Charge for servers AND high ticket food?

dannawatson

Does it sound right that my venue wants to charge $15/hour for servers, $25/pp for dinner (BUFFET), as well as buffet attendant, and other random misc. stuff??

I dont know how to bring it up to my coordinator at the venue that I dont think this sounds fair - and it would save me almost $3000 or more if I wasnt being double charged (in my opinion). Normally, higher ticket food ($25+) includes service other places.

Am I wrong?

LeiselEB

It doesn't sound high in my opinion, but everyone's budget is different. 

The servers need to be paid even though they aren't bringing meals to the tables. I assume they'll be filling glasses, removing plates, serving drinks, refolding napkins, etc. so that sounds fine to me. 

As far as food, I think it sounds reasonable - what does that venue charge if you were to have a served meal rather than a buffet? That might give you an idea of what you're really paying for. 

Cortney1982

$25 a person for dinner sounds very reasonable for a buffet dinner to me.  I would assume they make up for that low cost by charging for servers and buffet attendant.  From where I looked around here a plated dinner costs $30 and upwards.

SCogs18

I don't think those numbers sound unreasonable at all--sorry!

dannawatson

I appreciate the honesty and feedback... very much! Thank you!

lyndausvi

I had a sit-down dinner.  We paid $30 per person per hour for 8 hours.  We had a total of 8 people (servers, bartenders, chef and dishwasher).  My venue however does not tact on a 20+% service change, which most places do.   (We still tipped on top of that, but not at 20% because they were getting more than your standard $2.19 per hour wage)

My dinner cost a lot more.  

Summer2011Bride

I think that sounds reasonable. We had a sit-down dinner with chicken and fish and ours was $24/person for adult meals. At our venue, the cost for using the venue for the reception also included paying the servers, etc. So it was separate from the actual food. I think this sounds right.

matcha

Yeah. Sadly, that's how my wedding cost is working. I'm not using a venue that has a restaurant or catering attached, so I'm bringing in an outside catering company. I have to pay 5 servers $15/hr, plus the cost of the food.

BrightFirefly

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_reception-ideas_charge-servers-high-ticket-food?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:5Discussion:7b36d683-8800-4977-8ddb-809ee54a9033Post:ad85b5ec-5bd8-476e-b298-f7b6d6534bf7">Re: Charge for servers AND high ticket food?</a>:
[QUOTE]$25 a person for dinner sounds very reasonable for a buffet dinner to me.  I would assume they make up for that low cost by charging for servers and buffet attendant.  From where I looked around here a plated dinner costs $30 and upwards.
Posted by Cortney1982[/QUOTE]

We're paying 32 per person for Luncheon Buffet - with a 500 dollar service charge to cover the wait staff, buffet staff, etc. So - I'm in agreement.

DeadUtopia

Our food per person is about $27, (which to me is a lot, but from what I've heard it's not bad!) and we're paying something along the lines of $90 per server for the whole night and we have 6-7 servers (seated dinner,) plus we have to pay for the bartender and service charge. It adds up quickly. I do think that $15 per hour for a server is a little on the high end, but if they will only be serving at the buffet for 2 hours, then the venue is probably just trying to pay them enough to make working for 2 hours worth their time, know what I mean?