The venue I am using does a separate space and food contract (but you have to use their chef - no outside caterers). We went over the costs in detail during the first meeting (all spoken). We signed the venue contract and paid our deposit. Then we came up with the menu and they sent us a cost.
They tacked on an 18% Historic Preservation Fee to the food. THE FOOD?! This makes no sense to me as that fee would be related to the venue, not the buffet. Is this legal??!! Can you just make up fees to increase profit?
I kind of feel like they put it on the food because I had already signed the other contract and they knew I couldn't just walk away. The venue contract included an itemized bill including a tax breakdown. No weird fees on that one.