Catering cost per person is the total order divided by headcount, and it is the number most people use to compare caterers. It moves based on format, menu, headcount, service level and how much is included, which is why two quotes for the same number of guests can look nothing alike. The per person figure only means something once you know what sits inside it.
Key takeaways
Want a figure for your own event rather than a general one? The Curry Up Now catering page returns a custom quote.
Caterers build an order from components, then divide by headcount. The components are the food itself, the labor to prepare and pack it, delivery, and anything needed to serve it such as chafing dishes, utensils and plates.
That is why per person is an output rather than a menu price. Nobody is charging you for a person. They are charging for an order that happens to be sized for a certain number of people, and the division happens at the end.
It depends entirely on the caterer, which is the main reason comparing quotes is harder than it looks. A per person figure might cover only the food, or it might cover everything needed to put that food in front of people.
Four inclusions separate most quotes that look identical on the surface:
It is the right way to compare and a rough way to budget. For planning, the total is what you actually have to approve, and totals move in steps rather than smoothly because of minimums, tray sizes and delivery bands.
A useful approach is to set the total you can spend, then work backwards to a headcount and a format that fit inside it. That is a more reliable path than picking a per person target and hoping the total lands where you want.
Five reasons, in rough order of impact: the format, how many dishes are on the menu, whether protein is in every component or only some, whether service and setup are included, and whether the caterer has a minimum that your order is sitting just above or just below.
That last one surprises people. An order just under a minimum and an order just over it can produce very different per person figures for a similar amount of food.
These are the choices that add the most, and most of them are worth it some of the time.
And these are the levers that pull in the other direction, without making the food worse.
Our guide to Indian corporate catering covers how these choices play out on a repeating office order.
Format is usually the single biggest variable, ahead of the menu itself. The same dishes delivered three different ways produce three different per person figures.
Individual boxes cost more per head because each one is assembled and packed separately. What you get for that is certainty: everyone has their own meal, portions are fixed, nothing runs out unevenly, and dietary requirements travel with the box rather than relying on labels on a table.
A shared spread costs less per head and feeds a room more flexibly. People take what they want, which means some dishes empty faster than others, and dietary guests need the spread to be labeled clearly. For a seated all hands, boxes win. For a party, a spread almost always does.
Almost always downward as numbers rise. Delivery, setup and the kitchen's fixed effort do not double when the guest count doubles, so spreading them over more people lowers the per head number.
The effect is strongest at the small end. Moving from a very small group to a medium one changes the per person figure noticeably. Moving from a large group to a very large one changes it much less.
Because a catering order has a floor of work underneath it regardless of size. Someone takes the order, the kitchen preps, someone packs it, someone drives it. That effort is similar whether it feeds a dozen people or several dozen.
A minimum is how a caterer makes small orders viable rather than a way to push you upward. It is also why a la carte trays often carry no minimum while full packages do, since trays slot into existing production more easily.
A small amount of leftover food usually means you ordered correctly. Running out is a far worse outcome than having a tray with some left in it, and most planners deliberately aim slightly high.
Consistent large leftovers are a different signal, and usually point to too many dishes rather than too much food. Cutting the number of options while keeping the volume tends to fix it.
This is where two quotes quietly stop being comparable. Build a checklist and apply it to both.
At Curry Up Now the catering page states that setup, utensils, plates, napkins and serving spoons are included, with chafing dishes and full setup on buffet packages, and that all the venue needs to provide is a table.
Delivery is free above a minimum order value, with the radius varying by location, and the catering page says so directly rather than leaving it to the quote. Standard orders need around twenty hours of lead time, and larger bookings of a hundred or more guests, or a food truck booking, need five to seven business days.
Those lead times matter more to your budget than they look, because a rushed order limits your format options, and format is the biggest cost lever you have. More on the truck option is in our guide to Bay Area food truck catering.
Normalize them before you look at the numbers. Put both on the same headcount, the same format and the same inclusion list, then compare.
The most common mistake is comparing a food only quote against an all inclusive one and concluding the first caterer is cheaper. Once delivery, setup and serviceware are added back, the gap often disappears or reverses.
Six questions settle almost everything:
You can raise all of these on the catering inquiry form itself, and our guide to San Jose catering shows how the answers look in practice.
It should not, and on a menu designed for it, it does not. The expensive version of dietary catering is bolting on a separate order for a handful of guests. The efficient version is a menu where the vegan, vegetarian, gluten free and halal options are part of the standard spread.
The Curry Up Now catering page states that halal, vegan, vegetarian, gluten free and keto friendly options are built into every catering menu and that no special menu is needed, while noting that cross contamination cannot be fully guaranteed. The detail is in our guides to vegan and vegetarian Indian food and gluten free Indian food, and the allergen guide covers dairy, wheat, eggs, nuts, sesame and soy.
By building the order around your event rather than publishing one rate and applying it to everything.
Here is how the process runs:
The three formats are the main lever on your per person figure, so decide that before anything else. Individual boxes suit a seated all hands, party packages suit a celebration, and a la carte trays suit a group whose needs you already know.
Local detail for specific markets is covered in our guides to Flower Mound catering, Durham catering and Palo Alto catering, with occasion specific notes in holiday party catering, wedding catering and office catering. For what to put alongside the mains, see Indian appetizers, and the dishes themselves are on the menu.
There is no single useful average, because the figure depends on format, menu, headcount and inclusions more than on the caterer. A quote built around your actual event will tell you far more than any published average, and most caterers will produce one quickly.
Usually yes. Delivery, setup and the kitchen's fixed effort do not scale with headcount, so spreading them across more guests lowers the per head figure. The effect is largest when moving up from small groups.
Because each meal is assembled and packed separately, which takes more labor and more materials than loading trays. What you buy is portion certainty and easy dietary handling.
Set the total first, then work back to headcount and format. Totals move in steps because of minimums and tray sizes, so a per person target can mislead you about what you will actually be approving.
Only if the inclusions match. A food only quote will always look lower than an all inclusive one. Normalize both for delivery, setup and serviceware before comparing.
Standard orders need around twenty hours. Larger bookings of a hundred or more guests, and food truck events, need five to seven business days. Booking earlier also keeps your format options open.
Catering cost per person is a useful comparison number and a poor planning number. It changes with format, headcount and inclusions, so the same caterer can produce very different figures for the same guests depending on how the order is built.
Decide the format first, set a total rather than a rate, and make every quote list its inclusions before you compare them. Then the per person figure starts telling you something real.
Ask for a catering quote with your own headcount and date, find your nearest Curry Up Now, or read the story behind the brand.
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