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Permalink Reply by Eric Hammond on February 4, 2010 at 5:18pm

bump?

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Permalink Reply by Jesse Bladyka on February 4, 2010 at 5:45pm

We offer a flat fee $100 per hour with a 2 hour minimum, plus mileage and travel time. One Barista, Limited menu, 8oz double drinks,Capps Lattes, Mochas, Vanilla. That's it. It's a lot of work to set up and do this for an event and the simpler you can keep it, the better. Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Dylan Jung on February 5, 2010 at 6:57am

I suppose it depends on the event too. Will people pay at your counter or are you being payed by the event planner, etc? THe bulk price is a good solution.

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Permalink Reply by Mitch Buckner - Bella Caffe on February 15, 2010 at 8:15am

1 Hour Reception:

Up to 70 Guests - $245.00
71 - 140 Guests - $290.00
141 - 250 Guests - $360.00

Each Additional Hour:

Up to 140 Guests - $55.00
141 - 250 Guests - $65.00

This is my pricing. Plus tax & gratuity (I add usually about 15% gratuity on top of the price). The first hour factors in setup & tear down so each additional hour is just service time. So, someone hires me for 250 guests for 2 hours the price is 360.00+65.00+tax & gratuity. I factor in a 2 hour party would be about 4 hours of work. Now Im only serving single 12oz drinks here but they have any flavor choices they want (menu preset) I do alot of weddings so they're more inclined to want the sweeter dessert drinks. Occassionaly someone wants a double cap, or just espresso or americano which is fine too. Notice that the larger the crowd gets, the less per person the rate is. Thats because it costs me almost as much to cater a 50 person party as a 200 person party (of course, you use more milk, flavor, & espresso but not significant amounts) Mainly you're getting paid for your time & equipment. You have to have the same equipment & spend the same amount of time to serve 50 people as you do to serve 250 people. You just put a few extra bucks into product for larger groups. So the smaller the party, the more per person it works out. Now, I have known food caters to add coffee service to their packages & charge 3.00 per person (whether its 50 or 500) just to add regular coffee. Thats mainly because the food caters dont want to deal with coffee. It also depends on your locale as to how much you can get. Theres not a huge request for cappuccino bars in my area so I cant get quite as much as other cities might. But I still make good money when I cater so Im fine with what I get. Something else you have to consider on pricing is that most parties (especially weddings) are going to be weekends. You're weekends might be worth more than your weekdays. I sometimes change my prices up depending on when it is (a early tuesday morning school gig that wont affect any other business I have might get a little break but a wedding on Valentines day might have a premium price). You also have to factor in some extras at time such as gas & drive time (for out of town gigs) and sometimes the party requests you to bring an extra worker (I can handle 100 people an hour by myself without any problems). So if theres anything extra you have to offer you might change the price up a bit. Occassionaly you'll have someone ask you to bring regular coffee service. This will require extra equipment & time (and probably an extra employee) so price accordingly. I just offer americanos for regular coffee but I have had a bride tell me that most of their family wants regular coffee, nothing fancy & you dont want to be pulling tons of hot water out of your machine for americanos & affect your pressure & heat for pulling good shots. So if you know up front that you'll have alot of regular coffee drinkers, then price for the extra coffee service. All of my prices are based on the other cappuccino bar in the area. My product & setup is nicer & better quality (the difference between fresh & institutional coffe..he does sara lee) so if you have anyone else doing cappuccino bars in your area, get their prices & stay on par with them. Prices are going to vary city to city.

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Permalink Reply by James Doyle on February 15, 2010 at 8:54am

These companies seem to know what is going on in catering:

http://cafeevoke.com/1

http://caffemedici.com/catering.html

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Permalink Reply by Micah Metheny on February 15, 2010 at 9:26am

Hey, I am the lead barista Cafe Evoke Coffee Catering. We have some consulting packages for coffee catering that are really helpful. Let me know if you are interested, if you aren't looking for that kind of official help I understand.
Micah@cafeevoke.com

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