work with all budgets and listed average per person prices, food a minimum of $60, buffet staffing a minimum of $35, and china/silverware/linen rentals from a different vendor going through them for a minimum of $40 among other costs for a minimum of $150 per person for a buffet service, not including taxes and gratuity.

In my culture, not giving guests a full meal is a huge etiquette no-no so a cocktail reception is not an option.
Using this caterer I mentioned as an example do they truly work with all budgets and are able to lower their costs?
Our budget is max 20k, and we are inviting about 100 guests. Our top choice venue is $3200. We're not worried about other wedding costs because of family friends in certain businesses. It's really just the food that scares me.

jacques27

Well, over half your budget should be dedicated to the reception. I've seen recommendations of 60-70%.

Whether that caterer can work with any budget for 100 isn't something we can tell you. Sometimes that just means they are willing to take smaller or more casual gigs like an office meeting continental breakfast or informal holiday party, because lots of people think caterers are only willing to take on big, formal affairs. But they can likely work with you to an extent. You also have to have reasonable expectations. No caterer can provide you with filet and lobster for 15 a head. You can probably negotiate some of the rentals to exclude things that aren't necessities.

If you refuse to budge on the full meal, there are ways to lower costs.

1. Reduce the guest list.
2. Do brunch or lunch instead of dinner (it is still a full meal and generally cheaper than dinner).
3. Seek out restaurants and delis who have catering menus instead of dedicated caterers. You may have to seperately hire wait staff and coordinate rentals, but if you shop around you can probably find deals and eliminate costs of things you don't truly need. Italian and Indian cuisines are very buffet friendly and generally pretty cost effective. BBQ and Mexican food can also be pretty cost effective.
4. If your total also includes bar costs, then have a dry wedding or only offer wine and beer.

I'm sure there are others, but that's a start at least.

GlamQueenBride

In NYC, that may be the best you can do outside an all-inclusive. Just to give you an idea, I'm in New England and my catering cost at an all-inclusive place is only $125 per person and that includes an open bar. There are venues in Boston that are all-inclusive for that price or less. You just have to look around. But with a guest list of 100 people, I'd look at less expensive venues and/or venues that are more than just the space.

dalm0m

Forget anybody who advertises as at a wedding "show" of any sort.  Remove the words wedding & marriage from your vocabulary.  Say party.  Check out places like your local pizzeria or one of the many cooking school in NYC.  When vendors hear wedding they automatically jack up the price because they think they can guilt you into spending more because of the psychology of the once in a life time event. 

MCmeow

You guys are completely right. I'm going to start looking at restaurants that don't specifically do weddings and sometime in the future I'll ask that "dream caterer" what can be done. Just in case.

GlamQueenBride

dalm0m said:

Forget anybody who advertises as at a wedding "show" of any sort.  Remove the words wedding & marriage from your vocabulary.  Say party.  Check out places like your local pizzeria or one of the many cooking school in NYC.  When vendors hear wedding they automatically jack up the price because they think they can guilt you into spending more because of the psychology of the once in a life time event. 

I disagree with this. You can't rent out a venue or hire catering for a "party" and expect that there won't be consequences when they find out it's actually a wedding.

MesmrEwe

dalm0m said:

Forget anybody who advertises as at a wedding "show" of any sort.  Remove the words wedding & marriage from your vocabulary.  Say party.  Check out places like your local pizzeria or one of the many cooking school in NYC.  When vendors hear wedding they automatically jack up the price because they think they can guilt you into spending more because of the psychology of the once in a life time event. 

Any vendor worth a tinker's damn doesn't jack up their prices just because of the word "wedding".  A ham sandwich costs the same, it's when it's turned into a gourmet version that it gets cost added.  Same for cake.  A flat circle with the words Happy Birthday on it doesn't take as much skill as stacking and delivering a stacked work of art - which has a cost associated with it whether it says "Happy Birthday" or for a wedding.  The same work gets charged the same amount.  A pizza delivery is a drop and go, a wedding pizza delivery involves a staff person sticking around to tidy things up, which has a cost.  You get paid for your level of work, it has nothing to do with the word "Wedding" being attached to it. 

MCmeow

MesmrEwe said:

dalm0m said:

Forget anybody who advertises as at a wedding "show" of any sort.  Remove the words wedding & marriage from your vocabulary.  Say party.  Check out places like your local pizzeria or one of the many cooking school in NYC.  When vendors hear wedding they automatically jack up the price because they think they can guilt you into spending more because of the psychology of the once in a life time event. 

Any vendor worth a tinker's damn doesn't jack up their prices just because of the word "wedding".  A ham sandwich costs the same, it's when it's turned into a gourmet version that it gets cost added.  Same for cake.  A flat circle with the words Happy Birthday on it doesn't take as much skill as stacking and delivering a stacked work of art - which has a cost associated with it whether it says "Happy Birthday" or for a wedding.  The same work gets charged the same amount.  A pizza delivery is a drop and go, a wedding pizza delivery involves a staff person sticking around to tidy things up, which has a cost.  You get paid for your level of work, it has nothing to do with the word "Wedding" being attached to it. 

Ok this makes more sense, as the daughter of a baker I should know that. ●︿●

frenchiekin

Ditto PP about looking into restaurants that do event catering on the side.  We had the same situation (venue was just the space, needed to bring everything else in), and we spent a lot of time searching for caterers.  Once we started thinking about our favorite restaurants and looking into whether they also did events, we realized their costs tended to be MUCH more reasonable than true caterers, where events are their bread and butter... and for a restaurant, the few weddings and events they do on the side is gravy, so to speak.  Definitely worth checking out!

blueeyedkat

Also, verify with the venues if they have a preferred/mandatory vendor list or not. If they have a list, then you're strictly restricted to using one of their associated vendors, for everything. If not, then you're free to vendor price.

I looked into venues with and without the lists. I found that while venues with the lists may be cheaper, the catering companies from the lists will charge a hefty price per person, so any savings you get from the venue will be eaten up by the caterer. So then I decided to completely exclude any venues with lists preferred/required vendor lists.

Create a spreadsheet (I use google drive - it's a lifesaver), and start breaking it down: how many people invited (use that as your basic number when getting quotes), how many adults and kids, how many do/don't drink alcohol. Then when you request quotes from caterers, ask for price per person for a specific menu choice, if they have different rates for children, if they can do alcohol and/or dessert, what is the time frame that the price gets you (set up, service, clean up), what is the tipping percentage and if that is included in the total or you have to do that separately day of, is there a corkage fee, dessert fee, other? Linens and dinnerware included? What kind of equipment do they bring in. How many people will be arriving? Put all that info into your spreadsheet, each column being a separate vendor, and the rows being all the categories above. That is an easy way to keep track of prices, notes, and comparison from each vendor.