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Banquet Pricing Calculator

Work out banquet pricing instantly with clear inputs, formula shown and shareable results.

About Banquet Pricing Calculator

Banquet pricing grosses food cost up to the target food cost percentage, then adds the event's service labour spread across the guest count. Because service labour is largely fixed per event, smaller events carry a much higher per-guest service component.

Formulas

Food-based price

Food component = Food cost per guest / Target food cost %

Price per guest

Price = Food component + Service staff cost / Guest count

Worked example

With the default values below, Banquet Pricing Calculator returns Price per guest of $3,269.05. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Food cost per guest
850
Target food cost percentage
28
Service staff cost for the event
42,000
Guest count
180

Results

Price per guest
$3,269.05
Total event revenue
$588,428.57
Food-driven component
$3,035.71
Service component per guest
$233.33

Step by step

  1. 1Values used
  2. 2Food-based price
  3. 3Price per guest
  4. 4Price per guest= 3,269.05
  5. 5Total event revenue= 588,428.57
  6. 6Food-driven component= 3,035.71
  7. 7Service component per guest= 233.33

Assumptions and limits

  • The result is derived only from the 4 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
  • In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax or compounding frequency into account.
  • Figures are rounded for display to 2 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.

How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why not include labour in the food cost percentage?

Because labour does not scale with guest count the way food does. Loading it separately keeps small-event pricing honest.

Should venue hire be separate?

Usually yes, as a minimum spend or hire fee, so that the per-guest price stays comparable across event sizes.

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Banquet Pricing Calculator – Calculate Price per guest