Catering costs $15 to $150 per person depending on how the food hits the table — and that's just the food. The bar, the cake, a mandatory 18–25% service charge, and sales tax routinely push a "$100 a head" plated dinner to $188.71 all-in. Here's the full matrix by service style, what stacks on top, and the two questions that protect you from the most common quote surprise.
| Service style | Low | Typical | High | Food for 100 guests |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plated dinner | $70 | $100 | $150 | $7,000–$15,000 |
| Buffet | $40 | $60 | $80 | $4,000–$8,000 |
| Family style | $50 | $70 | $90 | $5,000–$9,000 |
| Food stations | $60 | $85 | $110 | $6,000–$11,000 |
| Cocktail / heavy apps | $30 | $50 | $70 | $3,000–$7,000 |
| Brunch / lunch | $30 | $45 | $60 | $3,000–$6,000 |
| Backyard BBQ | $25 | $35 | $50 | $2,500–$5,000 |
| Food truck | $15 | $22 | $30 | $1,500–$3,000 |
Ranges synthesized from 2024–2025 national data published by The Knot, WeddingWire, and regional caterer menus; The Knot put the 2024 average at about $80 per person. Expect 20–50% more in NYC, LA, and San Francisco, and less in small towns and off-peak months.
The brochure number covers food and basic service. Your final invoice adds:
Take 120 guests, a plated dinner at the typical $100 per person, a $38 full open bar, an $8-per-person cake, 22% service charge, and 7% tax:
Run the same guest list with food trucks at $22 and no bar package and you land near $4,473, including cake, service charge, and tax. Two receptions, same headcount, $18,000 apart. Neither is "wrong" — they're different products.
Style, bar package, cake, service charge, and tax — get the low, typical, and high totals with a line-item breakdown.
Open the Catering Cost Per Person Calculator →The price spread isn't ingredient quality — a taco truck uses the same chicken as a plated service. You're paying for staffing: plated dinners run one server per 10–12 guests plus a captain, buffets one per 25, and food trucks zero. China, glassware, and flatware rentals follow the same gradient, and so does kitchen infrastructure — venues without a production kitchen charge the caterer for temp equipment and portable ovens, and that passes through to you.
Where styles converge: cocktail receptions with heavy passed apps look cheap per head until you count pieces. Caterers plan 12 pieces per guest for a 2-hour grazing event plus 3–4 per extra hour; at $3–$5 a piece, the math climbs toward buffet money fast. The party food quantity calculator works out the exact piece counts.
For the rest of the budget, the wedding budget calculator splits all 12 categories across your total, the wedding venue cost calculator prices the site itself by state and venue type, and the wedding alcohol calculator converts your guest list into actual bottles if you're buying the bar separately.
Budget $100 per person for a typical plated dinner, $60 for a buffet, $50 for a cocktail reception, and $22 for food trucks — those are the food-only midpoints of national 2025 ranges. Once you add a bar ($15-$45), cake ($6-$12), a 22% service charge, and sales tax, plan on $110-$190 all-in per head for full-service events.
Because the per-person price is food only. A mandatory service charge of 18-25% applies to food and bar, sales tax applies in most states, and rentals ($8-$20 per person) appear when the venue doesn't include plates, glassware, and linens. A $100 plated dinner with a $38 open bar becomes $188.71 per person all-in for a 120-guest wedding.
Usually by $20-$70 per person. Buffets need less service staff (one server per 25 guests versus one per 10-12 for plated), though food costs per head can creep up because guests take more. Family style and stations land in between, at roughly $10 above buffet prices.
Standard caterer math: 6 hors d'oeuvres per guest when a meal follows, 12 plus 3-4 per extra hour for grazing receptions, 8-10 oz of protein per adult for a main, and 6-10 oz each of two sides. Kids under 12 count as about half an adult. The party food quantity calculator turns these rules into an exact shopping list.
Ask whether the service charge goes to staff, what rentals are included, whether there's a food-and-beverage minimum, what the tasting costs and whether it's credited, how overtime and plate-count changes are billed, and the final payment schedule. Get the per-person price, service charge, tax treatment, and rental policy in writing on the proposal — verbal "all included" claims cause the biggest budget surprises.