Help needed - buffet food costings

HappyMJ

tonymaull wrote: »

We believed that it was a buffet meal, as included desert in the options. I can understand that individual snacks can add up, but event the salad portions were small. I would have thought that a spend of £15 per person should have been enough of a spend to provide them a sensible sized meal

£15 should be enough. A hotel near me would charge £10.85 for a small buffet. It's not really enough for a meal it's just a little food to eat.

£10.85 per person
Selection of freshly prepared sandwiches
Served with tortilla chips and dips
—
Melton Mowbray pork pie and chunky piccalilli
Quiche Lorraine
Spicy potato wedges with tomato chutney
—
Chocolate and walnut brownie
Tea or coffee

tonymaull

unholyangel wrote: »

That may be true when you purchase a snack portion versus full portion from a take away or restaurant, but this is a buffet.....you are buying in much bigger bulk then you would even if you purchased a full portion.

And yes the cost can seem like a lot when you look at the total. But when you break it down per head.....well, there's a guy here who will put on a buffet for £6 per head and that includes chicken breast curry with rice and/or chips, an entire salmon, pies, pakora, sandwiches, sausage rolls, stovies etc. Admittedly he is perhaps the best caterer to this area but as a result, he's the preferred caterer for a range of venues.

To me it seemed that we spent more than enough on food. So for it to run out it meant that either 1. Everyone had excessive amounts of food (but no one witnessed this) or 2. The portion price was ok but the quanity was small.
Problem is, I have no evidence of how many of each item were served. Wish I had counted each potato wedge now as it came out the kitchen lol!

tonymaull

HappyMJ wrote: »

£15 should be enough. A hotel near me would charge £10.85 for a small buffet. It's not really enough for a meal it's just a little food to eat.

Thats what I would have thought. In comparison to other buffet prices, we paid more than the average, and received less than average.

tonymaull

So based on what everyone has kindly said, my next question is...

If the venue failed to provide us a quantity of product for the price, is their contract legitimate?

To say we will provide a 'portion' for £x, where the definition of a portion has never been established, cannot be right?

I wouldnt sell you 'some' petrol for £10. You want to know exactly what your getting.

unholyangel

If proper restaurants can do 3 courses for £15, I'd have expected more from a buffet given table service usually isn't involved for the latter.

If you are a consumer (had to check as some of your wording made it sound like it could be a trade/business event) then they need to tell you either the price or how the price will be calculated. They also should have told you what you would be getting in exchange for that price. Agreements must be certain. If its too vague then there is no binding contract formed.

What discount have they offered?

paddyrg

If you allow people to control their own portion sizes, they invariably take more than if it's plated. Some will even make doggy bags to take away 'free' food. This is why restaurants that offer fixed price buffets offer cheap foods (noodles, veg in sauces, cheap cuts, pizza, chips) not the good stuff (lobster, etc)!

missbiggles1

tonymaull wrote: »

We believed that it was a buffet meal, as included desert in the options. I can understand that individual snacks can add up, but event the salad portions were small. I would have thought that a spend of £15 per person should have been enough of a spend to provide them a sensible sized meal

I don't think you can expect much of a meal for £15 per head, especially if that includes a pudding.

unholyangel

missbiggles1 wrote: »

I don't think you can expect much of a meal for £15 per head, especially if that includes a pudding.

Come up here, you'll get a 3 course meal, table service and a drink for that.

Although admittedly, if you want a sirloin, you're looking at £15-20 for the steak (and whatever is served with it).

molerat

missbiggles1 wrote: »

I don't think you can expect much of a meal for £15 per head, especially if that includes a pudding.

I would expect to feed 2 for that

tonymaull

Thanks again everyone for your comments.

I think the fact they couldnt provide us any information on portion size means their 'contract' with us would be difficult to enforce should they wish to take it further.

They offered a 30-40% discount I think, but the invoice is very confusing as we have no way of knowing exactly how much they provided after the first lot ran out.

Going forward I will suggest we offer them 50% of the outstanding invoice as a gesture of goodwill to clear the balance (and to get them off our back). If they do not accept this then I will look into contract law further regarding the legality of a contract where there is lacking information on the goods provided.