Charge for Staff, Gratuity, and Service Fee????

Yeah, if gratuities are included, that service fee should not include that in the calculation. I would negotiate with the vendor.

That seems high. I would wait to get more quotes. It might be a usual occurrence in your area. My banquet hall was only per person, security staff, and 10% gratuity.

Fairly standard in my area. What got me is a fairly popular caterer had sent me their catering cost packet for venues 30 minutes apart from each other and the fees were significantly higher for the same menu in another location.

That’s a standard catering tax. Ours is 20% too but the contract should outline gratuities - like ours states the staff are compensated a living wage and gratuity is optional and not mandatory or required.

@Samantha, we have a separate line for tax.

Our venue has this too, but ours is actually 21%! I believe this is what pays the servers’ wages, as well as wear and tear on the venue. It’s SUPER annoying, don’t get me wrong, but I think it’s pretty normal. You just basically have to add 20% to the per plate cost and then tell yourself THATS how much you’re paying per person!

This is pretty standard.

We have a 20% service fee also PLUS 8.25% NY tax so instead of our venue being $15k, it bumps it up to a little over $20k not including any guest we have over 100 people. All of the venues we looked at charge the same 20% service fee and tax. The venue suggests that we also tip Maitre d $2-3 per guest, and all staff members $1-3 per guest.

View Quoted Comment Yeah, it’s not a “tax” per say. Sorry, I’ve been in catering for 10 years and it’s the lingo. Usually this fee is pre-taxed and added into the final cost before actual taxes.

Thanks all for the info. Sounds like this is somewhat standard, but I’m still not sure if it makes sense to have such a high service fee when I am separately paying the wages for staff. Good news is the vendor seems very open to negotiate so I’m hoping i’ll be able to bring down the price.

It's the norm where I am too. They even charge it on the venue space and ceremony fee if you have a ceremony at the venue -- unless you go with a non-profit organization or public works.

That was one of the biggest reasons we chose a venue through parks and rec. Saved $300 on venue fee and no ceremony fee. With a small budget it saved over $1200.

This is pretty normal. Goes to overhead costs not directly to the staff. Every caterer we spoke with had this type of service fee.

You have to ask, and do it before you sign a contract. Afterwards, you have no leverage. In NYS, any thing charged as service must go to servers. I think it is standard, but you do not pay gratuities like you would in a restaurant. The servers are typically paid more. Clarify, put it on the cost list and keep looking. Good luck.

While I don't have a service fee it seems to be normal for many venues. I think you should ask your venue if the servers' wage is already compensated for a tip. My venue pretty much said they are compensated well-over what the get in the restaurant normally. So technically this means I don't have to tip them but I will again, double check with her. Doesn't hurt to ask! I asked my venue what their wage meant and who I should tip.

That's pretty standard- our venue has this to cover sales taxes and licenses.

We too had a 20% service fee on our contract, but the 20% was based only on the cost of the food, servers/bartenders and venue fee, not the gratuities they added to your contract. In fact, our contract did not include gratuities at all as they were to be paid out as we saw fit.

My venue has this exact same charge. I have to budget for 20% over and above what we're paying for the venue/catering/beverage to make sure I have enough money to pay for it. It's ridiculous, but it's fairly standard. The other few venues we toured, the guides told us that each time. "Don't forget there will be a 20% service fee!" Ummmm.........ok.

I have a 15% gratuity fee that is considered like tip but... a 20% service fee for that type of cost where you're saying it is for employee benefits, sounds really odd to me . but i have been to places before that charge an extra fee that they say is for the cost of health insurance or whatever to their employees.