Food Amounts 101

How much food should be sent to an event? The answer is simple: It depends. You need to ask yourself a series of questions, and the answers change from event to event.

When it comes to planning the amount of food for an event, it doesn’t matter how much food a guest can eat; it only matters how much food a guest takes. Some caterers actually try to determine how much a guest of a particular menu item a guest is likely to eat, when they really should determine is how much will be taken by guests, whether they eat it or not.

Questions to ask when trying to decide how much food to send to an event include:

·   What is the purpose of the event?

·   Who is the customer?

·   Where is the event location?

·   What time of day is the event?

·   Who’s coming to the event?

·   What is the actual menu for the event?

·   How will guests be dressed?

·   What is the temperature inside the event going to be?

·   How many children are coming?

·   What is the educational level of the guests?

·   What are the ages of the guests?

·   What are the host’s views on food and hospitality?

How do you figure out how much food is enough? Every group eats and takes different amounts of food during a catered event. Who eats more, a group of 50 men or a group of 50 women? Are you sure of your answer? There are only men or women in each group—and that makes a difference. Many caterers have learned that the answer to the question is “both.”

Many husbands and wives eat differently and with greater abandon than when their spouses are with them. Men and women at a singles dance eat with more concern for how others view them than if they were at a ballgame. Eating is a social activity. While some people really don’t care how others view them as they eat, others are very concerned about their eating image.

A person who has just paid $1,000 for a political fundraiser is going to attack the shrimp! They feel they have something coming for their donation. A company’s employees will probably eat differently at an event their customers are attending than at their annual holiday party, where they may want to get even with the company by eating and drinking all they can. In a group of all men, if you place attractive female servers behind the buffet, they will take less food. The same is true in reverse with the women guests and handsome male servers. It’s just biology!

Some nationalities have folk songs about food and food is a huge part of their culture; others don’t have the same passion about the foods they eat. Some guests eat to live; others live to eat. Some guests come to a buffet and closely examine every food item, looking forward to tasting them. Others simply fill their plates and move on.

So, there really isn't any "sure-fire" way to always know how much food to send, so it is best to send more than you think you may need - it is very damaging for a caterer's reputation if they run out of food no matter who's fault it really is.

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