Problem with our caterers!

Zlata

Hi there,

We are due to get married in 1month. Our venue is one where you bring in your own caterers. We booked what seemed like a very professional sounding outfit and went ahead and paid the 25% deposit required to secure the booking.

We estimated 180 guests, but in the end more people declined than we expected and we are now left with around 140 guests. As our second installment is due (the major chunk of money) I mentioned to them that they needed to alter the final amount payable as we are of course not having the same number of people attend.

They have replied saying that the quote was based on minimum numbers and therefore the total amount payable still stands.
In other words, whether we now have 1 or 180 people eating it will still cost us the same amount!

I am totally astonished by this! It means we are due to pay them about £2000 for nothing...as those 40 guests don't exist.

Does anybody have any advice on how to deal with this? I'm about ready to break at this point.

Z xxx

RainbowDrops

Do you have a contract?
Lots of caterers have minimun numbers, so you may be stuck paying the full amount.
Do you have any people that you could invite, or evening guests that could be upgraded to daytime guests?

LEJC

It would be interesting to know what the company put the minimum number as....and were you aware of this when you signed the contract?

180 seems a very high minimum number...

Zlata

There is no mention of minimum numbers in the Terms and Conditions. I took this to be our contract.

When we initially contacted them and they sent us a menu and a quote, they said the quote, which is on a per head basis, was based on a minimum of 180 people (as we said we were expecting about that many).
This is not the minimum number of people they will cater for as a company as it were.
Yes, I'm sure we could add to our numbers if this does not resolve itself as I simply refuse to pay for 40 imaginary guests, but at this late stage I really don't want to be complicating my life by having to chase up those invites and further stall making a final table plan.
So so angry.

k3lvc

Zlata wrote: »

When we initially contacted them and they sent us a menu and a quote, they said the quote, which is on a per head basis, was based on a minimum of 180 people (as we said we were expecting
about that many).

So they did quote you a price based on a minimum of 180 people ?

This will be made up of variable costs (ingredients, some labour, equipment etc) and fixed (organisation labour, transport, supervision etc) + profit

The best you could hope for is to reduce the bill by the cost of ingredients for the 'missing' 40 people

Zlata wrote: »

This is not the minimum number of people they will cater for as a company as it were.

You contract is not based on the minimum for the company but on the agreed quote (in your case 180 guests)

If you don't agree with their way of doing business and can't reach a compromise then it's either time to pay up or find another caterer

LEJC

I have had a think about this one....and I tend to agree with the poster above...if no minimum was established at the beginning then its 180 they are catering for.

It probably means at this stage that you wont get a reduction in the cost,but what you might be able to do is negotiate what they supply you.
In effect you have 40 less guests so for that set price you are now paying you could look to ask for something of better quality or an addition to the package....ie (and these are examples only so you get the drift..) Beef instead of chicken if its a sit down meal...coffee afterwards or a seperate sorbet course....or maybe if its buffet style some enhanced choices of nibbles....or a cheese board.

With only a month to go,you probably dont have time on your side but also at this stage I doubt that the caterers have bought all the components of your order, so it is possible that the key here is to try a different approach to a monetry reduction to compensate for your reduced number of guests
I hope it turns out well for you. good luck

trinity_enigma

I would be a bit miffed too as I would have taken it as an estimate but I would have thought they would have minimum number I.e won't cater for less than 50 and you provide final number closer to the time.

That's what is happening with out venue (or at least I hope it is) but I suppose that is different to separate caterers.

Sorry I can't help you but just wanted to let you know you would not be alone in believing you could have less numbers.

Zlata

Obviously I understand that there are fixed costs but the majority of costs will be variable depending on the number of people (food, crockery, linen, waiting staff etc).
The quote was on a PER HEAD basis. It did mention that was based on a minimum of 180 guests but I took this to mean that the per head cost would go up (due to fixed costs etc) or down dependent on final numbers....not that we'd be paying for a total of 180 guests regardless. If that is the case then it's not a per head system at all!
Their Terms and Conditions make no mention of any minimum numbers.
Trinity_enigma - I would check with your venue! Thanks for your support!

Disney_Pluto

For someone who is also bringing in caterers our quote is all done separately so we have estimated 80 guests but have a per head price.

So our quote reads like this:

Wedding breakfast x 75 (to be confirmed)
(To include all food preparation, all necessary Kitchen Equipment & Tabling, Chefs & Porters) £ ... Then the price per person

Children x 7 (to be confirmed) £ ....price per child

All necessary kitchen equipment, china crockery & table ware, silver plate cutlery, all white linen, setting up & clearing of site (including rubbish) £.....price in total

Evening: food x 110 (to be confirmed) price per person

Staff Butler in Charge 11 hours £ price
2 waiting 10.25 hours £ price
6 waiting 8 hours £ price

Then we have got a total price. We had told them when we booked they were very rough numbers and they just said that's fine there used to that.

I don't understand how on earth they can say you HAVE to pay for 180 guests as wedding caterers know damn well your going to get some declines. I personally would fight the unless you signed something to say you would have 180 guests.

I hope the above makes sense.

Zlata

Thank you for that. Ours is very similar although they haven't listed the staffing costs (waitresses etc) separately.
I just called the CAB who seemed to say it was down to interpretation of the agreement so there is no clear right and wrong (legally). They did advise that if we want to, we can pay them under protest, which means paying them what they ask for (so we don't risk them not showing up!) but inform them that we shall be disputing this further.
I'm also waiting for a call back from our wedding insurance people in case they have any advice as well.

RainbowDrops

Consider the caterers POV as to why they set these limits:
They agree to a booking with a set price, as it protects them. If the customer then says, oh actually, can you take X amount off the bill, the caterers are worse off, and may have missed out on a booking for a higher amount.

You agreed to their terms when booking, and it is you, not them, that is trying to change the goal posts.

Zlata wrote: »

The quote was on a PER HEAD basis. It did mention that was based on a minimum of 180 guests but I took this to mean that the per head cost would go up (due to fixed costs etc) or down dependent on final numbers....not that we'd be paying for a total of 180 guests regardless. If that is the case then it's not a per head system at all!

This suggests that their is flexibilty to ADD numbers, but not reduce numbers.