What's Included in Corporate Catering

The price of a corporate catering service is not one single number: it's built from seven distinct components. When one quote comes in well below the others, in most cases it's because one of those seven was left out — and it reappears later, billed as an extra.

We don't publish prices on our website, because a price per meal calculated without seeing your actual operation is a made-up number. What we can show you in advance is what that number is made of, so that when it arrives — ours or any other supplier's — you can take it apart component by component.

The seven components of every quote

1. Raw materials — the cost of the ingredients themselves. The main driver, and the most sensitive to the menu cycle.
2. Production staff — cooks and kitchen assistants, with real benefits and shift premiums included.
3. Service staff — whoever runs the line at your site. A separate line item from production staff, priced separately.
4. Thermal transport — vehicle, temperature-control equipment and route.
5. Tableware and disposables — including restocking, not just the initial setup.
6. Production site — kitchen, utilities, refrigeration and storage.
7. Administration and margin — supervision, measurement and margin. The one almost nobody breaks out.

The three that are almost always missing from the cheapest proposal

• Initial setup: equipment, uniforms, tableware and the first stock purchase. Can be a significant cost that only shows up on the first invoice.
• The real extra cost of special diets, produced separately and in small volumes.
• Sunday, holiday and night-shift premiums based on your actual shift pattern — under labor law as it stands in 2026, these weigh considerably more than they used to.

How to request a quote you can actually compare

Send every supplier the same format, and ask for a yes or no on each line, alongside the price:

• Unit price by service type and time slot.
• What's included and what isn't, component by component from the list above.
• The cost of initial setup, if any, and which invoice it lands on.
• How Sundays, holidays and night shifts are handled.
• The annual price-adjustment policy and its formula.

A proposal that refuses to break this down has already told you something. You can read the full explanation — including why the price drops with volume, and where that curve flattens out — in how cost per meal is calculated. And if you already know what you need, you can request your free assessment directly.