How Much Does Catering Cost on Average?

Are you looking to find a great caterer for your upcoming event?

You’re likely wondering how much you’ll have to shell out to pay for high-quality food catering. We want to make sure that our money goes towards excellent hospitality, delicious food, and a great customer experience.

If you’re wondering how much does catering cost, this guide will help you determine the price and how to hire a caterer for your next event.

Here’s what you need to know about catering prices:

I’m on a Budget

So what happens if you want to ensure great catering, but you really can’t shell out too much money?

The best option is to use a food truck service. Food trucks often charge less than $1,000 for a full day’s work. They’ll charge your guests directly and might offer discounts for the occasion.

Food trucks will focus on one type of food, but often offer great hospitality and customer service. Food truck caterers have a great reputation for being amiable and helping to their customers.

If you have a friend who can cook well, this is another great option. You can hire them to cook for your guests and have your guests serve themselves. In such a case, you can likely pay between $200 to $500 for this.

The major concern with this option is how much food you’ll get. You can look here for more information on choosing your portions for catering.

Drop-Off Catering

As mentioned in the previous section, you can choose a self-service option for your guests.

With this option, you’ll pay only for the food preparation, drop-off, and pick up services. If you’re looking for premium food for banquets, weddings, galas, etc., you can expect to pay around $1,000 for every 200 guests.

If you work directly with a restaurant rather than a catering service, you might be able to cut down the cost. You might be able to pay $750 for every 100 guests.

In-Person Catering

If you want to offer catering services and hospitality, then you’ll have to pay higher fees due to labor.

You’ll pay the same cost as drop-off catering, plus an additional cost per worker. Let’s presume you have 200 guests and 5 staff members who serve the food.

In total, you can expect to pay around $3,500 in total. You’ll pay $1,000 for the food and cost of drinkware, silverware, etc. Each staff member will get paid $500 for their labor.

One way to offset the cost of in-person catering is to request your guests to give an obligatory tip to the caterers. This can reduce your cost per worker.

Now You Know How Much Does Catering Cost

Now you know how much does catering cost and what you’ll get for your budget.

If you’re on a low budget, then you should consider hiring a food truck. Your food options will be limited but you’ll make up for it with excellent food and hospitality.

With drop-off services, you can expect to pay around $750 to $1,000 in most cases. This cost will increase by at least an extra $1,500 when hiring workers to serve the food.

You can find more tips on hosting your next event here on our blog.