Part of the Event and Catering Production track. Lesson 8 of 10.
Prerequisites: Modules 3, 47, 54.
The sequence
Cost the food at edible portion.
Cost the labor, including transport and setup.
Cost the equipment and the losses.
And compare against what was quoted.
The decisions
What to include. The labor is the number that gets underestimated — setup, transport, service, and breakdown are hours nobody counted when the quote was written.
And the guaranteed count question. Producing to a guarantee and serving fewer is a cost somebody agreed to bear, and that should have been settled in Lesson 1.
What you are reading
Actual against quoted, after every event. That comparison is the only thing that makes the next quote better.
What goes wrong here
Labor uncosted.
And no post-event comparison, which means the same underestimate repeats.
Verification
The actual-versus-quoted comparison.
The boundary
Pricing, contracts, and financial matters belong with a CPA and a licensed attorney.