A 120-guest wedding enquiry lands on a Tuesday
The couple want a three-course sit-down, canapes on arrival, an evening food station and two vegan guests who need a matching menu. They have asked for a price by Friday because they are comparing three caterers.
So someone opens last summer's wedding quote in Word, saves a copy and starts editing. The canape selection changes, which means checking what each one costs now. The main course is a different cut of meat. The venue is further away, so travel is different. Staffing needs recalculating because the evening station needs two extra people. The hire list for crockery and glassware is rebuilt from scratch. By Thursday afternoon the quote goes out, and nobody is fully sure the margin on it is what they meant it to be.
Every quote starts from the last quote
The problem is not that your team is slow. It is that the price of an event lives in four or five places that do not talk to each other.
- Dish costs sit in a recipe spreadsheet that was last updated when someone had a quiet week.
- Staffing ratios live in the head of the events manager: so many waiting staff per table, a chef per so many covers, a bar lead if there is a bar.
- Hire prices come from the hire company's latest price list, which may be a PDF in someone's inbox.
- Travel, parking and venue access charges are worked out per job.
- The proposal document is typed separately, so the numbers are copied across by hand.
Copying an old quote feels quicker than starting fresh, but it also copies old prices, old ratios and old mistakes. A dish that went up in cost last spring carries its old price into every quote built from that template.
Slow quotes and quiet margins
The obvious cost is the enquiries you lose. A couple or an office manager comparing caterers often goes with whoever came back first with something clear. A quote that arrives on day three is competing with two that arrived on day one.
The less obvious cost is margin drift. When a quote is assembled by hand, the price per head on the page is only as current as the last time each figure was checked. You find out the event made less than you thought after it has happened, if you look at all. And because the events manager is the only person who really knows how to build a quote, peak season turns them into a bottleneck.
A quote builder that prices from your own costs
What we build is a quoting tool that holds your menu, your costs and your rules, so a quote is assembled from choices rather than typed.
- Your dishes go into one library, each with its recipe cost per portion, the allergens you have recorded against it and the equipment it needs to serve.
- Staffing rules are set once: covers per server for a plated meal, for a buffet, for canapes, plus chef and supervisor rules. The tool suggests the staff line from the guest count and service style.
- Hire items attach to service styles and dishes, so choosing a plated three-course menu brings the right plates, cutlery and glassware onto the hire list with the hire company's current prices.
- Travel and venue charges come from the postcode and any venue notes you keep.
- You set target margins per event type. The quote shows the cost, the price and the margin before you send it, and flags a line that falls below your target.
- The client proposal is generated from the same data, with your branding and menu descriptions, as a PDF or a web link the client can accept.
| Quote line | Where it comes from now | Where it comes from after |
|---|---|---|
| Food per head | Old quote, edited | Dish library with current recipe cost |
| Staff | Events manager's estimate | Staffing rules by guest count and style |
| Hire | Retyped from a price list | Linked hire items at current prices |
| Travel | Worked out each time | Postcode and venue notes |
| Proposal | Word document | Generated from the same figures |
If you already use Xero or QuickBooks, accepted quotes can become a deposit invoice without retyping. If your recipe costs live in a dedicated costing system, we read from it rather than asking you to move them.
What a quoting morning looks like afterwards
An enquiry comes in and whoever picks it up chooses the event type, the guest count, the menu and the venue. The tool fills in staff, hire and travel, shows the margin and highlights anything that needs a human decision, such as a dish you have not costed or a venue with no access notes.
The events manager reviews rather than builds. Quotes go out the same day more often, and when a client asks what happens to the price if they drop the canapes or add twenty guests, the answer is a click rather than an afternoon. When the season ends, you can see which quotes converted and what margin the accepted ones were priced at.
Signs your quoting needs this
- Every quote starts by opening an old one and saving a copy.
- Only one or two people can build a quote properly.
- Dish costs have not been updated since the last price rise from your suppliers.
- You are not sure what margin an accepted event was actually priced at.
- Clients mention they already have prices from other caterers when yours arrives.