What to charge for a curry gig

[Micky Tikka]

Your thoughts on what I should have charged the client
Now I spent roughly 200 on food and to be fair I recon that I cooked enough food for 60    ;D
so I cant blame the client for that .I left him some to freeze and took some home with his blessing
Labour got to say a good 2days plus an extra pair of hands was needed for 4 hours as I was on the BBQ
doing the starters
Now I wasn't in for this for the money It was to impress with the quality of the curry
But if this was a business what would have been a fair price
I did ask him of a budget which he gave me for 40 people and that went down to 30.  I'm friendly with the client and am meeting him tomorrow and I know money is not going to be a problem 
So  how much 

[natterjak]

Well it all depends wha value you put on your time and I have no idea what a commercial rate would be, but would guess it should come to

[fried]

Can't you just price this up per head? It would be easier than trying to work out how long you take in comparison with a 'professional' BIR.

[Unclebuck]

roughly speaking a restaurant will do this depending on overheads
cost of food per dish + 60 to 70% per head.

200[on food] / 60[people]   =   3.33[per person]
60 % 3.33 = 1.99
total per person 5.32

so 320 quid would be sit down price.  i guess a buffet would be cheaper.
if my sums are correct

Actually that looks well tight!

[Micky Tikka]

You can do Fried just trying to find out what you would think you should charge or If you were the client what would you pay 

[Kashmiri Bob]

No idea really.  However, with lamb chops on the menu Id be expecting to pay a premium.  If there had been a large salad platter, with julienned mooli, carrot and fancy garnishes, etc., and perhaps a papri chaat presentation to complement the fabulous spread, Id think 15 sheets would be exceptional value for money.  But, where were the poppadoms?

Rob 

[fried]

That would depend if it was out of my pocket or out of  company expenses ;D

Looking at UBs figures shows why a lot of restaurants are cutting corners!

[Micky Tikka]

Poppadoms were there but out of picture Rob 
I suppose if i was in it for the money I would make sure I would fill them up with poppadoms and bombay mix
before the mains
May be next time  ;D

[curryhell]

This is a very difficult question to answer and i'm sure we'll all have different ideas.  I think that a price per head would be  a good starting point.  Trying to add ones labour costs to the cost of the food is very difficult to calculate given that the time taken by a full time professional rather than someone who does it for pleasure will be entirely different and like comparing apples with pears . 
As already mentioned the quality of the ingredients also play a part.  Dishing up lamb chops in any guise is going to be expensive!!  I think one needs to be reasonably confident of how many people the the prepared food would actually feed.  Unfortunately, this must come with experience.  I'm guessing that a caterer would provide enough food for fifty whilst catering for thirty five to forty guests.  When all said and done, given that there was enough left over to freeze and you took some home and everybody was well fed, personally i believe that a figure in the region

[Micky Tikka]

Good comments CH
To make maximum use of the food I should have organised another one the following night for 30
That would have been all profit .  That was how much left  ;D
I suppose thats how you make money