Catering

rtembe

How much should Indian catering cost per person? I feel ripped off.

Hinaj

It depends on alot of things, location, city or suburbs, day of the weddding, and what kind of a venue it is.  For example, downtown chicago is way pricier than the suburbs of chicago, Saturday is much more expensive than Sunday and different stars hotel have different prices.  Also it different here between a hotel venue than a banquet hall or something else.

Its probably best to ask some one in your area if its too much or not.  I don't know if we have anyone from Northern California, but there are a few from California on this board. 

kpwedkk

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_south-asian-weddings_paying-own-wedding-indian-parents?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Cultural%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:430Discussion:fde3dd16-154b-4ba4-bbe0-6bc4687e1212Post:93127f8f-200a-4662-af79-cc065bc1bbe5">Catering</a>:
[QUOTE]How much should Indian catering cost per person? I feel ripped off.
Posted by rtembe[/QUOTE]

I think it really depends -
- is this buffet style (low cost) or will your guests be served (pricer)?
- Is there going to be appetizers - like samosas, pakoras, chaat?
- How many dishes are you planning to have?
----  7 curries? all vegetarian?  Any meat dishes (pricer)?
---- chapati, naan, paratha, or rice, or both?
----  Is there going to be salad?
---- Condiments -  chutneys, tamrind, dahi (yogurt), cucumbers, pickle? salad dressing types?
---- Drinks - is there chai? coffee?
---- Dessert? How many - gulab jamun, kheer, something else? Are you ordering mithai from them (sweets)?
---- Is the caterer providing carafes for tea, coffee? do they provide cutlery, cups, plates, bowls, buffet serving trays, and spoons? Do they provide tables, with linen?

<u><strong>For example purposes this is what we had - all vegetarian $12 per plate.</strong></u>
For the wedding food, we made the salad, so just expenses for the salad ingredients from costco/sam's club, and trays for salad.  My family also made 7 curries, a rice dish, and bought dalpuri in a few days in advance - so again cost was just the ingredients.  The plates were from plasticthaali.com, and the glasses were clear plastic cups. Provided water, and tea.

<u><strong>For the reception food, we opted for buffet style- all vegetarian $38 per plate</strong></u>.
- we made salad a day in advance
- we made tvp (textured vegetable protien) dish, with onions
+ catered appetizers: pakora, samosas, make your own chaat
+ catered guyanese food: chowmein, fried rice
+ catered chinese food: steamed veggies, stir-fry veggies w/ tofu
+ catered italian food: pasta with veggies, specialized italian bread, sauce in marinara, alfredo, or pesto.
+ provided a dessert table, with carrot cake, and red velvet cake from sam's club, pre-cut as well as kheer, and mithai from a local store.
+ provided 2 bars (with bartenders) for drinks, chai, coffee, hot water for tea, juice, water.
+ provided in champagne flutes sparkling champagne, and actual for toasts.
+ rented gold rim plates, cups, gold cutlery, napkins

We had 300 people, (250 adults, 50 kids). 
Total per person for both lunch and dinner $50, $35 for kids.

250x$50 + 50x$35 = 8750 + 1750<u><strong> ===== $10,500</strong></u>

-- From the rental place, we also rented table cloths, linens, chairs, tables, tables for the buffet, the buffet server trays, chafing dishes, spoon, and then bought the oil for the chafing dishes from costco.

EDIT: It depends on your area too.  We really did research a lot of places, and we didn't want to have indian food for lunch and then again for dinner. DIY, but in retrospect, it would have been way easier if it was all catered :)

Bhanu&Anuj

Exactly what Hina said...location location location

We have one venue quote us 18 pp (near the airport in an industrial area) vs 60 pp for a hotel....

it really depends....

Hinaj

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_south-asian-weddings_paying-own-wedding-indian-parents?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Cultural%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:430Discussion:fde3dd16-154b-4ba4-bbe0-6bc4687e1212Post:62b4b530-0822-4555-b390-bfec034ce624">Re: Catering</a>:
[QUOTE]We have one venue quote us 18 pp (near the airport in an industrial area) vs 60 pp for a hotel.... it really depends....
Posted by Bhanu&Anuj[/QUOTE]


yeah, we found a banquet hall in the surburbs that was $40/PP and included almost everything that you needed, or $80/PP was the lowest in downtown Chicago at a hotel (both include taxes) while they did not upgrade at all.  This was the cost of a sit down family style meal instead of a buffet for both. 

rsharma3

So I guess it does have a lot to do w/location. My wedding is in Atlanta & I want to do a buffet style dinner. I was putting off the caterer for a while b/c I was scared of what they quote me with, but it wasn't too bad. My parents know the owners of this one restaurant though and my mom & I called today & they quoted me 14$ a head (plus a guarantee to decrease the price a little more once we finalize everything)!. I guess I'm lucky? This includes 4 apps for cocktail (I'm also having the reception venue cater 4 american apps), 4 main dishes for dinner (2 veg/2non-veg), rice, raita, salad, naan, & 2 desserts. Is this enough main entrees for the dinner though? I was thinking to add one more veg item, which would be an extra charge of about 1.50$ a head.