Would £200 be reasonable for a cooked arrival meal for six?

[zael]

We recently stayed at a holiday cottage. We were arriving late and the owner said the housekeeper is a great cook, so could leave a prepared meal for us. Never done this before.

There were 6 adults. We got left 6 large home made cornish pasties, some vegetables, some potatoes, 6 beers, and a home made victoria sponge. It was yummy.

How much do you think the housekeeper charged us for this?

£200

How much would you expect to have paid?

OK, if you were an employer how would you set your pay scale?

Was the holiday in Cornwall hence the reason for pasties? Otherwise it’s an odd choice of meal. I would hate to have a large pasty as a meal as I can’t tolerate all that fat in the pastry then potatoes on top and cake. The indigestion 🤦‍♀️

Well having just pad £14 ppn for a pasty at the Needles it doesn’t seem far out but pasty, potatoes and vegetables? That’s not a meal.

Based on the market rate and the skill level of the person I wanted to hire.

Whether that makes the offer of home-cooked meals at my holiday cottage a viable, profitable service is another question. OP is not hiring the services of the housekeeper for however long it takes to make this meal - she is paying for a services/goods package.

We have a couple of properties we rent out for holidays and offer meals. I think the price sounds reasonable. We do provide a price list though so guests are aware of the prices upfront.

Depends where you are £33 per head is the top up of expensive, but I don’t think it’s crazy. Dh went out for our anniversary meal at the weekend one main course and one pudding and two soft drinks was £68.00, it was an average pub. Prices have really, really gone up. I suspect it varies on where you live too, unfortunately we live in an expensive area of the UK, (never used to be).

You arrived late… what was the alternative? Was everybody hungry? Was there a pub next door still serving food, or a takeaway nearby? Did any of your party fancy cooking?

The cost isn’t in the cost of the food, it’s in the convenience of it all being ready for you on arrival.

If arriving late wouldn't you just eat on the way?

The price should definitely have been given beforehand, so you could decide whether or not it's worth it to you; but other than that, I think it's one of those things where it's very easy to minimise the costs involved for buying the food, preparing and cooking it, and of course, the housekeeper's time.

So many personalised, small-scale services cost a lot to deliver, but people fail to appreciate that and will not compare like with like. Their time/labour is also very easy for people to overlook: of course, if you're doing something for yourself/your family/your friends, you will give your time free; but would you just randomly give up several hours of your time and labour so that a stranger could get a bargain? If not, why should anybody else?

I don't exactly call pasties and beers high quality food. £200 is a piss-take.

£180

A home made pasty is good quality food . OP didn't have to pay it if she didn't want to. 200 for a meal for 6 people cooked specially is nor excessive ime.

@begonefoulclutteryou allow £32 to make and deliver? That’s slave wages!

To be fair, like with actual restaurants, the cost of the ingredients isn't a huge proportion of the overall cost to them. It's everything else - utility bills, property provision and bills, staff costs etc. that represent the majority of the price.

I wouldn’t really count that as a meal to be honest, it’s a big snack in my eyes. Maybe £50 at a push. It’s a pasty, a bit of veg and a slice of cake per person.

£15 worth of steak in a pasty ? Where on earth does this happen ? I know the price of beef has soared but don't be ridiculous . Even including the pastry & veg it isn’t costing anywhere near that

I would prob say £20-£25 per person as you can get a decent take away for that amount , and a beer each is £1.50 tops if bought as a multipack in supermarket .

And potatoes.

OP, people are answering you. Are you there? Is this helping???

I love the way that on this thread people are saying pasties with potatoes and veg, followed by cake is more of a snack than a meal. Yet on plenty of threads asking for snack suggestions, anyone that suggests a sandwich is shot down, as a sandwich is a meal not a snack.
Of course a meat pasty served with veg and potatoes followed by cake is a meal! It may not be everyone’s choice of meal but it is certainly more than a snack!

If it was pie, mash and veg people wouldn’t be saying the same.

Okay, £55 then.

The price should have been made clear - whether the cottage owner stated it or OP/group organiser asked when told it was an option... but I don't understand why people are specifically looking for ways for the housekeeper/cook to make it as cheap as possible, when it's a luxury service that she offers presumably to make money as part of her livelihood!

I can't see anywhere in the OP where they were forced to agree to it and forced to pay whatever price was charged; I'm sure they could have politely declined the offer and found a takeaway or pub or cooked their own meal at a lower price if they'd chosen to!

Not quite sure why you’ve quoted my response , but I don’t know that the OP was actually moaning ( and she hasn’t been back to clarify ) but totally agree that price should have been clear , but I was simply saying what I would have ( happily ) paid as was the question in original post .
However I disagree that a Cornish pasty is a luxury dinner however nice it was 😂

Homemade large pasties with good quality steak and homemade pastry wouldn't come much less than £10 each. I do them now and then, and they are a faff to put together. Plus cake and veg and beers, another £10 per head, and maybe 3 hrs work at £20 an hour. That's £180 and the extra £20 for service.
It's not too bad.