Quote with margin. Cook the same margin.
The price is locked. The cost is not.
Most caterers under-quote because they price by gut, never recipe-cost the menu, and have no view of supply movement between booking and event day. The difference shows up as 'a tough season'.
The operating loop, catering edition
Same engine as the restaurant tier — calendar, supply watch, recipe costing — adapted for the per-event reality of catering.
Ramesh, wedding caterer in Pune
₹60L–₹2.4Cr/month seasonal swing. 4–14 events per month in peak season.
Without Forkcast: Monday 7am he checks his event book — 6 weddings + 1 corporate dinner. He quoted the largest one (Sangeet for 600, ₹720/plate) in February. He buys onions Wednesday at ₹62/kg, having quoted on the assumption of ₹28/kg. He absorbs ₹38K of variance on that single event, eats it as "a tough season," and re-quotes the next one at ₹780. He has no way to spot this for the four other events still ahead.
With Forkcast: Monday 7am dashboard — "Confirmed event book, next 30 days: 6 weddings + 1 corporate = 4,200 covers / projected ₹26.4L gross. Sangeet 18 May — quoted ₹720/plate, current recipe-cost ₹658/plate (margin 8.6% vs quoted 14% → flagged). Wedding 24 May — current margin 1.3% vs quoted 11% → critical, renegotiate. Procurement plan auto-generated for each event. Supply-lock-in alert: paneer trending up 18% — lock T-7 supplier price now for next 3 events." Outcome: two events re-quoted with revised inclusions before invoicing. ₹84K of margin recovered across the next 30 days.
Catering FAQ
Lock the margin at booking. Defend it through the season.
The catering tier ships in P3 — restaurant-tier features available today via CSV ingest of your event book. Talk to us about a pilot.
Related on Forkcast