how do calculate price per person?

at catering halls, when you go to visit they tell you a price per person and what that includes. you can add or take off of it usually if you want something different. so in that case, people just take the price per person the hall gives them and add in the tax and gratuity.
but... if you're talking about renting a loft and hiring in a caterer, i would count the site rental fee separately...

Best way to figure it out:

Rental Fee +
Total Base Per Person (ie; loft says $90 pp x 100 guests = 9000) +
Extras getting +
Tax +
Gratuity = TOTAL
divided by person: Price Per Person

Price Per Head is what the hall is offering in your package per person. You can usually add, remove or substitue to a degree. However, it doe not include tax and gratuity.

To figure Price Per Head with tax and gratuity take the final number they give you lets just say $13,000 and divide ( / ) it by your guarantee lets say 100 people = $130 per person.

Usually when you go to a hall they give you the price per head first and you bargain with them before you get to the final count with tax and gratuity. Hope this all makes sense, it can get confusing.

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Posted by ChristineAEid

Best way to figure it out:

Rental Fee +
Total Base Per Person (ie; loft says $90 pp x 100 guests = 9000) +
Extras getting +
Tax +
Gratuity = TOTAL
divided by person: Price Per Person

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In my case, 'gratuity' is disguised as a 'service fee' so it is taxed, it adds up like this:

Base Price ($100 pp)
+ Service Fee (18%)
+ Tax (8.75%)

Your 'true' PP price is $128.32

So they charge you tax on the service!?
I always thought you should calculate tax and service separately

100 * 8.75%
100 * 18%
and add them for your final.

That is nuts if we are paying 8.75% on the 18% haha

Glad I found this thread. Something to watch out for ladies....

I had places calculate it differently, and it makes a difference in pricing.

Good way to calculate:
base price + NYS tax (8.625%) + gratuity (18-20%) = total per head count

Bad way to calculate:
(base price + gratuity) * NYS tax

example - lets say your price was $100/person --

In the good example:
$100 + $8.63 + $20 (if the gratuity is 20%) = $128.63

In the bad example:
$100 + $8.63 = $108.63
$108.63 x 20% = $21.72
$108.63 + $21.72 = $130.35

In the bad example they are taxing the gratuity...which I don't know if it's legal...? But I know one reputable place that we looked at does it this way. It may seem like it's not a big difference ($1.72), but if you have 200 guests it will add up (nearly $350).

Just something to look out for! Good luck!

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Posted by beachbum05

Glad I found this thread. Something to watch out for ladies....

I had places calculate it differently, and it makes a difference in pricing.

Good way to calculate:
base price + NYS tax (8.625%) + gratuity (18-20%) = total per head count

Bad way to calculate:
(base price + gratuity) * NYS tax

example - lets say your price was $100/person --

In the good example:
$100 + $8.63 + $20 (if the gratuity is 20%) = $128.63

In the bad example:
$100 + $8.63 = $108.63
$108.63 x 20% = $21.72
$108.63 + $21.72 = $130.35

In the bad example they are taxing the gratuity...which I don't know if it's legal...? But I know one reputable place that we looked at does it this way. It may seem like it's not a big difference ($1.72), but if you have 200 guests it will add up (nearly $350).

Just something to look out for! Good luck!

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They can't tax on a 'gratuity' but they CAN tax you if it says 'service charge' or something along those lines. Which IMO absolutly S U C K S