How Much Does Crawfish Catering Cost in New Orleans?

You want a number. We get it.

Here's the problem: the number is the wrong question, and every caterer in this city knows it. The ones who give you a clean per-head price upfront are usually the ones you'll be calling us about six weeks later. "The crawfish were mushy." "We don't know who showed up." "It just felt off."

So before we get to dollars, let us explain what you're actually buying — because crawfish catering in New Orleans is not one product. It's about fifteen different products wearing the same name.

What's Actually In the Price

Start with the crawfish.

Right now, boiled crawfish in New Orleans runs around $5.35 a pound at retail. Live crawfish around $3.44. That's before labor, propane, seasoning, sides, equipment, and the drive to your backyard. Anyone quoting you $15 a head all-in is cutting something, and the first thing to go is always the crawfish.

The thing nobody tells you: "Louisiana crawfish" is not a quality standard. It's a geography. The real question is whether you're getting hand-graded select crawfish or field-run.

Field-run means whatever came out of the pond that day — mixed sizes, inconsistent quality, crawfish that haven't been properly purged. It cooks fast. It's cheap. It tastes like you got what you paid for. Hand-graded select means someone sorted through the sacks and pulled out the good ones. That's what ends up in a pile your guests actually want to peel.

We only cook hand-graded select. We've turned down bookings over this. That's not a marketing line — it's the reason Tracey A. told us the chargrilled oysters were "the talk of the night" and why Sarah J. said it was the best boil she'd ever hosted.

Then there's who's showing up.

This is where per-head pricing becomes genuinely meaningless. Two caterers can quote you the same number and deliver completely different experiences based on one thing: who actually walks through your gate on the day.

We're a husband-and-wife operation. Clayton and Shahi are at every event — not a crew we hired that week, not whoever was available. Us. We know when to pull the boil. We know the soak matters as much as the cook. We know that your guests from out of town need the five-second tutorial before they touch their first crawfish and that your Louisiana relatives will be watching to see if we do it right.

Some operations in this city are running multiple rigs across the city on the same Saturday. That works fine for a corporate lunch where the goal is full bellies and a clean invoice. It's a different calculation for your rehearsal dinner in a French Quarter courtyard with 40 people who flew in from out of town.

Then there's what's actually included.

Get the full picture before you compare numbers. Setup, breakdown, cleanup, sides, seasoning, travel — these are negotiated differently by every operation in this city. A quote that looks sharp on a per-head basis can balloon once you add corn, potatoes, andouille, tables, and a cleanup crew. We'd rather have an honest conversation upfront than a tense one after.

We bring the best of the best.

The Questions Worth Asking

Not "how much per head?" These:

Who is physically at my event? Get a name. If they can't tell you, that's your answer.

Field-run or hand-graded select? Anyone who knows their crawfish will answer this without blinking. Anyone who hesitates is telling you something.

What does the quote actually include? Sides, cleanup, travel, setup. In writing.

How many events are you doing that day? You deserve to know if you're one of three.

You’ll get to know us

What It Costs to Do It Right

We don't publish a price menu because your event isn't a price menu item. Thirty people in a Garden District backyard in April is a different conversation than sixty people in a Warehouse District loft in June. We'd rather talk to you for five minutes and give you a straight number than have you trying to reverse-engineer your budget from a rate card.

What we can tell you: we're boutique, we're owner-operated, and we price accordingly. If you're hunting for the cheapest crawfish in New Orleans, we're probably not your people and we're at peace with that. If you want the boil people are still talking about at Thanksgiving — let's talk.

We do crawfish boils, raw oyster bars, and wedding catering across Greater New Orleans. We'll give you a custom quote within 24 hours. You'll be talking to Clayton or Shahi, not a form.

→ Get a quote(504) 666-2527

Peak season is here. The good dates are going.

Rougarou Shuckers is a husband-and-wife crawfish boil and oyster bar catering company based in the Lower Garden District of New Orleans. Owner-operated. Hand-graded select crawfish only. One booking per time slot.