COST STRUCTURE4 min read
How cost per meal is calculated, and what quotations hide
A price per meal is built from raw materials, production and service labour, thermal transport, tableware and disposables, the cost of the production site, administration and margin. When one quotation sits far below the rest, one of those components was left out and returns later as an extra.
The components, in order of weight
Weights vary by operation, but the list does not. If a proposal does not let you see these separately, you cannot compare it with another one.
- Raw materials: the only component most buyers think about.
- Production labour: the kitchen that prepares the service.
- Service labour: whoever runs the line at your site — a different cost from the previous one.
- Thermal transport: vehicles, equipment and the temperature control that goes with them.
- Tableware and disposables, including replacement.
- Cost of the production site: licence, utilities, maintenance, depreciation.
- Administration, supervision, reporting and margin.
The three items most often missing
Initial setup, the additional cost of special diets, and the labour surcharges for Sundays, public holidays and night shifts. Under the 2026 Colombian labour reform those surcharges weigh materially more than they did, and a proposal that does not show them has either absorbed them into a margin that will not hold or intends to invoice them later.
NoteBefore comparing numbers, write the scope yourself and ask every bidder to price that scope. It takes two hours and it is the only way three quotations become comparable.
The questions that reveal the rest
Ask what happens when the headcount varies: a price that only holds at an exact volume is not a price, it is a projection. Ask what is invoiced if a service is cancelled with 24 hours' notice. And ask which of the listed components would change if the operation moved from one shift to three.