What are typical outside catering costs

gat0618

Hey Everyone,
I am trying to get budgetting down and wondering if those of you who have outside caterers could tell me what it typically runs (price wise). I am looking at 80 people (max) for the Detroit Metro Area.

TIA
 All help is appreciated.

Sue-n-Kevin

Are you looking at getting a venue with catering, or just having someone cater it somewhere else, ie a home, or other venue? It also depends on what you want to serve. Are you having a buffet, sit down, meal, just appetizers, etc?

We chose a venue where we could bring in our own food (Greenmead Village in LIvonia). I did my research and located caterers that are not affiliated with one specific venue. We met with about 5, and the best prices we found were with gourmet stores that do catering as another aspect of their business. I met with Joe's Produce in Livonia and Holiday Market in Royal Oak. Both were equally good, the taste tests were amazing, but we went with Holiday Market just based on the feel and presentation of the food (I'm a real foodie).

Basic menus, with salad, veggie, potatoes, pasta, bread, rolls, coffee station, 1 meat ran about $12-$15 per person, but when we upgraded to add other things I think we spent about $30 per person. They also supplied the linens, plates, glasses, utensils, which added more to it. I had already researched direct rental of these on my own, but it just was not worth it. We also got our cake from Holiday Market and it was delicious ........ yellow cake with passion fruit mousse, buttercream frosting. It was $130, 2 layers and more than enough for the 70 people we had........we put it in our freezer and ate it for another week or so LOL.

If the per person rates quoted above are too high for you, I would still suggest meeting with them. Both were VERY WILLING to work with us.......because they don't make all their profits from catering (like a catering company does), they are fairly reasonable to negotiate with. Because we had a formal wedding, they also supplied servers to clear the dishes, etc, replenish the food......... that adds quite a bit to the bill, if you don't need this then you will pay less.

Good luck. PS: If you click on my bio below you'll see the a link for pictures, and inside that is another link to the pro pics. He took a lot of pictures of the food,LOL

gat0618

Thank you for all the information it is helpful.  I am looking at venue's where they let me bring in an outisde caterer (such as the T-plex & belle isle casino).  Around $30 a person would be great but some places have minimums and I just can't afford that.  It will probably be either buffet or sit down (I have no preference as long as the food is good). We do not want any pasta (my FI has been to way too many italian weddings and has specifically said no pasta of any kind), and probably a salad course would be nice. I can go either way with the aoppetizers. I am not sure if they are a necessity of just an unneeded extra fee. 

Sue-n-Kevin

FYI: None of the outside caterers we looked at had minimum fees/costs.

Here's what we did: We had a pretty good idea of what we wanted, so rather than look at the menus supplied by the caterers, I went in armed with what we wanted.

For us it was this:

- Michigan salad (mixed greens, dried cherries, blue cheese, candied pecans) with raspberry vinagraitte
- gourmet chicken dish of some type
- a veggie
- broasted red potatoes with rosemary, parmesan cheese & olive oil
- a pasta with no meat (for the kids, and vegetarian guests, not a lot)
- rolls & butter
- coffee station

Decide what you want, maybe pick 2 meats, then ask the caterer what they would charge. It's my recommendation that you have some sort of a pasta, maybe a much smaller amount, for people who at least want some, and those that prefer that (kids or vegetarians).

The thing we liked about Holiday Market was that they don't charge a "per person" price, but instead do servings by weight: In other words, 10 lbs of pasta vs pasta for 80. Your quotes with them will look different than others because of that.

When I say caterers are great working with you, tell them what your budget is. Go in and tell them you want to spend say $20 per person. NOTE: If it's your intent to spend $30 per person, drop that level down when dealing with caterers because there are all sorts of "add ons", such as servers, chef onsite, and don't forget alcohol.

Also: apps are expensive unless you have a basic cheese and cracker one. Apps require hand preparation, which is why they are expensive.

Also: if you are having liquor, consider a beer, wine & signature drink. None of our guests were dissapointed that we only offered this option, everyone found something to drink. If you are having alcohol, I highly recommend Champane's Wine Cellars in Warren on 13 Mile east of Van Dyke. Their prices are very low, they have wine managers to work with you. We got 27 bottles of wine, including a great champagne, for $220. We also went in with a price point ($10 a bottle), and they found us a wonderful mixture, and we spent less than we anticipated. They also have liquor and beer as well.

Hope this helps.

shiravduncan

I am looking into Gary's Catering. They are very affordable (I am having a 400 guest reception) and offer food and beverage packages. You can look at them online and see their pricing. www.garyscatering.com/