David King72 said:I ended up going with $833 and just bringing my own food and drinks... honestly, if you decide to go through a catering company, just watch your back because they'll try to bleed you dry if you aren't careful.
I think people have this totally wrong idea that it's cheaper to skip the full catering and just rent equipment... trust me, I've shopped around at tons of places. If I bring my own food, the rental and staff costs for 100 people land somewhere between $2500-$1000. But for that same amount, I could actually cover 50 people with a menu priced at $20 per head, like
. I've got an offer right now for about $20 per person—that includes all the gear and staff. When I crunched the numbers on renting equipment alone ($$833), adding servers ($$200), plus food costing at least $1333 (which I'd still have to go pick up myself), it's way better to just hire the pros. Their prices are actually decent considering they show up, do the work, and leave. Most importantly—it keeps me from stressing over the details, and I don't pay until after the pirate party! (Which is huge for anyone who doesn't have all the cash upfront and expects to cover everything once the pirate party kicks off? 😀😀😀😀