Quotation Template for Event Centres and Caterers in Nigeria

Say whether you are quoting hall only or a package

Nigerian event centres sell in two ways. Some quote the hall only for a set number of hours and let the client bring their own caterer, decorator and DJ. Others quote a package with tables, chairs, covers, basic lighting and cleaning included. Families compare the two as if they were the same thing, so the first line of your quotation should say which one it is.

List the hours the hall is available, including setup time for the decorator the day before or the morning of. An 8-hour booking that starts at 2 pm and a guest list that arrives at 6 pm leaves the decorator four hours for a job that usually takes six. Put the overtime rate per hour on the page so the celebrant can budget for it.

Wedding reception quotation, Lekki event centre

Saturday wedding reception for 300 guests at an event centre in Lekki, Lagos, hall available 12:00 noon to 10:00 pm with setup from 8:00 am.

• Lagos consumption tax (5%) is not included; add it as a separate line if your adviser confirms you must charge it.
• Caution fee of ₦300,000 is payable separately and refunded after inspection.
• Food price per head is confirmed at the tasting; quotation valid for 14 days.
• Prices are illustrative for 2026.

Per-head catering, small chops and the plates you did not plan for

Price food per head and name the menu: jollof rice, fried rice, asun, moin moin, small chops at arrival, pepper soup for late guests. Then write the head count the price is based on and what each extra plate costs. At a Nigerian party the guest list is a suggestion, and the difference between 300 invited and 380 fed is where caterers lose their margin.

Say how you handle take-away packs and souvenirs. Many families expect the caterer to pack food for relatives travelling back to their states, and that is either priced or refused, never assumed.

Add VAT at 7.5% and be clear about Lagos consumption tax

From 1 January 2026 VAT is charged under the Nigeria Tax Act 2025 at the same 7.5 percent rate. If you are VAT-registered, show VAT as its own line on the quotation so a company client's finance team can see it; families will usually just want the total. If you are below the small-business line, do not add VAT at all, and get your accountant to confirm where that line sits, because commentators read the new Acts differently.

In Lagos, event centres and restaurants also collect a 5 percent consumption tax for LIRS under the Hotel Occupancy and Restaurant Consumption Law. Its interaction with VAT has been litigated for years. If you charge it, show it on a separate line with its name, so nobody mistakes it for a second VAT.

What your quotation must show in Nigeria

Diesel, security and the costs guests never see

Power is the line that ruins margins. If the quotation includes generator power, say for how many hours and at what diesel assumption; if it does not, price generator hours separately. A reception that runs from 4 pm to midnight can burn through several days of profit on an unpriced generator.

Put security, ushers, cleaning after the event and the caution fee on their own lines. The caution fee (a refundable damage deposit) should say what it covers, when it is refunded, and that it is not part of the hire price.

• Generator hours included and the rate for extra hours
• Security and car park attendants
• Cleaning and waste removal after the event
• Caution fee, what it covers and the refund date

Quoting for owambe, burials and naming ceremonies

Different events need different quotations. A Yoruba wedding reception often runs from mid-afternoon into the night with a live band, a large aso-ebi crowd and a second wave of guests after the church or registry. A burial reception in the east can mean feeding far more people than the invitation list, and families will ask you to cook in the village compound rather than a hall. A naming ceremony is shorter and smaller, but the family may want food delivered to the house the same morning.

Write the event type at the top and adjust the lines: a band stage and extra power for the reception, transport and a cooking site for a village burial, delivery time and containers for a naming ceremony. A single generic quotation for all three is how caterers end up absorbing the cost of a second pot of jollof at 9 pm.

Validity dates that survive price rises

Name a date on which the quotation expires, and keep it short: two weeks is sensible in a period when rice, oil and protein prices can move within a month. For a booking six months away, fix the hall price with the deposit but state that food per head will be confirmed 30 days before the event, or include a clear adjustment clause.

Families find open-ended increases unfair, so tie any adjustment to something visible: a named percentage cap, or the final menu signed at the tasting.

Deposits, balance and bank details

Most event centres take 50 to 70 percent to confirm the date and the balance a week before the event. Write the percentages, the dates and your account name and number exactly as they appear at the bank. Fraudsters copy real quotations and change the account number, so add a line telling clients to confirm account details by phone before paying.

Venura keeps each quotation with its booking, deposit and later receipts, in naira with your own VAT rate on each line, and lets you send it to the celebrant on WhatsApp as a clean PDF.

The tasting and the signed menu

Offer a tasting for weddings and large parties and charge a small fee that is deducted from the final bill if the family books. At the tasting, agree the final menu, the protein portions and the head count, and have the celebrant sign it. That signed menu becomes the reference for the per-head price, and it is what you point to when a relative insists later that goat meat was promised instead of chicken.

Quotation questions from Nigeria