An event quote template built for how US venues actually sell

What goes on a US event quote, in the order clients read it

Start with the event facts: date, start and end times, room, expected guest count, and the event type. Then the package: per-person food price, bar package, room or site fee, rentals and staffing. Then the adders: service charge or gratuity, sales tax, any overtime rates. Finish with the food and beverage minimum, deposit amount, the date the quote expires and the date you need a final count.

Put the per-person total with everything included near the top. A planner comparing three venues will divide by guests anyway, and they will trust the venue that did the maths for them. The Excel file on this page does that calculation from your line items, so the number updates when the guest count moves from 120 to 135.

• Event date, times and room
• Guest count and the guaranteed minimum
• Per-person food and bar pricing
• Room or site fee, rentals, staffing
• Service charge or gratuity, labelled correctly
• Sales tax at the rate for the event address
• Deposit, payment dates and quote expiry

Food and beverage minimums: say how they work, not just the number

Most US hotels and many independent venues price Saturday nights with a food and beverage minimum rather than a room fee. The quote should say whether the minimum is before or after service charge and tax, because that single detail is worth thousands of dollars. A $15,000 minimum measured before a 22 percent service charge and 8.875 percent tax means a client actually spends well over $19,000 to meet it.

State what happens when the group falls short. The honest options are a room fee for the difference or letting the client upgrade the menu or bar to reach it. Writing this on the quote prevents one of the most common disputes in event sales: a client who cuts twenty guests two weeks out and assumes the bill falls with them.

Quote: rehearsal dinner, Brooklyn event loft

Friday rehearsal dinner for 80 guests at a Brooklyn event loft that runs its own kitchen, 7 pm to 11 pm

• The 5% administrative service charge is taxable in New York because it is not a gratuity.
• Final guest count due 10 days before the event; the final count is the minimum billed.
• Quote valid for 21 days.

What your quotation must show in United States

Service charge or gratuity: the word you print changes the tax

The IRS treats an automatic gratuity as a service charge. Any part you pay to staff is wages, not tips, so it runs through payroll. States then add their own layer. New York taxes a service charge on a catered event, but not a gratuity that is shown separately, labelled as a gratuity and paid entirely to the staff. California taxes a mandatory charge whether you call it a tip, gratuity or service charge. Texas leaves a labelled gratuity of 20 percent or less alone if it goes to the staff who served.

On a quote, name the charge exactly as it will appear on the invoice and say who receives it. If part of the service charge covers administration, say so. Planners increasingly ask, and several cities have rules about how mandatory fees must be disclosed to consumers.

Sales tax on the quote: use the rate for the event address

Quote the tax at the rate where the event happens, not where your office is. A caterer based in Austin working a wedding in the Hill Country may be collecting a different combined rate from the one on its own storefront. Texas state tax is 6.25 percent and local jurisdictions can add up to 2 percent, so 8.25 percent is the ceiling there. In New York City the combined rate is 8.875 percent.

Also flag which lines are taxable. In New York, a room fee is part of the taxable event when you or your caterer provide the food. If the client brings an outside caterer, the same room charge is not taxed. The template has a tax rate per line so you can show this correctly instead of applying one rate to the whole quote.

Guest counts, expiry dates and versions

Give each quote a version number and an expiry date, usually 14 or 30 days. Wedding clients often come back after six weeks expecting the old price. The expiry date lets you honour it as a favour rather than an obligation.

Set a final count deadline, typically 7 to 10 days before the event, and say that the final count is the minimum you will bill. Add a short line on what happens if more guests arrive than guaranteed. It sounds defensive, but planners read it as a sign that you run a tight operation.

Quoting a corporate client is a different document

A company booking a sales kickoff dinner reads a quote differently from a couple. Procurement wants a vendor W-9 before it can pay you, a named billing contact, and sometimes a purchase order number that must appear on the final invoice. Ask for all three at quote stage. Some corporate clients also hold a sales tax exemption certificate, for example a nonprofit or an agency buying for resale, and in that case you need the certificate on file before you drop tax from the invoice. Without it, the tax you did not collect becomes your bill in an audit.

Five quoting mistakes that cost US venues bookings or margin

The first is quoting per person without the adders, which makes you look cheap and then dishonest. The second is a minimum with no statement of whether it is pre-tax. The third is copying one tax rate onto every line. The fourth is no expiry date. The fifth is sending the quote as an image in a text message, which the client cannot forward to a parent who is paying for half.

Quotation questions from United States