I own a bar. A customer has asked for a price to cater the alcohol for his daughter's wedding.

Question

Does anybody have an idea what I should charge per person? Should I charge by the bottle? They want keg beer (bud light) and wine and open bar with 5 different hard liquors. We've never catered alcohol before and aren't sure.

Answer 1

My friend owns a bar.  What he normally does is sell the bottles to him at a price that is somewhat between.  You are ordering it wholesale and getting a good deal.  You want to sell it somewhere between the price you paid and the ABC store pays.  Then the bartender gives a flat fee to the customer.  So that technically customer is hiring bartender not through the store.  I guess that also helps with his liability since he isn't serving it.

Make sure he has checked with the place that alcohol is allowed and find out what your ABC license requirements would be.  He may have to pay a permit fee and may be required to have off duty police officers as well.

Does he want a complete open bar 5 of which being hard liquor?  That is where it gets difficult.  Certain drinks you know you'll only get one person who has you break open the Banana liquor or the Grand Marnier.  So for those I'd set up a flat cost for--$3 a shot.  Or round it to a nearest bottle.  Say half of this bottle was used.  Half of that bottle.  If they are roughly the same price, call it one full bottle.  Personally I would say 5 liquors is it.  It is easiest if you say just those 5 liquors and that way you just bring those 5.  Flat cost per bottle.  He gets excess.

You charge him enough in service fee for the mixers you provide.  You keep excess mixers.

For the wine, I'd suggest he goes to Total Wine and buys whatever wine he would like.  You charge a $5 corking fee per bottle.  After all, you don't know his taste.  What if you pick a $20 a bottle wine?  He going to be happy with that?

As for kegs, watch out there.  Find out what locals in the area charge.  It's a flat fee and you usually get a deposit back when you return the keg.  You want to make sure it isn't cheaper for him to get that someplace else.  So just charge him what the others in the area charge for the keg.  For bud light that should be really cheap.  We rented our keg and they took it to the after party--returned it the next day.

Are you providing glasses?  Or is he?  If you are providing, add in dishwashing and breakage fees.  But you'd have to close your bar for that night if you did that and I wouldn't.  I'd make him rent his glasses through a rental company.

Charging per person is a bad idea.  Someone drinks 1 glass of wine.  Someone else drinks 7 glasses of beer.  Charging per person one of the two of you is going to end up getting screwed on that deal.  Charing by the bottle is definitely the easiest.  No one is upset.  You can prove the empty bottles.  Both people know the other is being honest.  You can't prove people drank.

Answer 2

Check with your ABC to see if your license will allow you to cater off limits. Ask about size of the receiption. What do they actually expect

you to do(Booze and service or just booze). What you charge is up to you!

Answer 3

Maybe You Should Go By The Bottle & How Many Average Drinks You'll Get Out Of It. Then Your Profit From Every Drink Of Course.

Possibly See How Many Drinks You Can Get Per Bottle Of Wine, Then Charge Accordingly.

That Way If You Charged A Security Deposit, Then Wait Until The Actual Day, Tally Up How Many Drinks Were Given Out & Then Charge Them After The Wedding So That Your Not Selling Yourself Short & Not Getting Anywhere Near As Much Money As Drinks You Served.

Good Luck

Answer 4

msn

Answer 5

I agree with oy vey.  I wouldn't cater alcohol off the premises.  Waaayyy too much liability.

Answer 6

at my wedding the kegs were $75 upfront and then the rest of the bar was like $5.00 per person or something like that.. it was worked into our hall price.  

Answer 7

This is how our country club did it for my wedding. We had to choose our liquor and beer and wine and how many bottles we wanted. Therefore it was our decision how much was used. Then you figure out how many drinks were made from each bottle and charge per drink what you would normally charge. Any leftover alcohol was given to us afterwards. Good luck!

Answer 8

Before you agree to anything check with your insurance company as far as liability goes.

You could be exposing you and your business to unnecessary liability.

This is going to be off premises and I don't think a commercial policy will cover any litigation that results from something someone did off site with liquor you sold.

Remember this is a "favor" to him, but who will be there when your business is on the line?