Whether you're a caterer, restaurant owner, planner or couple, estimating the cost for a wedding event can be challenging, and even cause overspending due to poor planning.
We have built a Food Cost Calculator specifically for weddings, a simple tool that helps you accurately estimate the real cost of wedding catering.
A Wedding Food Cost Calculator is an online tool that determines the total cost of a wedding by including all expected expenses such as total food cost, staff, beverages, venue, cake, decorations, and other hidden costs involved in catering.
This calculator primarily helps planners, caterers, and restaurant owners plan their desired profit margin, and see both the final total cost per guest (with or without profit) and the overall wedding package price.
Food cost at a wedding refers to how much you pay per guest for meals. It mainly depends on the meal type, location, quality and overall wedding protocol. On average:
🛈 Note: The above costs cover only meals, not beverages, staff, or additional services.
Who can find this calculator useful?
Imagine you’re catering a wedding with 100 guests. Here is how you can use this calculator to estimate your costs with the following inputs:
The calculator will instantly compute and show the results within milliseconds:
16,666 dollars166.67 dollars4,166.67 dollars (25%)👤 Per-Guest Analysis
125 dollars166.67 dollars41.67 dollars📏 Industry Benchmark Comparison
| Metric | Your Wedding | Standard Range | Assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Profit Margin | 25% | 10–30% | ✓ Good |
| Food per Guest | 50 dollars | 30–60 dollars | ✓ Good |
| Beverage per Guest | 20 dollars | 15–60 dollars | ✓ Good |
| Cake per Guest | 5 dollars | 5–15 dollars | ✓ Good |
We have prepared a table of wedding food costs for every 50 guests, from 50 to 500 guests, to help you estimate your budget. We assume $50 per guest for food and $20 per guest for drinks, and apply a 20% profit margin:
| Guests | Food Cost | Drink Cost | Total Cost (No Profit) | Total Catering Price (With 20% Profit) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 guests | $2,500 | $1,000 | $3,500 | $4,375 |
| 100 guests | $5,000 | $2,000 | $7,000 | $8,750 |
| 150 guests | $7,500 | $3,000 | $10,500 | $13,125 |
| 200 guests | $10,000 | $4,000 | $14,000 | $17,500 |
| 250 guests | $12,500 | $5,000 | $17,500 | $21,875 |
| 300 guests | $15,000 | $6,000 | $21,000 | $26,250 |
| 350 guests | $17,500 | $7,000 | $24,500 | $30,625 |
| 400 guests | $20,000 | $8,000 | $28,000 | $35,000 |
| 450 guests | $22,500 | $9,000 | $31,500 | $39,375 |
| 500 guests | $25,000 | $10,000 | $35,000 | $43,750 |
Note: The above table includes foods and drinks only, while staffing, rentals, venue, décor, and other services are additional.
If you are living in any state in the United States, you might be wondering what the average wedding food cost per person could be. Below, we have shown the average cost per guest at the national level and state-by-state:
U.S National Average Cost for wedding food per Guest:
$30–$60$45–$100$40–$80Here is a table showing state-by-state food cost ranges to give you a better idea:
| Region / States | Average Food Cost Per Guest |
|---|---|
| High-Cost States (NY, CA, NJ, MA) | $70–$130 |
| Mid-Range States (FL, TX, VA, CO, AZ) | $40–$90 |
| Affordable States (OH, MI, GA, NC, PA) | $35–$75 |
| Lowest-Cost States (IA, KS, OK, MO, WI) | $30–$60 |
Remember that those costs are basic not luxury or high end.
No doubt, whenever you plan a wedding, birthday or any event there are always hidden charges that people often overlook or ignore. Here are the common hidden costs you should include in your budget:
The food cost at a wedding can vary, but here is the average cost per guest:
Use the calculator to estimate total expenses including other costs.
Average food cost can be vary in different countries, but in the United States, average wedding food costs fall between 4,000 dollars and 10,000 dollars. It widely depends on the number of guests, service type, and menu complexity.
Let's use a mid range buffet to perform the calculation to see how much it costs to feed 100 wedding guests:
Let's compute the calculation for 200 wedding guests:
Food and drinks take up most of the wedding budget. Both typically make up 50% to 70% cost of your total catering bill.
Assume for 100 guests, let's calculate both food and drink cost: