I have the responsibility for arranging events which are probably similar if not as high-level as the ones referenced in this report. I have to say that $16 muffins are not really out of the norm. Especially if the event is in a hotel or other venue where they have a lock on catering (and the use of the room is often partially or completely included in the cost of the food). I took an informal survey of colleagues who also arrange events and none of them were all that surprised either.
This is not to say that costs can't or shouldn't be reduced - they should - but this article is looking a lot like the silly article about the post office. A lot of nonsense about nothing ratcheted up to fan the flames of anti-government fervor.
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I think the cost is pretty exuberant, but when you're talking about a total of $7,080, it does seem like a trumped up issue.
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Recently I arranged an informal breakfast in NY. It was in our own space so I could use any vendor and used the one our NY office recommended. For sweetrolls and coffee it cost about $16 per person. I work at a university, not a huge corporation so it isn't like we have extra billions to toss around but this didn't so much as cause an eye blink.
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I don't think that the costs are inflated necessarily because the caterers are being paid too much, otherwise they would just order in Chinese food and be done with it. The extra cost is probably just making its way back to the hotel/venue.
Start a politically well connected hotel Posts: 7593 | Registered: Sep 2006
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Part of what you pay for (even when you are not paying for the venue) is reliability. You have to know that things are going to be exactly as ordered and arrive where and when they are supposed arrive. If they screw up, you are screwed. That kind of certainty can be expensive.
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And a lot of the time you're also paying for simplicity--that is, that you can call your one vendor, and they will always be available, and they will always be able to deliver to your desired location, no matter how little notice you give them or out of the way you want them to go. Because having to track down new vendors every event is time-consuming, and time is money.
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This isn't necessarily pertinent, but I watched some of the catering setup at a conference I was at a couple of weeks ago, and it was hilariously inefficient. The workers were moving so deliberately it was comical.
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quote:Originally posted by ambyr: Because having to track down new vendors every event is time-consuming, and time is money.
[rant]Ugh I am so tired of the phrase "time is money"...while part of the concept is valid, it is so over simplified and trite. People (not saying ambyr) use this phrase all the time as an excuse to not do a good job because they were fast about it.[/rant]
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For catering, I understand why $16 muffins exist.
If I walked into a bakery and saw a $16 muffin - and it weren't two feet in diameter and blessed by the Dalai Lama - I'd turn around and walk out. Or just buy some cheesecake.
Posts: 3932 | Registered: Sep 1999
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quote:Originally posted by Mucus: The extra cost is probably just making its way back to the hotel/venue.
Among other things.
quote:Originally posted by Carrie: For catering, I understand why $16 muffins exist.
If I walked into a bakery and saw a $16 muffin - and it weren't two feet in diameter and blessed by the Dalai Lama - I'd turn around and walk out. Or just buy some cheesecake.
Agreed. But I think scenario A is being assumed to be scenario B (in the initial article), and that's just comparing apples and rutabagas.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote:Originally posted by ambyr: Because having to track down new vendors every event is time-consuming, and time is money.
[rant]Ugh I am so tired of the phrase "time is money"...while part of the concept is valid, it is so over simplified and trite. People (not saying ambyr) use this phrase all the time as an excuse to not do a good job because they were fast about it.[/rant]
No, the point is that if you're paying someone $30 an hour, it's not worth having them spend a full day interviewing a dozen muffin vendors and assessing competing bids to determine how they can save a couple hundred dollars on muffins. Staff time is (literally) money; the employer is paying them for it.
Posts: 650 | Registered: Mar 2005
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I doubt very much that catering bids would be much different between caterers providing similar levels of service (and, having interacted with good caterers and seen people interact with bad caterers, I am extraordinarily willing to let the gov't pay a moderate amount more for good caterers).
A lot of what's deceptive is the per-item charging. What's really being charge for is the service, the amount's just distributed for the items as the more items, the more service.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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Not only that, but if we're talking about conferences, the conference venue often has in their standard conference contract that only they are allowed to cater. You choose the venue and you've chosen the caterer.
edit: and sending out requests for and receiving back complex catering bids can take multiple days of multiple people's time. It isn't like you just say "hey, can you cater my conference event for 87 people?" and get a response.
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"Dear Boss, I am so sorry that the food did not arrive until an hour after the party started but this new caterer was only charging $10 for the muffins! Yes, my resignation is on your desk."
Posts: 11187 | Registered: Sep 2005
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Has anyone ever seen an article about how business spends ridiculous amounts on (whatever)?
I mean, I've seen hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment thrown out as the result of an executive decision to save space (and then we re-bought the same stuff). And I've bought items that, if I were buying them for my own house, I might have spent $10, but because it's an "industrial part" cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars. I have a 3/8 gland nut that I spent $500 for. Yes it's an item with a limited market, but I could have paid a machinist less to make it if I had had the specs, and it was made on a production line.
Why is it that government is always accused of wasteful spending, but industry gets a pass?
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