New Year's Eve - what would you pay?

[VeryFoolishFay]

DH and I run a little monthly supper club at home, been doing it 6 months and its starting to get rather popular. We only have 8 places and are now starting to sell out about about 3 weeks in advance.

We live in the middle of nowhere, so not much competition and have 5 * food hygiene certificate. We currently charge £35 ph, that's aperitif/canapes, soup and soda bread, starter, main course, dessert, coffee and truffles. Everything is handmade by us and ingredients are locally sourced. Because we are not licenced, guests bring their own wine, we provide glasswear and there's no corkage charge.

Now, we were thinking of having a New Years Eve celebration, because we don't usually do much, the evenings are rather convivial anyway and it would help boost the coffers after a family Christmas.

There is a nice pub with rooms that people could walk to (or I could drive them) and perhaps they could even come back for a full English in the morning.

We both love doing it but it is a huge amount of work and it also impacts on our DC's so I would like to charge accordingly. And our reputation locally is getting rather good. There is also a cost benefit to guests that they won't have to pay inflated alcohol prices. They will obviously stay till after Big Ben so it will be quite a long evening for us.

My main issue is that I have such an overwhelming fear of looking like a massive CF, I am liable to sell myself short, just to be polite.

So, if it's the sort of thing you might like, how much do you think it would reasonable to pay?

Definitely at least £50. They're paying for the food, experience, costs, building, entertainment.

We usually offer a little port or brandy at the end which often goes well

Does that not compromise the no license though?

I wouldn't bother with the local pub for over night then bringing them back to your for breakfast, if they're paying B&B they'll breakfast at the pub wouldn't they?

As for a suitable price, I agree that £50 as an uplift from £35 (so a little under +50%) might be expected at NYE.

Double your standard price. At least.

You could cost it all out, too, to make yourself feel less cheeky. So, you’d be hosting for at least an hour and a half longer than usual. Plus potential higher indredient costs for a festive menu and extra canapés/some kind of midnight munchies, plus the wages/profit that you pay yourselves could legitimately be expected to double on NYE, just like waitrers and babysitters often get double time.

No, we don't charge for it, we don't advertise it as part of the meal. It really is just a complimentary final flourish.

Could you advertise bases for cocktails, that could also mlbe mocktails, but recommend that people brought the spirit/booze to go with it and match that with the relevant point in the evening? Would get around your lack of license whilst making it more special (matched food and wine)? Add a later optional treat like a cheese course. I'd pay £60-£70 for that on NYE. Oh, if you offered baby sitting

Damn, I mean match food and drinks. Why do I never see my mistakes until after I post?

Your usual price of £35 is very reasonable, I was part of a supper club around 12 to 15 years ago and that's what I was paying then , not as nice as yours sounds but just a nice pub 3 course meal , don't charge anything less than £50 nye that's very reasonable for something intimate and nice , wish you were closer to us 😃

Ooh, I am in south west

Was also going to suggest £50 a head for nYE

I think £50 a head would be very reasonable. Actually, for a special meal, I think you could stick some more on to that... Maybe up to £60-£65?

My only concern would be guests still there at 3am next morning. What are taxis like in your local area?

Would you be prepared to offer pickup/drop off over a certain radius? Possibly not practical if your guests are from further afield.

Sounds lovely!
I'd pay £50/head for that. It'd be more pricey if you were including alcohol, which you aren't, so for food alone that's a good price. Possibly £60?? Hmmmm 🤔 because at the end of the day it's your house, all hand made not en masse and you have a family to look after too. It sounds good quality stuff too.

Thanks for the nice words - it's a labour of love really, both probably frustrated restauranters but have nice office jobs.....

I think we pay ourselves about £3 an hour at the moment - once we've done shopping, cooking, cleaning the downstairs and clearing up afterwards!

No taxis, too far from anywhere! £50-60 seems to be the general thought which is what I had thought but DH was more ambitious!

Fivegomad - we share a county!!

Cheese course is an excellent idea for an extra course - great cheese here in Dorset.

I would say 60 tbh.

I think you’re pitching it too low... £75 per head minimum.

I'd say about £75 too. Remember, they're getting a lovely meal in fabulous surroundings and it's NYE.

I'd originally thought £50-£55, my DH (always more confident!) punted £75. At least, I don't think anyone will pass out with shock at enhanced NYE prices. We'll add in a nice cheese course in and include a glass of nice fizz for the witching hour. And only 8 places to sell.

I thought 75 but I think you are really under charging at present, what are your profit margins? You don't have to say but I am struggling to believe they are high.

We spend a fair bit on food because we don't have large economies of scale, I do try and be economic when shopping but am mindful of maintaining quality and the power of word of mouth! We have just put the price up slightly - so £280 ticket revenue for each event, probably spend about £110 on food.

Were in the SE and nothing like that is available where we are but if it was I'd expect to pay £100 per head at least.

I am not sure we would be able to charge much more at the moment.

I think once we have a really strong following, we could put it up slightly but I don't think we will be retiring on the proceeds!

Ok, I a, really intrigued now, can you PM me details?

PM sent!

As a rule of thumb we used the principle of thirds. One third on raw ingredients, one third for overheads, premises, insurance, utilities and other bills, and staffing, plus of course, commercially VAT had to be accounted for and we tried to aim for a third profit or thereabouts.

Do you have public liability insurance OP? to cover guests on your premises and of course any claims arising against your business? Unlikely to happen, but think about if it did.

Your overheads are obviously lower because the premises are your home and up and running anyway, but you still need to do proper costings and the value of your labour is just silly in your accounting.

All that said I don't think you could charge more than £15-20 ph extra for NYE over and above what your guests usually pay. I think you could get away with £55 this year or maybe £60 if you include a free treat of a wee dram or a glass of sparkling to toast in the New Year and after that you really need to get some facts and figures down on paper and see where you're at. HTH.

Alas I'm nowhere near but it sounds amazing. If I was in the area I'd book you too. I hate going out but it sounds lovely and intimate.