Logic behind the dinner price

[snapefest]

Snarky brought me back one question about the reasoning behind the $55 price for the dinner at Sevy's so I thought I would post an informational note in case the number seemed steep to anyone else...

Finding a restaurant for the Informal Snape-ing was difficult. The conference will have about 60 people including staff and finding a venue that will accommodate this number, transporting everyone there, and getting a decent price is pretty rough. Initially Sevy's seemed too expensive, but the other options were not as attractive and the place is called Sevy's. Why should we skimp on the final night to celebrate and honor the professor?

So we decided to go with Sevy's. We have been negotiating a price with them for some time now. Originally we asked if we could reserve a room for 30-50 people and allow everyone to order off the menu a la carte. That way some folks could get cheap dishes or split while others could splurge. This also would control the price for those who don't drink since ordering wine by the bottle for a group can be expensive.

The Sevy's event manager said that this was simply not possible for that many people. Even if only 25 people came it would be logistically difficult to take 25 orders and a nightmare for everyone to pay at the end. I learned this the hard way at Lumos when I got stuck with a bar tab that wasn't mine after a meetup. Sevy's presented us with a series of fixed price menus which started at $38.99 per person and went as high as $52.99 per person before tax and gratuity. We negotiated a reduced price menu for $33.99 per person. When we asked for an estimate for 50 people at this price we received the following calculation...

Food $1699.50
Food Tax $140.20
Subtotal $1839.70
Gratuity $339.90(20%)

Total $2179.60

If you divide $2179.60 by 50 you get about $43.40. The cheapest transportation company we could find will be $500. Therefore the price of the dinner is $55. I suspect that because of PayPal transaction costs, we may actually end up paying for about $50-100 of this out of the Snapecast pocket.

So although the price may seem steep it was the best we could do. We selected the cheapest menu possible and left alcohol as an option for the individual at additional cost. Dining experiences for large groups are simply expensive. This why luncheons at Portus are $40 and afternoon tea is $27.

Please keep in mind that the rest of SnapeFest is entirely free. That means that Snapecast is covering renting the room, the A/V equipment, and the lunch which is about $40 per person. Snapecast doesn't advertise and we make no money. In addition SnapeFest is not sponsored in any way by Portus or any other organization. So if you put two and two together you can figure out that the staff and any one else who wants to donate is basically footing the bill for this event. Therefore I don't think $55 isn't a bad deal for a day of Snape-ing, a hotel catered lunch, transportation, and a tasty dinner at a restaurant with fab reviews.

I hope this clears things up. Feel free to post questions or comments here or email snapefest@portus2008.org with additional questions.