Per-head pricing
Updated August 2026
Per-head pricing quotes an event as one price for each guest, so the food portion of a client’s bill is that figure multiplied by the guaranteed headcount. Delivery, staffing, rentals, a service charge, and tax sit on their own lines beside it rather than inside it.
Also called: per person pricing, per-plate pricing, per cover.
Why it matters to a small caterer
Per head is the number clients compare, which is reason enough to quote it. It is also the number that keeps a proposal readable: an itemized list of forty dishes invites a client to negotiate line by line, while one per-person figure invites them to decide whether the whole thing is worth it.
The risk is what a per-person figure hides. Your fixed costs for a job barely move between a small order and a medium one. The shopping trip, the prep block, the drive, the packaging, the setup: all of it eats a much bigger share of a thin per-head total. That is not an argument against per-head pricing. It is the argument for an event minimum underneath it, and for pricing delivery and staffing as their own visible charges.
How to arrive at the number
Cost a portion of each dish from your real ingredient costs, load your labor and overhead onto it, then set your margin. Multiply by the guest count and sanity-check the total against what the market pays for that service style in your area. Working the other direction, picking a per-head price you think sounds right and hoping the food fits inside it, is how a busy season pays less than a job.
Service style moves the per-head number more than the menu does. The same food delivered, served from a staffed buffet, or plated to seated guests is three different products with three different labor loads, and they should be quoted as three prices rather than one price with a discount attached.
Where this shows up
Put the terms to work on a real quote
CaterKit costs every dish from your own ingredients, prices the quote at your margin, and sends it as a page the client can accept on their phone.