how much do I tip the caterer?

[Dr. Lostreality]

here's the details: They are delivering and setting up the food (they said it would take about half an hour to set up), but they will not be staying and serving the food (it's self-service buffet style).

The food costs around $460 (with tax) and they are also charging a $50 delivery fee on top of that.

I have no idea how many people they will be sending to set up the party, but probably one or two

So: Do I pay a 20% tip for delivery and set up?

is it 20% of the food or 20% of the food+tax+delivery fee? (so would that be $90 tip or $100). Is it too much to give an $100 tip when all they did was deliver and set up the food? Should I give some lower percentage?

Do I tip each person who delivers or just the head person and ask them to distribute the money to other people? Is it 20% of the total order, not 20% per deliverer right?

[deadheadskier]

with no actual 'service'; clearing of plates, refilling glasses etc; I would think 15% on top of the price of the food cost would be fair. 20% would be nice, but not necessary IMHO.

If it's a drop and go, your best bet would be to just give it to the head person. I say this because often times the people who set it up aren't the people who break it down in such scenarios. The breaking down / clean up part is the harder work, so by just tipping the ones setting up you may inadvertently stiff the ones doing the harder part of the job.

At the end of the day, workers who do drop and go type catering are typically paid a decent wage, unlike more service oriented type catering where tips make up the majority of the income.

[Wende]

Is it a small family owned catering service? If so, no, I would say that all the money you paid goes to one/two people and are probably the same people that are delivering. If it's a larger company, I would tip the delivery guys a little bit. Not necessarily a percentage.

[Erinisme]

I would tip the delievery guys ten bucks each and the clean up folks 20...just my $0.02.

Cleaning up is way more work then setting up

[Dr. Lostreality]

there's no clean up folks...they are just dropping off the food at the beginning of the party, and we are doing all the clean up ourselves.

It's being catered by Di Bruno Brothers, which is a local italian market place (they have more than one store in philly, but I think they are only in philly)