I give you a simple ROI (return on investment) tool to figure out your profit margins as you change elements of the proposal, so that you can see where and how the best profit to you is generated.as you work within the proposal system of the software suite.

This ROI tool is not based on an exact food prep cost but, rather, on your

· overall average food prep figures

· average labor profit

· average rental goods profit from

your own warehouse
your different suppliers.

- average mark-up plus discount cost on

Floral/décor
A/V
Room/Site
Music
Entertainment
Parking
Overnight rooms (hotel)

The return on investment tool is in the catering software not based on actual food costs for an actual event - as we feel that this is a "virtual" impossibility.

The process of automating, in the software, all the endless variables in catering food cost is too labor intensive for any caterer to initiate let alone keep up to date with.

The constant grunt work needed to keep food prices up to date in the software is beyond any banquet or catering business that we know of.

So, keeping in mind the normal structure of a catering company or banquet department, I have elected to do Food Cost ROI based on the average for your own business with a window of opportunity to adjust the food cost based on the manager's experience (cocktail reception after a conference will mean that everyone is trying to leave rather than stay and, therefore the F&B consumption will be very limited; open house for travel agents with shrimp on the menu means that there will be a food riot when you run out!).

Therefore, I've built the ROI tool to give you a general view that needs little updating. Every year, you need just to input your new historical average profit margins for your profit centers. The return on investment for caterers and banquet departments is a real time tool that requires minimal updates through the year.