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?

I’d say £75 with at least one extra course and some decorations around the place. Don’t bother with breakfast.

OP, would you PM me your social media details? Sounds exactly like my kind of thing! Not currently in the UK, but in your neck of the woods occasionally.

I’d happily pay £50-60 per person for NYE. I would expect something a bit special to mark the occasion, though. Maybe a complimentary glass of prosecco or mulled wine on arrival (but not sure how that goes with you not having a license- can you serve complimentary drinks?)?

I'd say £75 with a couple of low cost (to you) extras. Like an extra course or extra decoration.

Helpful advice, thank you Haquina, we do have public liability insurance, just in case!

I am familiar with that principle but to be honest, there's a limit to how many we could fit in our dining room and I think that if we charged on that basis we would attract very few customers.

We don't see this as a potential full time business, as I mentioned somewhere, we both have full time jobs so this is something we do in our 'spare' time! It's something we love doing - we both cook different parts of the menu. It's very sociable and creative and we enjoy working together on a joint venture and cooking food that wouldn't feature in our usual weekly household shop...

I think if we did it just for the profits, we'd never do another one again! I can't see that changing too much but we both get a lot out of it in lots of other ways.

Being form the south west I think £50-60 sounds fair and good value if you add something to jazz up your usual (gorgeous) looking menu.

A glass of something on arrival?

Petit fours?

Cheese course?

A gift bag sounds like a nice idea but I think it would cost a lot to make it look good and so not so wonderful a financially.

Blimey-I’m feeling very brassic reading this! £50/60/70 a head without booze!

Good luck though-the food does sound stunning!

Thanks Atalune - We always have a little something on arrival with the canapes!

And I make truffles every time to serve with the coffee.

Yes, I think we will definitely go with a cheese course this time - the local Blue Vinney is excellent.

In terms of a gift bag, I was only thinking of a little bag of home baked shortbread hearts. I did rose petal hearts when two couple were celebrating an anniversary and they loved it. I can make them in batches and just bake some from the freezer. I think those little extras make people feel very cared for!

I would say about double your normal cost for NYE is fair. I think you’ll have people biting your hand off! So £70 is my suggestion.

Have you taken advice on the licensing thing? Generally including “free” booze is caught by licensing rules. The example often given is hairdressers (e.g. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/16/hairdressers-beauty-salons-warned-face-20000-fine-offering-free/ )
It’s by no means my area of expertise though so if you’ve checked it out and this is totally different then ignore me! I would just hate to see all this hard work get you in trouble.

I think those little extras make people feel very cared for!

Definitely. I am borderline obsessed with the Hotel Inspector and Alex Polizzi says that all the time. Also I love shortbread.

I think £50 is fair enough, personally I'd have said £70.

You're a business, not a charity, however given it's your first year best not to rock the boat and see what people are willing to pay.

Can I ask what area your in?

I also think £70 is reasonable for NYE

I think doubling the cost is prohibitive.

I will check the drink situation - thanks. I checked out loads of other supper clubs and they all seem to be a complimentary welcome drink and BYOB.

We're in West Dorset.

I'd expect to pay £60-£75 per head for NYE. It sounds fab. If you have FB page and put it on there you're bound to get 8 people willing to pay it for NYE. Especially if they've been before and enjoyed it and if you publish the menu perhaps so they can see its special. The others might think it expensive but other events will be normal price.

Yes, we do have a FB page and I always publish the menu before we sell any tickets so everyone knows exactly what to expect.

I can do a nice post with lots of festive style photos!

I would have said £70 for NYE.

Places are obviously limited, so I'm sure you'll get sufficient takers.

On the subject of alcohol you can get a temporary event licence. Individuals can do so five times a year. Basically you inform the relevant bodies you’ll be selling alcohol. They can add conditions, but I doubt they would in this instance. I think it costs about £20.

I've arranged temporary notices before for community events but I am not sure I want to have them for this as I think it's quite a selling point for people to bring their own alcohol. I just need to check the legal situation.

I have looked at loads of supper club websites tonight and most seemed to do a welcome drink then onto BYOB, but that's probably no defence in law!

Definitely agree that BYOB is a selling point (it would be for me anyway). So what you want is to be allowed to give away a small amount of booze, and people to bring their own. That combination must be possible!

I'd like to think it is possible because we are genuinely not selling alcohol by the back door and it is a really nice welcome to have a glass of something ready as people arrive.

But I will phone the licensing people and check. Perhaps a non alcoholic punch, otherwise, but it's not quite the same!

I was going to say £75. But I would expect high quality for that. The meats cooked perfectly, timings right and as close to spot on as possible.

The setting and food looks amazing. Definitely £75 for NYE. You should get some posh yurts and open up a glamping area! Can you ‘glamp’ in winter?!

@VeryFoolishFay you should be fine re licensing because you are not advertising it as part of the package. In advertising it as part of the package, hairdressers mentioned were effectively selling it.
Areas do vary regarding licensing but generally follow the same guidelines in England & Wales at the moment.

It sounds lovely. I’d go with about £75 too