Reading a QSR set quotation sheet without getting caught

What a set line has to carry

The usable line names the set code, the table size and top material, the chair model and its finish, the packing arrangement, the price per set and the carton count. Take any of those away and the quote cannot be checked against the drawing, which means the first real check happens when the containers arrive at the door.

Price per seat is the honest comparison. Divide the set price by the number of seats and the picture changes: a four-seat set at 200 is 50 per seat and a two-seat set at 130 is 65. Rooms are built on seats rather than on sets, so that is the figure to compare across suppliers, not the number at the bottom of the column.

Cubic metres belong on the same line. Two quotes can look identical and load differently, and the one that takes 1.1 cubic metres per set instead of 0.9 costs the difference back in freight on a twenty-foot container.

Lead time belongs on the line as well, counted from deposit rather than from the enquiry. Fifteen to thirty days is the production window; what sits either side of it is sample approval at the front and vessel booking at the back, and both of those are the buyer's diary rather than the factory's.

The five omissions

Freight terms come first: ex-works, FOB or delivered, and to which port. Second, the validity period, which on steel and timber moves with raw material and is often thirty days in a market that reprices quarterly. Third, the sample cost and whether it is credited against the order when the order is placed.

Fourth, the spare and breakage allowance, which is not the same thing as a discount and is rarely volunteered. Fifth, the packing specification, because cartons adequate for a van are not adequate for a container crossing an ocean, and the gap only becomes visible when a claim is made six weeks after arrival.

Where a supplier leaves a column blank, treat the blank as the question to ask rather than as a reason to assume the best. Most disputes about furniture pricing are disputes about what a price was for, not about the number itself.

Normalising two quotes

Put both on one sheet with the same columns: seats, per-seat price, carton count, cubic metres, lead time from deposit, freight basis and validity. Where a quote cannot fill a column, leave it visibly blank rather than filling it from memory. The exercise takes twenty minutes and it is the only way two prices become comparable.

Then mark which quote includes the sample, which includes spare chairs and which assumes the buyer collects from the port. Those three differences usually account for the whole gap between the lowest and the highest number.

What a set quote should not hide

QSR furniture sets should be quoted with the table and the chairs split as well as combined, because a buyer who later needs twenty extra chairs wants a chair price rather than a second set. fast food table and chair sets quoted only as a bundle always cost more at the top-up stage, which is the stage that lasts for the life of the room.

Ask for the set quoted with one finish across top, edge and seats, and again with two, so the cost of a two-tone scheme is visible before the brand decision rather than after it. That single extra line saves a redesign at the sample stage more often than not.

Signing off

The quotation is the wrong document to sign on its own. Sign the drawing, the finish sample and the packing list together, with the quotation referring to all three by date. That way the numbers and the object they describe travel as one record, which is what a claim six months later turns on.

TL-T2005 two seat set is a useful worked example at quotation stage: one table, two chairs, one carton count and one cubic metre figure that can be checked against the container plan before the order is placed. Where that arithmetic has been done, the loading week holds no surprises, and the container plan can be agreed before the deposit rather than negotiated at the port gate.

What buyers ask about this

Should I buy sets or pieces?

Sets for a new room or a replaced zone, pieces for top-ups. two seat table sets quoted as sets are cheaper per seat than the same table and chairs bought separately.

Is a longer validity worth paying for?

Sometimes. Where a tender runs for months, a fixed price against raw material movement is worth a small premium, and it should be written as a clause rather than agreed on the phone.

What is a normal spare allowance?

Two to three percent of the chair count, and more where a room is fixed and cannot borrow a chair from another zone.

How do I compare a Chinese quote with a local one?

Add freight, duty and the cost of the extra lead time to the local column, and add nothing to the other. Then compare per seat with the same packing and the same spare allowance.

Related notes

What to send for a furniture quotation, in the right order

Planning a quick service fit-out around real lead time

Chair volumes and container loading, in numbers you can check