catering price problem - opinions required

Horace

Having watched the Apprentice on the telly when they did the catering task, the restaurateur Yasmina said that there was a 200% mark up on food.

You have paid her enough money and dont let her brow beat you into paying more. Write to her and explain why you are deducting certain amounts; eg. cold soup, burnt offerings (chilli), certainly don't give her any more money.

picnic

I think I would demand to see reciepts for the food bought (these should be trade price's) also how many staff were serving (ages are important here as someone 21+ would not get paid the same as someone aged 18) as for the fact that someone stated that the servers were under the age of 16.. is that legal??

she cannot take her loss of earning from her 'main' job into account when charging you... this is her choice and nothing to do with your wedding.

I woundnt pay her any more until you have seen some proof that she has spent then amount she is asking for. Understanding that there has to be a profit for her in there somewhere... no one would work for free... but if she is taking the !!!!!! then dont pay. Im sure she wont take it any further i.e. court. if she know's she cannot win.


congrats on your wedding. hope you have many happy years ahead.

nrgserv

following a phone call from the caterer, of which i wont divulge yet, i have texted her the link to here.

hockeynomad

Hello All,

We also attended the wedding, and no its not a scam, the bride and groom asked us to visit this website and post our comments.

Our situation, is slightly different, I was sat on the top table and my family were sat on table 7! - We all ordered something different as we like to swap food when we eat out.... so our verdict on the food is as follows! Yes we sampled the WHOLE menu!!

1. Tomato Soup - We had one portion of tomato soup between us, and it looks like we got the good one! We liked it. It was perfect temperature, great taste etc.

2. Palma Ham & Melon - We had 2 portions. You can go wrong with this dish, again no complaints from anyone!

3. Bangers and Mash - Good Bangers. Mash tasted like INSTANT smash, veg was VERY OVER cooked, (would have been fine for your grandma with no teeth to suck on!) but it was warm none the less. My portion was shared on the top table with someone else as their meal was inedible...see below CHILLI

4. Vegetable Lasagne - Good Food. Nice and Warm, Enjoyed it. Portion was TINY and we like to eat a lot!

5. Chilli Con Carne - Burned to death. Wasnt good. Food was hot but over riding sensation was it was BURNED!

6. Chocolate Gateux - Wonderful, But when can you go wrong with a Sarah Lee Iceland Special

7. Lemon Marangue - Nice. Nothing Special as above.

8. Drinks - That beer was lovely! Well done BRavo!!

I dont think that Mr and Mrs XY should pay any more, i think that this money they have already paid is MORE than sufficient. Im shocked that after Mr X agreed the price with the caterer, that she then changed her mind TOO many times! You can not start with a price of sub £300 and the final result os over £1300, I mean, ive heard of inflation, but that takes the michael somewhat!!

Also, you would have to question whether 2 days before the wedding the caterer was not using techniques of emotional Blackmail, and bullying. Imagine that situation, 2 days before the day of your dreams, someone turns up and wants MORE MONEY!!! A right rip off but really cant itemise what she wants it for....and then threatens to pull out...If thats not emotioanal abuse I dont know what is!

I think the main problem comes because Mr and Mrs XY are friends with the caterer, or at least were friends with the caterer. The morales of this story should be:
1)Always get a fully itemised WRITTEN QUOTE for all items before entering into a fully written contract, which is endorsed and stuck to by both parties.
2)NEVER mix business and pleasure.... as in business with friendships
3)ALWAYS have a dummy run, if you offer to do something as huge as catering for a wedding, check out that you can manage to time all the dishes at the same time and not risk something getting burned.

After all that negativity, We would also like to state that we had an excelent day. Bride (not that im biased!) looked BEAUTIFUL, Groom scrubbed up well too! Weather was perfect, Service personel and meaningful, Wonderful couple, beautiful GORGEOUS little boy!, and fantastic dancing at night.

BRAVO, BRAVO, BRAVO

nrgserv

hockeynomad wrote: »

....and then threatens to pull out...

in defense, she didnt actually threaten this, however the thursday night meeting that got a "a bit hot", this did cross our minds.

cheers for your replies!

chrisb1978

1. loss of earnings is not your concern as it was never part of the initial deal, it is unacceptable to visit you the day before demanding more money as she knows you will pay as too little time to make new arrangements.

2. I would ask for a full breakdown of charges to last detail.

3. As a large number of dishes were not acceptable and you did tell her there and then, work out based on her overall price what these dishes equate to and refuse to pay for them, i would imagine that should easily amount to £500 based on her figures

4. Don't pay

5. Find a new cafe

6. Congratulations on the wedding :T

warehouse

Simple this one:

1. Don't pay another penny under any circumstances
2. Ask for 50% of your money BACK.

nrgserv

posted as as message received on email. copied and pasted, removed names.

xxxxxx sent you a message.

---

(no subject)

Hello

just been reading through the blogg and went to reply but there was all this registration rigma so emailing you instead. and this is my view!!

I have been to so many weddings and worked hundreds of them when up at the Marriott and I truly thought your was very special, down to Earth and very natural. I don;t think anyone was expecting silver service or wanting it for that matter and I personally enjoyed my meal (melon and lasagne), the service was a bit higgledy piggledy but added to the charm. I did think that as the top table you should have been served first and all that jazz (but then thought maybe it was my past working days that made me more aware.)
still, I think your lady D took on a challenge that was a bit out of her league. serving a wedding breakfast is no easy task, and in no way compares to cooking in a cafe even if it is for hundreds.
I think you should be really honest with her and tell her what you think, tell her what you were expecting and tell her the things that didn't go quite so well. (deep down she'll know). I think you should try and get an itemised bill/ broken down bill of her costs for the food and drink and other nit bits (and I don;t think her closing the cafe for the day needs compensating. she knew that when she took on task and surely could have got someone else to cover even if the menu consisted only of toast and coffee). I think from that bill you should discuss with her what you think is a fair price for what you got. (try and calculate what it cost per head or something and look to see what other pep charge)
she wouldn;t expect a customer in her cafe to pay for something inedible so maybe pick out the bits that weren't good (chilly and cold soup) and get that off the bill.
From what xxx's told me about this lady, she probably agreed to it without fully realising what a massive challenge it was or the cost involved. ( not that I'm sticking up for her) I think you are both very lovely pep and its easy for pep to say don't pay when they are not in the situ.

anyway, thats my contribution. bet you wished you never asked!! ha ha

night night Mr and Mrs, hope this get sorted soon and hope you are OK about it.

xxxxxx

nrgserv

another message recieved via email.
copied and pasted, names removed.

Cannot get on with sending stuff via wedding catering link, written two pieces lost up their own backsides, anyway here's my advice.

Do not pay any further money, your caterer originally quoted you a price knowing full well what you required. The price she gave you was to all intense and purposes a verbal agreement to provide a service to yourselves at a given price(which was agreed between both parties). In law she has committed herself to supply and you have agreed to receive those services. If in the event she has under stated what she required then it's tough, but business is a cruel and hard world.

You have already acceded to her request for more money,and so not to spoil a "friendship" you paid up.

To approach you at the eleventh hour for even more money smacks of blackmail/extortion, think she thought she had you over a barrel, but you both sought to show that there was an alternative which would probably not go down to well.

As a business person she should have known to work out her costs first ( product, labour,contingencies etc) before quoting a price, if she cocked up then that's down to her. The relationship between yourselves is a business arrangement and there is no sentiment in business.

And so to the food, the soup was cool and burnt, Chilli burnt, sausage and mash cool with over done veg, if this had been served in her cafe i am sure she would have had complaints and people refusing to pay up.

The money that you have already paid equates to approx £12 per head, which will include her costs and profit margin if it doesn't then that's her mistake and she must stand to it.(business is tough). If you had gone out for a meal and paid the above and received the kind of meal being served up on Sat; would you have paid??? I think not.

As for charging for the loss of earnings from the Saturday cafe closure, that was her decision, not yours, and should have been taken in to account when setting the charges for the job, if not tough her loss not yours.

Finally when discussing this matter with her, take along an independent witness and also tell her that you are recording the conversation for future reference. As for feeling that you are breaking a promise i think sufficient money has been given to her( food and wine at wholesale prices) if an error was made in costing then it's her error not yours.

Glad it didn't spoil yours and xxxx's day, everything else was spot on, nice to see all your friends gathering round to give you both help and support.

Hope this helps to clarify your position, remember she does not deserve further payment, her original verbal quote is a contract.

trina2010

where are all these new members coming from??

as far as i can see weve heard all about the food, we know what was burnt/cold etc from many sources.

everyone has advised you not to hand over more money, so dont hand over more money.

im sorry that you didnt have such a great wedding dinner, but its not all about the food, its about the day.
i think now its time to move on and enjoy the reason for the wedding.....the marriage.

Good luck