How to Compare Two Brooklyn Catering Quotes Fairly

How do you compare two Brooklyn catering quotes fairly

Get both numbers into the same unit first. Everything else is secondary, and skipping this step is how most people end up choosing wrong.

Catering in this borough is sold in at least four different units. Full pans. Half pans. Platters. And packages priced by the head. Two numbers written in two of those units are not comparable, no matter how carefully you stare at them, and the gap between a half pan and a full pan is large enough to invert a decision entirely.

Everything FreeTown African & American Cuisine publishes is a full-pan price, running $40 to $165 across the menu. That is stated up front for exactly this reason. If a quote you are holding does not say which unit it is in, that is the first question, not the last.

Step one, work out what unit each number is in

Ask each kitchen a blunt version of the same question. Is this price for a full pan, a half pan, a platter, or a figure calculated from my headcount?

A half pan sold at a shade over half a full pan price looks like a bargain against a full pan number until you notice it's half the food. A platter is a different shape and a different quantity again, often built for standing-and-picking instead of plating up. And a package priced by the head is a completely different animal, because the kitchen has already made an internal assumption about how much each person eats and folded it into the number without showing you.

None of these is dishonest. They are just different products. Write the unit next to every number before you write anything else down.

Step two, check whether the two numbers cover the same things

Once the units match, work out what sits inside each one.

Some catering totals include serving equipment, chafing racks, fuel, utensils, disposables, setup, staff or delivery. Some include none of that. A quote that is 80 dollars higher and includes the racks is not the more expensive quote.

Don't assume any of it either way, including here. What comes with an order from 1172 Park Place is a question for the phone, because it depends on the order. Ask both kitchens the same question. One answer never covers both.

Ask about the mechanics too. Whether it is pickup or delivery, how the handover works, what the timing is on the day. Two quotes can be identical on food and quite different on how much of your morning they consume. What to ask a caterer before ordering has a longer version of that list.

Step three, compare the food, not the totals

Now put the two menus side by side and ignore the bottom line for a minute.

One quote might be two proteins and a rice. The other might be one protein, a rice and three sides. Those are different meals, and whichever one is cheaper is cheaper because it is less food or different food, not because the kitchen is better value. Line them up dish by dish.

This is where a published list earns its keep. When you can read every tray and every price, you can rebuild the other kitchen's spread out of our trays and see what the same meal costs here. The full Crown Heights catering tray price list makes that a five-minute exercise. When neither side publishes anything, the comparison is guesswork wearing a spreadsheet, which is part of why the quote-form habit is such a problem for buyers and is covered in why most Brooklyn caterers make you request a quote.

The one variable that will not sit still

Pretending otherwise is how bad comparisons get made.

Nobody can tell you reliably how far a given pan goes. Not us, and not the kitchen you're comparing us against. It depends on how the food is put out, how many other dishes are competing for the same plate, and whether people come back for a second round. A half pan and a full pan are a clean two-to-one on volume, but neither maps onto your headcount without somebody who knows your event.

So don't try to convert either quote into a figure for each guest and compare those. That calculation runs on an assumption you can't see, and it will quietly make the decision for you.

Do this instead. Get both kitchens to tell you how many trays they'd send for your specific event, described the same way to both. Then compare those two orders. It's the only comparison where the kitchens themselves answer the yield question instead of a number you made up.

A short list of questions that settles most of it

Ask every kitchen the same five things and write the answers in a column.

Five answers in a column will tell you more than any amount of squinting at two totals.

Where to start on the Crown Heights side

Read the price list, build the spread you want, and then call 718-799-7160 with it. The quantity answer comes from somebody who can ask about your room. A formula can't do that.

If you haven't settled on trays at all and you're weighing a self-serve table against something more formal, tray catering versus plated catering for a Brooklyn event is the decision to make before you start collecting quotes. Choose the format first and every number afterwards becomes comparable.