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Catering Expectations

goff_meghangoff_meghan member
First Comment
in Minnesota-Minneapolis and St. Paul
I am totally clueless to this whole wedding industry thing! But happy to suddenly be plunged in the middle of it! :) So does anyone have any advise on what to expect to pay for catering?!?! If we have a salad course + an entree for a 100 person reception, what should I plan on budgeting per head? (not including Cake costs- assuming my cake provider is separate, they are a separete service / line item right???) See what I mean... CLUELESS!!! :) HELP! Thanks ladies...
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Re: Catering Expectations

  • LittleSweetieLittleSweetie member
    1000 Comments
    edited December 2011

    It all depends - how's that for an answer?!

    Depends on your venue and if they have in-house catering and a minimum.
    Depends on the caterer you choose and their prices.
    Depends on what you choose on the menu and the prices of each entree.
    Depends on if you're having a plated dinner or a buffet.

    So with that said, I think a safe range would be $25 (buffet, inexpensive caterer, venue without minimums) to $45-50 maybe (plated dinner, nicer meal).  We went with an inexpensive caterer but added on things like linens, silverware, china, taxes and gratuity - and it was about $22/pp when all the "add-ons" were added on and taxes/gratuity were added.

    If you have a venue that has a minimum that is $7,000, you're roughly going to pay $70/pp for food+drink just to meet the minimum for 100 people.  To get the best bang for your buck, you'd want to invite more people, or find a place with a lower minimum, or a venue without a minimum all together!

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  • debbieupperdebbieupper member
    1000 Comments 5 Love Its
    edited December 2011
    It's okay, Meghan - you'll be able to get it all figured out!

    Catering costs vary GREATLY. Usually you're going to find that per head the cost will be anywhere between $12pp-$50pp, or even more at some places. It all depends on:

    -who your caterer is
    -what services they're providing (for example, cake cutting is often an additional fee of $1-$2/slice if you don't go through them or one of their preferred cake vendors. Or they might have no fee. Like i said -- it depends).
    -How many hors d'oevres and what type you're having (if any)
    -buffet vs. seated meal
    -Choice of main course(s) and sides
    -bar tab (may or may not be provided by your caterer)

    Cake is usually a separate vendor and also varies greatly. Here's a recent post with some local cake suggestions and info: http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_minnesota-minneapolis-st-paul_cake-1

    What it really comes down to is what YOU want to or can budget per person. Your caterer will help you figure it all out, too. Good luck, and HTH!
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  • goff_meghangoff_meghan member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Thanks SO much ladies! this is super helpful! Our venue doesn't have a minimum (thank goodness!) and we are free to choose any Minneapolis caterer we want so we are pretty flexible interms of who we go with. I so appreciate all of your help with this as I didn't even know how much to even PROPOSE to a vendor! I didn't want to contact one of them and be like 'blah blah blah we're thinking $25 and head..." and have them laugh in our face! ;) hehe
    Any recommendations on good 'budget' caters, I'd love to hear them! I'm goin to avoid working for the next hour and do some online vendor research ;) Thanks again ladies!
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  • debbieupperdebbieupper member
    1000 Comments 5 Love Its
    edited December 2011
    No problem at all!

    PM me with your email if you want me to send you a spreadsheet I made of caterers in the area. It's not all-inclusive by any means, but it has about 15 options with notes and contact info.

    We went with The Deco Catering (Mpls), which doesn't really advertise because they get most of their business by word-of-mouth and repeat customers. They are absolutely awesome.
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  • QstonQston
    100 Comments
    edited December 2011
    I would recommend Brasa. We are using them for our August wedding, and their catering manager is fabulous to work with, and their prices are amazing, not to even mention how awesome the food is going to be. They have three price points available, for different amounts of meat, I think it ranges from btwn 11, 13 and 17 pp, something like that. It includes a bunch of their yummy sides, too.

    http://brasa.us/
    Good Luck!

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