Catering - 40% Production Fee

That IS high. I did a ton of research on catering companies in multiple states (since at first we were contemplating our wedding location amongst four different states), and the highest I ever saw was 30%. Most service charges (Which is what this company is essentially calling a production charge) were between 10% - 20%. I’ve heard of a lot of businesses hiking up their fees in an attempt to recover financial losses during the pandemic, so that may be what this company is doing. Some companies also offer incredibly low food costs in order to draw attention to their business, then make up for those low costs by tacking on high fees on the backend. Is this company offering an incredibly good deal on their catering packages? If their prices are substantially lower than their competition, that is what they’re likely doing.

View Quoted Comment Thank you for the feedback! No not at all - there were still additional line item fees for bartenders and servers and while we did ask for a quote on higher end food (filet and salmon), just the food was still $95/head!

Perhaps ask for a different cut of meat? Tenderloin is common. I'd further ask the company if the 40% includes gratuity and at what percentage? Some couples forget to include tipping in their budgeting. On another note, there is a Netflux special called Marriage or Mortgage based in Nashville. It's pre-inflation, but you may see some vendor pricing here. Good luck.

Edited after seeing last post.

View Quoted Comment Absolutely! We started on the high end so that we could then scale down… but this is a dose of reality - YOWZA. Tennessee sales tax is already high at 9.25%… I keep having flashbacks of George Banks in FOTB saying “ NO, Honk… we are going with the cheaper chicken.” 😂🤣

View Quoted Comment Yikes. I would definitely reach out to some other caterers in your area and see if that fee is standard for where you live, or if this particular company is just exponentially high.

View Quoted Comment Oh my gosh, this quote is everything. You made me laugh this morning lol

40%???


That is bait and switch

Yikes! I'd definitely start looking elsewhere. I feel like it wouldn't be hard to find another company that could beat those prices.

View Quoted Comment Right?! I'm in NY, the most expensive place to get married, and this fee was 22% for me.

View Quoted Comment

I couldn't imagine $95/head as final cost let alone adding 40% on top of that. Thanks for the heads up on how they can charge things.

Get a quote from another company. You can use that additional quote to pressure them to decrease this fee.

Following up to confirm that 40% is ludicrous and not standard in this market. We quoted two other caters in Nashville and waiting on two more. So far every single line item - food, service, staffing all significantly lower.

One thing to consider is the possibility of food supply line problems and high inflation rates. You might ask why the 40% is in anticipation of such changes.