Academic Ventures - Personal, Cost-Effective Conference Planning

F&B The Triple Ps

Per-person pricing best fits our budget model. No translation is needed to fit this into our budget format. Lunches, breaks, breakfasts, dinners and reception packages are often priced per person. These tend to be all-inclusive but usually do not mean all-you-can-eat.

In situations where the food is served–luncheons or dinners, the per-person pricing is clearly based on a single serving. It is not acceptable for a guest to ask their server for seconds without paying an additional cost just as you don’t get a discount if someone wants only half their dinner. The cost is the same for each person.

In a buffet or self-serve situation, the venue bases the cost on their experience—they average how much is consumed by a single attendee and charge accordingly. Some guests are going to take more than one serving but just as likely other guests will take less. Again, the cost is the same for each person but people who desire more to eat can and those who desire less (or nothing) to eat can do so too.

All-inclusive means it covers all aspects of the F&B event. For a lunch or dinner it likely includes salad, bread, entrée, starch, dessert and beverages. Again, it is one serving per person so if guests want more than what is serve, an additional price would be paid. All-inclusive should not be confused with all-you-can-eat alternatives which are discussed later.

All-inclusive per-person arrangements work well but be sure they include the items you desire. For example, provided beverages typically are coffee, tea and water pitchers. If you want to give the option of soda, beer or wine, the all-inclusive package will need to be modified.

F&B: Comparing a dozen apples to apples by the dozen

Our mission continues towards having meaningful F&B costs in an early-stage budget (see below for the first parts in the series),

Even though we are a long way from selecting a menu we have used a little math to get an average price for our hors d’oeuvres. We can use this figure to generate both meaningful cost estimates early on and a framework to select specific menu items later.

We’ve reviewed a number of factors to determine a good estimate for expected attendance at each of our F&B events. And we attempted to answer the question of “how many bites.”

Now is a good time to take another look at the venue’s catering menu to see how items are offered and what we need to do to translate those offerings into a per-bite number consistent with our F&B event budget format. To do this we must understand how F&B items are priced.

F&B items are typically priced “per person” or “per quantity.” Pricing based “on consumption” is common as well. You may even come across “per hour” pricing.

Determining Bites Per Person

Our goal is to find a way to have meaningful F&B costs on an early-stage budget even though we are a long way from selecting a menu.

We have used a little math to get our hot and cold hors d’oeuvres pricing into an average price that we will use to generate both meaningful cost estimates early on and the ability to select menu items at a later date. And we have reviewed a number of factors to determine a good estimate for expected attendance at each of our F&B events.

This is as good a place as any to figure out how many bites per person we should anticipate.

To answer the question of how many bites per person, we must first understand the type of reception we are hosting. A pre-dinner reception, poster reception, networking reception all differ in the amount of food expected.  Of course time is also a factor when determining quantity – the longer the reception, the more food will be served.

In the world of entertaining and conference/event planning there is a sort of hourly bites per person baseline of six bites per person at events without a dinner to follow and four bites per person at events with a dinner to follow.

Now whether that baseline estimate applies to your event or not depends on a number of factors.

The composition of your conference audience will alter the bites-per-person average. While it is not politically correct to stereotype groups of people, F&B professionals often have an opinion on professional groups that have formed from years of actual experience. In addition, the more familiar attendees are with each other, the more food is consumed (perhaps they are more comfortable piling food on their plates among friends).

Type of event plays a role in the amount of food consumed. Networking events that require a free hand for introductions and business cards will consume less food while gatherings involving more intense conversations tend to delve deeper into the food tables. Events that have programming also consume less food as the programming assumes center stage (instead of the food).

Time of day and alternate options can drive food consumption up or down. If the event is later in the day in a venue that lacks other food options, you can expect a higher bites-per-person consumption. If the event is early and additional food opportunities exist, you will notice a lower bites-per-person consumption.

Thus in determining the right number of bites-per-person one should begin at the baseline of 4 to 6 bites per person per hour and adjust based on their audience, type of event and event schedule.