Work out whether an event is worth the pitch fee before you pay it

Traders describe paying to work: a pitch fee or commission set against sales that never came, plus staff, stock and travel. The trade body says plainly not to gamble a fee you cannot afford to lose. AI is good at tedious sums, so it can compare a fixed fee, a percentage and a mixed deal using your own costs and your own sales from past events, and show how many portions you must sell just to break even. It must not guess the event footfall or use anyone else's figures. You decide whether to book.

A free AI chat tool, then your own email or messaging app

Steps

1. Collect the offer in writing: the pitch fee, any commission percentage and whether it is charged on gross or net sales, whether fees are quoted plus VAT, deposits, power and other charges, and the cancellation terms.
2. Gather your own figures: ingredient cost per portion, average spend per customer, staff hours and pay, travel and fuel, and sales at your last two or three comparable events.
3. Ask the organiser the research questions in the NCASS guide before you pay: expected attendance, whether it is ticketed or free, how many other caterers there are and whether any sell similar food.
4. Paste the figures into the prompt (no customer or organiser personal details) and ask for low, middle and high sales cases drawn only from your past events.
5. Check the break-even sum yourself with a calculator, then decide with one question: could you afford to lose the whole fee if this went the way your worst past event did?

The exact prompt

I am a UK street food trader. Using ONLY the figures below, work out whether this event is worth booking. Do not guess the event footfall, do not use any average, benchmark or figure from elsewhere, and do not tell me whether to book; show me the numbers.
Event, dates, and what the organiser has told me about expected attendance and number of other caterers: [text].
The offer: fixed pitch fee £[amount]; commission [percentage]% on [gross or net] sales; other charges (power, deposit, levies) £[amount]; are these quoted plus VAT? [yes, no or not stated]. Am I VAT registered? [yes or no].
My own costs: ingredient cost per portion £[amount] for [dish]; packaging and gas per portion £[amount]; staff [number] people for [hours] hours at £[rate]; travel and fuel £[amount]; stock I could not sell last time £[amount].
My own sales at the last [number] comparable events: [list of total sales and number of portions sold].
Produce: (1) a table of my costs for this event under the fixed-fee, commission and any mixed structure the organiser offers; (2) low, middle and high sales cases taken only from my past events; (3) the number of portions I must sell to break even in each case, and what is left for me after costs in each; (4) a list of the questions I still need to ask the organiser, including anything that is unclear about VAT, how commission is calculated and what is refunded if the event is cancelled. Show every sum so I can check it.