How much would you pay for this meal?

[Movinghouseatlast]

I run a holiday cottage business and I offer a bit meal awaiting their arrival for them to serve themselves. I don't do it to make a profit, more as a USP to get bookings as I think people might appreciate it after a long drive. However, I spend a bit of time cooking and shopping (and stressing!) so want some profit for that.

It is beef in red wine stew or lamb shanks in red wine or pie (steak, chicken or vegan mushroom) with mash and minted pea puree. Followed by chocolate brownie with salted caramel sauce and clotted cream. It is all homemade, local organic/ free range meat etc.

How much would you pay?

I'm registered with the council to cook food and have all the certificates.

Thanks!

What's that saying, you can please some of the people all the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time?

Fascinating to read the different responses to the price point and the "well, I'd just go to the pub" replies. It's not just the middle of nowhere where you sometimes can't find food. I still remember arriving in Newcastle late one night [due to major roadworks on the A1(M), just for a change] and due to the location, and it being a Saturday night, so the mega-Tescos being closed because of Sunday trading laws, not being able to get any food that wasn't a kebab or chips or pizza....I usually travel with some snack options anyway, but crackers and Babybel really aren't that filling when you've been driving for over 7 hours...oh, how I would have loved a nice meal like the one OP mentions waiting to just be heated up!

I really can't think how offering something like this would be received badly. If you didn't want to take up the offer you'd just say no. It's not compulsory.

I imagine also if you did want to take it up and said 'hey, great idea but we're non mushroom eating vegans' - the OP might be able to offer an alternative.

£15 per adult and £10 per child would be great value. Sounds delicious!

No one who cooks an individual meal from scratch to order would bother trying to compete on price with mass produced frozen food, even if it is Cook. I am really surprised at that people think they are comparable. A huge amount of effort goes into cooking from scatch and even at £15 a couple, its probably hardly even minimum wage.

I agree that you can't compete on price as economy of scale and all that. I looked at doing something sort of similar. I live in a fairly affluent area (we have 3 busy Cook shops local to us, an M&S food and heaving Waitrose) and the feedback from my local polling was it would need to compete with Cook on price as the menu would be similar and people generally seem to really like it.

Iirc I worked out the only way I could compete was to cook in bulk and freeze, which means it isn't freshly cooked to order but it still would be homemade with good ingredients etc. So I could buy ingredients for about 10 portions of Coq au Vin/Beef in wine type meals for approx. £20-30. The meal would take me 1 hour to shop (if I added the ingredients when I was already out shopping for other stuff it would only be about 10 mins extra) & prep (the cooking would take longer but it isn't labour intensive).

If I paid myself £10 per hour say, that would be £30-40 then a few quid for the electricity/gas. So i'd have to charge about £8 for 2 portions (I think). Or something like that. Anyway, the result was competing with Cook only worked if I cooked in bulk and froze it.

I do think it's a nice idea, but what I do is make the same type of food and freeze it and bring it along in the car if we are going to be late arriving. As others have said a cheese/meat platter and good bread would be more appealing to me.

Want a usp? add a few quid to the cost of the booking and say a lovely home cooked meal will be ready for your arrival at no extra charge.

^
Want a usp? add a few quid to the cost of the booking and say a lovely home cooked meal will be ready for your arrival at no extra charge.^

And immediately alienate everyone with a diet that is restricted in any way. I might ens to ask if I could have a veggie/vegan/coeliac/kosher etc meal, but if I found somewhere else whilst I was waiting fir a reply, I’d probably book it.

£19.99 or, if luxury, boutique-y place, £24.99.

But I am London-based and use to non Mumsnetter London prices. Would think there was something wrong with it if a tenner only were charged

Want a usp? add a few quid to the cost of the booking and say a lovely home cooked meal will be ready for your arrival at no extra charge.

No, you need to make it optional.

Definitely optional; especially given the feedback here!

I offer this service occasionally and sometimes add something a little extra - some homemade shortbread or a little birthday cake if its a celebration. I find people love the personal touch: I think it emphasises the difference from a purely commerical concern and tends to prompt nice reviews.

I agree, MuseumOfYou. I leave a bouquet of home grown flowers, homemade bread, scones and cake and nearly every review mentions them! No-one mentions all the high end furniture ( it is a luxury cottage) posh cooker or fridge, but they bang on about the scones that cost about 50p!!! It really is the little things.

I've put my prices up to £30 per couple. In the summer I do a barbeque box, with salads and flatbreads, but the deli idea wouldn't work here as It's a 30 minute drive to a deli. It's a great idea though.

It's been great reading all the comments, I really am grateful. My favourite, that made me chuckle, was the comment that my pudding was both sweet and rich.

The organic/fair trade/local aspect would be a big selling point for us, especially if combined with a stack of rave reviews saying how good your cooking was. If no reviews, probably wouldn't risk it in reality! But if you have said rave reviews then yes, £15 a head seems totally fair.

I don't really understand why some posters have been so dour about it when you said it was optional. I can understand why some people would be cross if it was included in the price and the price inflated to reflect that. But it's effectively like room service - you don't have to use it, but people often appreciate knowing they have the option.

And yes, even though there will always be some people who can't eat and drink all of the welcome basket and are annoyed at the waste, I think it's clear that most guests do like them as they almost always come up on reviews. People generally do like feeling taken care of rather than "Ryanair-ed", especially if they are off on holiday rather than just stopping over for a night or whatever, even though obviously the customer always pays in the end!