Im starting a personal chef service in AUG, GA. Im hitting a wall trying to price my services. The jist of my business is I am hired by clients to come into their home and prepare meals for them. I can either prepare several meals at once that they can freeze, or I can prepare a meal that is going to be consumed immediately. For the meals that are going to be froze, im giving the option of choosing packages of 3,5,7,10,or 14 meals.
What would you pay to have someone come into your home and prepare meals for you and your family, and what would you pay to have someone come in and prepare a meal for a date or a dinner party?
2006-08-01 01:59:48 · 8 answers · asked by DELETED 2 in Business & Finance ➔ Small Business
The people who will buy this are high-income, busy people who are focused on quality food and excellent service.
You should sell on the basis of the fresh ingredients, your skill as a cook, the quality of service you provide (including peripheral things like your crisp white apron and your flowers for the table and your always on time guarantee etc).
What I'm getting at is, price it high. Comparable to a nice restaurant + delivery charge.
This gives you a number of advantages:
1) it screens out the customers who will nickle and dime you.
2) it gives you margins for safety, which you will need because you're a startup and will make mistakes
3) it gives you margins to support advertising, marketing, and commissions to referral partners so you can grow the business.
Good luck,
Scott
p.s. Google for Rory Fatt of Restaurant Marketing Systems, this same business is how he got started.
2006-08-01 04:02:42 · answer #1 · answered by scott.braden 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I would only pick the dinners for a week or 2. I would buy 10 meals for a family of 3.5 (have a 1 year old and a 7 year old) that I would freeze. I would be willing to pay 220.00 for 10 complete meals.
2006-08-01 02:51:19 · answer #2 · answered by boohoo 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
What you are probably going to want to do is pick a % mark up you are looking to make... So after the gas to travel round trip, ingredients have a set markup... And you could either do a small markup on ingredients & an hourly wage (This would usualy be best for larger parties that will take you longer to do) or you can do a large markup on the ingredients... Plus you will want a flat fee for your traveling there & back...
2006-08-01 02:40:08 · answer #3 · answered by The_Cat_77 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
A few ideas on this:
1 - See what your competitors are charging for similar services.
2 - Determine your real costs for the service: price of food, cost of materials (if you are supplying the cookware, knives, etc, don't forget to factor in wear and tear, knife sharpening, etc), your transportation costs, your hourly rate (include your prep and travel time both ways), and overhead. Food costs should be marked up at least 50%, your hourly rate should be reasonable (what would you be paid if your worked in a restaurant serving equivalent level of food), and your prep costs should include hourly charges for shopping, mise en plas prep, cleanup, etc. This should give you reasonable base rates which you can then modify based on the market.
If you need some assistance doing the calculations, drop me a line and I'll be glad to assist.
Hope this helps!
2006-08-01 02:13:46 · answer #4 · answered by extremenerd 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Are they providing all of the ingredients, meats, etc..? If they aren't, you should take all that into effect and choose your pricing from there. Also, you have to count in your time and labor, which should be priced at what a chef would be paid.
have you tried looking into pricing from other chefs just to get an idea of what they might charge?
2006-08-01 02:04:10 · answer #5 · answered by Scarlett 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Associations may be a good avenue to explore. These organizations will address many of the thoughts, questions and concerns you'll inevitably have as well as many you haven't anticipated yet. See the source box for some relevant links.
Hope that helps! I wish you much success & happiness in all your ventures!
2006-08-01 02:44:24 · answer #6 · answered by TM Express™ 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
That is great, it also depends on what they are making..like roiental food, itlian, english it depends you didin't specify what type of food.....
obviously you have to start marketing and also to find out what people want in your chosen area, before deciding....
2006-08-01 03:00:49 · answer #7 · answered by kida_w 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Before I can give you an answer... What is your main age demographics?
2006-08-01 02:07:03 · answer #8 · answered by larry g 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋