minimum revenue?

drgirl

Hi--I'm looking through a contract for a venue I like and saw that the minimum revenue requirement is $15,000. Is this common and is it easy to meet with the per person charge and appetizers/desserts etc? Will have between 200-250 guests.

If anyone has experience with this any info would be great!

kt8301

If you're having that many people it shouldn't be difficult to reach / exceed that.  I think $100 pp is a pretty standard charge (so 200 people = $20k), especially if that includes drinks.

Did they given you any per person breakout?

JBs_Bride

Most hotels have food and beverage minimums. If this venue is a hotel, there most likely won't be a per person charge in addition to the minimum. Among 200-250 guests, there shouldn't be any problem reaching that minimum with your food and beverage. I'm sure everyone would be able to eat and drink at least $60-$75 worth of food and bev. )

Erica1011

I've noticed that a minimum is required at a lot of "nicer" venues.  They vary from season to season and day of the week too. 

In my research I feel like venues do 1 of 2 things:  "minimum total" or "minimum number of plates that you are required to purchase"  I like the overall min better bc at least youre not losing out on any $$.  You are def getting something for every dollar you spend.  You can always add more food (EX: another stationary display, extra desserts etc) But if your venue goes the other route and says you have to guarantee 200 guests - If only 190 show up, you lose the $$ you spent on the extra 10 plates.

I can't imagine you would have difficulty spending 15k with 200-250 people.

noodle_oo

Yes, all the venues we met with had some kind of minimum requirement.  It varied a lot depending on the venue.  You also want to make sure you know what counts towards the minimum.  Many charge a high service/admin fee (ours was 22%) and tax and those did not count towards the minimum.  You need to do the numbers yourself and make sure you will meet it.  I will say that most venues were willing to negotiate on the minimum to some extent.  And I’m not sure what the penalty is if you don’t meet the minimum.  If we were below, we would have added a few extras to get to it.

booboo1978

Minimums are standard practice at venues....the minimum depends on the venue, the season, etc.  Our venue dropped their minimum with us because we are getting married "out of season".  It's normally a $75-100 per person minimum, but they dropped it because of the time of year (some business is better than no business, basically). 
With that many guests you'll hit a $15,000 minimum no problem....and if you fall just short, see if there's an extra you can toss is to hit it (like a sorbet as part of the sit down appetizer or something).

october010bride

That was our minimum (pre-tax) and we easily went over it. That's a pretty standard amount.

daisy667

Our venue dropped the minimum way down for "off season" as well. We will meet it with no problem at all. It seems most places only have no minimum for off season weddings. And in my searches the minuimums were much less on Fridays and Sundays as well.

Blueyed228

That sounds about right.  Ours was a bit higher for a Saturday night wedding.

drgirl

thanks ladies! makes much more sense to me now .

s2bmrsjefferson

I think it depends on the price per plate per person and how many hours of open bar you are doing. With a $40 per plate fee it might be harder to meet than if you had a hotel wedding downtown charging $115 a plate.