Event packages for your restaurant: publish the numbers and stop quoting over WhatsApp

The message arrives on a Thursday at nine at night, right in the middle of the rush: “Hi, do you do events? We’re about 45 people for a baptism on September 6th.” That’s not one question — it’s eight, and none of them gets answered in a single line. A restaurant event package is the fixed offer you put together ahead of time —capacity, price per person, and what’s included— so you’re not quoting every baptism or company lunch from scratch; most owners already carry it in their heads, but it takes three voice notes to get it out over WhatsApp — and by the time it’s out, they’ve already booked somewhere else.

The quote that died in three voice notes

Lupita runs a family restaurant with a patio in Morelia. Weekday set lunches, families on Sundays. The patio is her best asset —it seats 60 people— and nobody knows it, because it’s not written down anywhere.

She answered the baptism message at 11:30 at night, already closing up: “Yes, we do, I’ll send you the info in a bit.” On Friday, between services, she sent a voice note with the menu. On Saturday the woman asked about the cake and how late the music could play. Lupita answered Sunday morning. Sunday afternoon this came in: “Thank you so much, we’ve already decided on another place.”

Forty-five people at 350 pesos comes to 15,750 in one afternoon — what that restaurant makes in three normal days. She didn’t lose it on price or on the food. She lost it because the answers took four days to get out of her head.

What do people always ask when they want to quote an event?

It’s always the same eight things, even if they arrive out of order and at eleven at night: how many people fit, how much it costs per person, what’s included, how long it lasts, whether the venue closes to other guests, whether you can bring in music or decorations, how much the deposit is, and whether there’s parking.

How many people fit, seated. Not standing.
How much it costs per person, or whether there’s a minimum spend.
What’s included — drinks? dessert? is the waiter extra?
How long they have the venue, and what happens if they run over.
Whether the restaurant closes or it’s an area with other customers nearby.
Whether they can bring in cake, music, or decorations, and whether that costs extra.
How much the deposit is and what happens if they cancel.
Parking.

Those eight answers are already your events page. There’s nothing to invent: you’ve answered them twenty times this year, you just never wrote them down anywhere that would stick.

How much should I charge for an event package at my restaurant?

Don’t publish the final price — publish the floor, the number the conversation starts from. “Every event is different” is true — it’s also true that if you don’t publish any number, the first question will always be the number, and you’ll be the one answering it, by hand, at night.

Patio Package — starting at $320 per person, minimum 30 people. Includes appetizer, main course, dessert, agua fresca, and coffee. Four hours of patio use.

Two good things happen. Whoever had a budget of 150 pesos per person no longer messages you — that conversation was never going to close, it was just going to cost you two days — and whoever does message you already knows the price, so that message gets answered in one line.

Put together two packages, three at most, each with a name and a clear list of what’s included. Ten options isn’t a menu, it’s homework for the customer. Whatever costs extra — open bar, decorations, an extra hour — goes listed separately with its price, even if it’s just “extra hour $1,200.” An ugly published number is worth more than a pretty one you have to ask for.

And don’t publish a package your kitchen can’t actually deliver. Forty plates going out at the same time on a Saturday isn’t the same as forty diners who trickled in whenever they felt like it; an event that wrecks that day’s regular service is expensive no matter how well you priced it. If Saturdays don’t work for you, say so: events Monday through Friday and Sundays. It’s one line, and it saves you from saying no five times a month.

What house rules should I put on the events page?

The five things that cause arguments if left for the day of the event: cake, outside drinks, music hours, decorations, and outside vendors. The eleven-o’clock argument about when the music has to stop doesn’t get won that night — it gets won the day you quoted.

Write the rules on the page, in the same words you’d use face to face:

Cake: you can bring your own, no charge. Just let us know.
Outside drinks: we don’t do corkage; drinks are provided by the house.
Music: until 11 pm, out of respect for the neighbors. After that, background music only.
Decorations: from one hour before. No nails or tape on the walls; hooks and balloons are fine.
Outside vendors: you’re welcome to bring your own DJ or mariachi band.

Written out like that, it doesn’t sound unfriendly. It sounds like a place that’s done this before — which is exactly what someone planning their kid’s baptism is looking for.

How much of a deposit should I ask for to book an event date?

30% books the date, the rest gets settled on the day of the event. Say it plainly on the page: no deposit means no booked date, just a conversation — Lupita held December 15th on a verbal promise for three weeks, the most expensive day of the year, and the client never wrote back.

You don’t need a payment gateway: a bank transfer, they send you the receipt over WhatsApp, and you reply in writing with the date, time, headcount, package, deposit, and balance due. That written reply is what keeps you out of a “but you told me” argument three weeks later. The cancellation policy fits in one line: “if you cancel more than 15 days out, the deposit transfers to another date.”

The photos that matter here aren’t the ones of the dishes

You already have a hundred photos of the food. Of the venue, almost certainly none — and someone planning a baptism isn’t picturing the plate, they’re picturing their people there.

Two are enough, and they have one job: back up the number you published. If you said 60 people seated, a photo of four little tables makes nobody believe you. One of the patio set up like a real event —long tables, chairs in place— and another shot empty from the entrance, so the size reads clearly. If you have photos from an event that went well, even better; just ask permission before posting one where faces are visible.

How do I publish my restaurant’s event packages this week?

In Proyecta, you describe it in your own words and the page comes out published, ready to send its link over WhatsApp — with no designing on your part. Something like this:

“I want an events page for my restaurant in Morelia, El Patio de Lupita. Patio seats 60 people. Two packages: Patio starting at $320 per person with appetizer, main course, dessert, and agua fresca, minimum 30 people, four hours; and Company Lunch starting at $260 per person, minimum 15. Extra hour $1,200. 30% deposit to book. Cake at no charge, no corkage, music until 11 pm, parking for 12 cars. Add photos of the patio, a WhatsApp button, and an FAQ section.”

The page comes out, you open it on your phone, and you ask for whatever changes are still needed: “take out the part about parking,” “add that posadas need to be booked starting in October.” That’s the link you’ll send the next time a nine p.m. message comes in.

Start with your last five messages

Don’t build the page from scratch. Open WhatsApp, find the last five conversations that start with “do you do events?” and copy what you already answered: the price, the capacity, and the rules are all in there. They’re just scattered across five chats instead of living in one link.

When you’re ready to see it put together, describe your restaurant at proyecta.dev and check the page from your phone, the way it’ll look to whoever messages you on Thursday.