I am not a caterer, but am planning to order chinese food for a buffet lunchtime reception.

If I am serving two main entrees, how many servings of each should be ordered for 100 guests?

Obviously ordering 100 servings of each entree will leave me with a lot of leftovers.

We will have two appetizers, rice and lo mein, plus the two main entrees.

I was hoping some professional caterers could give me some advice...

Thanks!

-=Kate=-

By Sam (Sam) on Wednesday, January 23, 2002 - 12:26 am: Edit

depends on what the two entrees are....sam sears, cec....but more than likely about 60-65 portions of each would be sufficient....sam sears, cec

By Ktpupp (Ktpupp) on Wednesday, January 23, 2002 - 12:38 am: Edit

The entrees will be a korean styled sweet and sour chicken and bulgogi (korean beef dish).

I had originally thought about 75 servings of each of the entrees, but wanted to see what a professional or two would suggest.

I think people might take smaller portions because they would be having both entrees rather than a full meal sized portion of each. Plus some folks will only want one or the other...

Thanks!

-=Kate=-

By Sam (Sam) on Friday, January 25, 2002 - 07:30 pm: Edit

if you stay around 65 - 75 portions of each, you should be fine...sam sears, cec

By Amyd (Amyd) on Wednesday, February 06, 2002 - 11:23 am: Edit

HI there,

I'm hoping someone can help. I'm providing desserts for reception for a music recital. It's estimated that approximately 100 or a few more people will attend. I know that not everyone will attend the reception. It's also at 9:30 at night. I'm a pretty brand spanking new caterer and i'm still really panicky about estimating quantities. The client wants to serve 3 to 4 different kinds of small bars and cookies and then have a cake. I'm not sure how many servings of cake I should count on. Also, I know that I've been told that the rule of thumb is to count on 1 to 1.5 servings per person at a buffet type situation, but since this isn't a dinner and it's late, I would think this rule wouldn't apply. Can someone give me their expert advice please? Thanks so much.

Amy

By Amyd (Amyd) on Wednesday, February 06, 2002 - 11:23 am: Edit

HI there,

I'm hoping someone can help. I'm providing desserts for reception for a music recital. It's estimated that approximately 100 or a few more people will attend. I know that not everyone will attend the reception. It's also at 9:30 at night. I'm a pretty brand spanking new caterer and i'm still really panicky about estimating quantities. The client wants to serve 3 to 4 different kinds of small bars and cookies and then have a cake. I'm not sure how many servings of cake I should count on. Also, I know that I've been told that the rule of thumb is to count on 1 to 1.5 servings per person at a buffet type situation, but since this isn't a dinner and it's late, I would think this rule wouldn't apply. Can someone give me their expert advice please? Thanks so much.

Amy

By Pchef1 (Pchef1) on Wednesday, February 06, 2002 - 12:10 pm: Edit

I am a restaurant pastry chef and we do lots of parties with 100+ people. I would say to have about 4 10 inch cakes available, and probably about 50 of each bar/cookie. Better to have a little too much than not enough. Good Luck!

By Chefspike (Chefspike) on Wednesday, February 06, 2002 - 10:21 pm: Edit

sorry to disagree, there should be 100 of each bars
and 6-10" cakes, 3-4 inches high, cut into 10 each
try to serve all of the cakes, torts, ect. and if you have bars left, freeze them if you don't have anything else to use them on.
I would not make cookies, but thats just me.
my 0.02

By Pchef1 (Pchef1) on Sunday, February 10, 2002 - 08:13 pm: Edit

If you decide to make 6 10 inch cakes, don't dare cut them into only 10 pieces. If this is a buffet, people won't want that large of a piece of cake and a lot of the cake will end up in the trash. I would cut them into 16 pieces.Just my opinion, I have seen it happen.

By Chefspike (Chefspike) on Sunday, February 10, 2002 - 10:39 pm: Edit

yes, I stand corrected.
Thanks Pchef1

By Jonesy (Jonesy) on Monday, June 24, 2002 - 01:17 am: Edit

I am catering a strawberry tea in the early afternoon for 100 people. There will be scones, devonshire cream and jam. Also trays of tarts, squares,cookies etc, probably an assortment of 6 or 7 varieties. Please, an estimate on how many of each. Jonesy

By Corey (Corey) on Monday, June 24, 2002 - 02:18 am: Edit

I used to know this, I think you figure everyone will eat like 6ozs each or so.

By Jonesy (Jonesy) on Monday, June 24, 2002 - 10:59 am: Edit

Corey thanks for replying. Unfortunately 6ozs doesn't really help. I'm going with 150 scones but would still like to know how many dozens of the seven varieties of tarts,squares etc. I will need. thanks,Jonesy

By Chefspike (Chefspike) on Monday, June 24, 2002 - 11:10 am: Edit

formulas don't account for men or/and women.
6 kinds, plus 150 scones=75 pieces of each kind.
don't count or try to figure creams, fruit, ect.
600 pieces, for 100 people. Approx.....
whats a strawberry tea??????????

By Corey (Corey) on Monday, June 24, 2002 - 11:11 am: Edit

hmm, I will check my old catering manual when I can dig it out.

By Jonesy (Jonesy) on Monday, June 24, 2002 - 11:31 am: Edit

Maybe it's a Canadian thing, but happen often here in June. This particular one is for a retirement, men and women. Tea,coffee and assorted goodies made with local strawberries.

By Chefspike (Chefspike) on Monday, June 24, 2002 - 11:37 am: Edit

Oh. Where in Canada?

By Jonesy (Jonesy) on Monday, June 24, 2002 - 12:09 pm: Edit

I'm in Kelowna, B.C. If you look on a map,we'd be north of Spokane,Wash. in the Okanagan Valley

By Chefspike (Chefspike) on Monday, June 24, 2002 - 12:14 pm: Edit

strawberries good there??

By Jonesy (Jonesy) on Monday, June 24, 2002 - 12:37 pm: Edit

Strawberries, cherries, raspberries, peaches and apples. Also grapes for our many wineries. So your suggestion is approx. 7dz. each of the assorted squares, tarts, etc.

By Chefspike (Chefspike) on Monday, June 24, 2002 - 02:13 pm: Edit

sounds good.
yea, 7 doz. of each kind.
are you making strawberry mousse?

By Jonesy (Jonesy) on Monday, June 24, 2002 - 02:52 pm: Edit

no I need only things that can be eaten without utensils

By Chefspike (Chefspike) on Monday, June 24, 2002 - 02:55 pm: Edit

how far are you from Vancouver?

By Chefmanny (Chefmanny) on Monday, June 24, 2002 - 04:22 pm: Edit

People, people don't guesstimate!!!! Sell by the piece!!!! If you sell a party for 75 you don't want to get 75 of everything, let the host and yourself make a decision on quantities.
What may happen if you charge per person is that the host will give you a low count and bring more guest then what they paid for. In this case you run out of food and you look like a schmuck!
If you sell by the piece you can always say; the host purchased a certain number of each item and this particular item is gone!
You cannot say that if you sold a complete dinner for whatever amount! You have to have all foods until all have eaten!

By Chefmanny (Chefmanny) on Monday, June 24, 2002 - 04:24 pm: Edit

On a buffet you should always serve half portions also to help out with the count

By Jonesy (Jonesy) on Monday, June 24, 2002 - 05:24 pm: Edit

Kelowna is 300 miles east of Vancouver. Also for this particular job,by the piece won't work. They are counting on me to estimate how much they need and the pricing is per person.

By Chefspike (Chefspike) on Monday, June 24, 2002 - 05:37 pm: Edit

I bet the fishing is pretty good up there
A lot of trailer parks.
Is it a big city, are you in a hotel or a rest?

By Jonesy (Jonesy) on Monday, June 24, 2002 - 06:43 pm: Edit

The city is close to 100,000. Not so many trailer parks. It's situated at the mid-point of an 80 mile long lake. We're known as a 4 seasons playground. I cater out of my own home.

By Chefmanny (Chefmanny) on Monday, June 24, 2002 - 06:48 pm: Edit

Carl is going to kill you Jonesy!!!

By Chefspike (Chefspike) on Monday, June 24, 2002 - 08:21 pm: Edit

He's in Canada!!!!
Why would Carl care?

By Chefmanny (Chefmanny) on Monday, June 24, 2002 - 08:34 pm: Edit

Good Point!!! Someday he might steal a Canadian customer from Carl though!!!!!!!!!!! Answer that Spiky boy!

By Chefspike (Chefspike) on Monday, June 24, 2002 - 09:40 pm: Edit

A Canadian customer....Where Carl is.
A Canadian.
A Customer.
Carl.
What?
Hey Jonesy...You know who won THE CUP, don't you?
Come on, say it with me............

The Red Wings.

Where is Carl?
I gotta find a job.
Manny, I'm com'in down there to work with you.
No really, the sofa is fine.
But where will the dog, Elwood sleep?

By Jonesy (Jonesy) on Monday, June 24, 2002 - 11:06 pm: Edit

Two things. Have no idea who Carl is and why he wants to kill me, and you're using the wrong pronoun when you're refering to me.(she not he)

By Chefspike (Chefspike) on Monday, June 24, 2002 - 11:21 pm: Edit

4 seasons playground.
you guys stole that from Michigan!
ok, so your a she.
Everyone's the same here. Unless you want to be a she or refered to as she.
Carl won't care. He's our resident cater.
He has a " thing " for doing things legal, so everyone is on the same page.
But your up there with the mousse's, and I'm sure he won't care.
Welcome she.

By Catergreat (Catergreat) on Tuesday, June 25, 2002 - 12:46 pm: Edit

I always care. ;)

In B.C. I understand that you must have a permit to serve food. Perhaps you can get a foodservice permit and liability insurance to cater from home in his providence.

Remember, I am concern with playing on an unlevel playing field where I am required to follow codes, rules, etc and someone bypasses the law and wants to compete with those who follow the rules...

But, that wasn't his question, he simply wanted help with his quantities, Manny has given a great response... I think if this guy was a professional caterer, he would know the answers... I don't see anything wrong with people having a party asking us for advice...

by the way,

CaterGreat = Carl
Carl is in TN

By Chefspike (Chefspike) on Tuesday, June 25, 2002 - 12:50 pm: Edit

Carl,
He is a She

By Jonesy (Jonesy) on Friday, June 28, 2002 - 03:13 am: Edit

In the province of B.C. you can be licensed to cater food from a home kitchen. I just thought I'd confirm my estimate. By the way, I heard from the client,their words "everything was phenomenal"

By Chefspike (Chefspike) on Friday, June 28, 2002 - 11:37 am: Edit

Another satisfied customer.

By Chefferd (Chefferd) on Sunday, June 30, 2002 - 11:44 am: Edit

Here we go again, being all up in arms about someone other than a "professional" caterer serving food or asking questions about how much food to serve. I've been in this industry for 27 years and I've done a fair amount of catering, although my main job is in a restaurant kitchen. Since I do not do catering on a regular basis I always wonder if I'm taking enough food and supplies. If I cannot count on support from my brothern in the biz and ask questions or pick your brain then why do we have chat lines or conversations at all, let's all just hoard our tid bits of info and only help those that are throwing dinner parties. Or we could expand our horizons and share the secrects of our trade and help make a difference in the food service industry. To borrow from Dennis Miller, "That's just my opinon I could be wrong".

By Chefspike (Chefspike) on Tuesday, July 02, 2002 - 12:50 am: Edit

Man, Miller was God awful on Monday Night Football
No one is up in arms.
We'll share.
Please, keep the ball here.

By Mbw (Mbw) on Tuesday, July 02, 2002 - 12:28 pm: Edit

Miller!

If I watched football I would be real pissed about Miller.

Get this idiot OFF the AIR!!

BTW NO I didn't watch last Monday, BUT he ALWAYS sucks!

By Chefmanny (Chefmanny) on Tuesday, July 02, 2002 - 12:37 pm: Edit

D. Miller should have never been on MNF, his humor is beyond the mental capabilities of the "average" football fan. Hence the humor was wasted on that audience!!! He did know his football though.
Miller is one of the funniest persons out there but, you do have to have half a brain or keep up with current events in the world to understand it, it's not teeny-bopper friendly!!!
Does that count you out BMW...MBW, sorry!

By Catergreat (Catergreat) on Tuesday, July 02, 2002 - 05:29 pm: Edit

Chefferd, if you would take the time to actually read the response, you would see that you are saying the same thing as I...

As someone somewhere should say.... "read before you bitch"....

By Chefspike (Chefspike) on Tuesday, July 02, 2002 - 06:59 pm: Edit

Catering, Miller, football......
When does hockey start again????
Not soon enough.
Millers humor is good, but I don't want to hear it with football. Madden, Summeral thats who I want to hear.
Manny, your funny, where's my job offer?
Chefferd, you have got to read it all the way through buddy. You can't make a mistake like that here, you'll be eaten up............
You've got as others do all the support you need and want here.
All anyone has to do is ask.
Correctly.
Peace.

By Mbw (Mbw) on Friday, July 05, 2002 - 05:23 pm: Edit

Chef Manny:
Soooo right... Fully wasted,

"his humor is beyond the mental capabilities of the "average" football fan. Hence the humor was wasted on that audience"

Look, the RULES of American Football are about as much as the average fan can manage after the first sixpack. This Smarmy bastard (DM)is an insult to good trailor living, gun shooting, stroller pushing red blooded Americans everywhere. Of course after a few more years of imbreeding we will just fade away. "Play foggy mountain"

Untill then give us commentators on OUR level... say 90 IQ?? Please??

Teenie bopper?? 38?? um.. no unfortunately he IS my generation...shame.... Nevermind I claim the 60's as MY generation. I was a child. I was MOSTLY sober (damn hippie parents)so I remember, a good prtion of it.

(ok it's personal with DM having to do with SNL. I was a die hard fan in the 70's and NONE of the new crews came close.)

So how did the Chinese luncheon go?

By Chefspike (Chefspike) on Saturday, July 06, 2002 - 12:05 am: Edit

He's just not that funny, all the time!
He was fluff, and they didn't need him.
ABC is God awful anyhow...
Let another network do it for awhile, on Monday Night. There are so many talented ex-football players out there with a good sence of "football humor".

By Ladycake (Ladycake) on Monday, July 22, 2002 - 02:30 pm: Edit

I know I am going to get blasted for this ... but ... I think they should take football off the air HAHAHAHAHA. Dennis Miller? He should keep the humor and clean up his mouth!

How DID the Chinese event go?

Lots of Love ... all around :~)

By Mbw (Mbw) on Wednesday, November 20, 2002 - 07:50 pm: Edit

8000 cups of hot chocolate being given away!

Estimate THAT! I am doing 4000 cups per day that is being shuttled to 3 teams of 5 "Cocoateers" that will be doing a holiday promotion all around the city.

My team will be driving huge insulated containers around in vans and refilling "Rocketman" packs www.rocketman.com these are cool beverage backpacks that would go over REAL well at spring break let me tell you!

Anyway my plan is to use stock pots to heat the milk, mix the chocolate, fill the larger containers, then shuttle to the smaller containers where the giveaway is being held.

If I could find a more efficiant way to heat, and/or transport this stuff that would be great. Any ideas? The portion is 6oz. 21.33 cups per gallon, so I will be standing by with 200 gal of hot chocolate per day, and 240 cans of whipped topping..HM??

Sometimes I like em when they sound like trouble. Not too unlike my romantic life.