Graduation Party
 

I've been asked to fix pulled bbq pork and Italian beef for a graduation party. They are expecting up to 200 people at the open house. Also fixing sides of cole slaw and baked beans. As I have never cooked for this many people before I would appreciate any and all input regarding how much to prepare.
I figure 30 pounds of cooked pork and 30 pounds of cooked beef shoud do it but how many heads of cabbage am I going to need and how many pounds of beans? For those of you who cater on a regular basis, what would you charge?

60 pounds of meat sounds a bit short, no?? I always kind of assumed 8-12 oz per person. Scott

PS, as sides...2-3 oz per person?

9 pounds of cabbage will feed about 25 or so.

Even assuming 1/3 pound per person (in this case you can actually probably figure 1/4 pound of each meat so 1/2 pound total per person) you may need more meat. I'd do about 70 pound (raw) of pork and maybe 50-60 pounds of beef (it should shrink less unless you are using brisket).

#10 cans of beans server about 22-25 each, depending on the brand.

If you are not providing paper goods and drinks, I'd charge about $8 per pound for the finished pork and $9 for the beef - a lot depends on your costs...around here beef is expensive. Or you could charge $5 per person based on the 200 count.

Thanks for the input. I'm just cooking and dropping off the food. I'm sure I'll stick around a little while just to make sure it gets set up properly. They will have other food also, that's why I was thinking 1/4 -1/3 lb. per.

I don't think I'd actually make the slaw. Sam's Club mod.

I just did a grad party for 200. they had other food so i did 3 10#pork and that was fine.their was extra of evrything but my pork:-D

It's the shrinkage that fouls things up. For pork butts you'll normally get 40% or so shrinkage - that's why I recommend 90-100# of raw pork to get about 54-60 pounds of finished meat - you may do better since some butts don't shrink up as much.

The beef is the same problem depending on the cut and how lean it is. Packer briskets will shrink about 40-50% too.

On the slaw, I'm with Jeff in that I'd buy the preshredded at Sam's or another restaurant supply place. The 3# bags at Sam's yield about 16 servings each.

I did pork and sides for 450 over the weekend. I cooked about 280 pounds of raw pork, 18 cans of beans, and I don't remember how much slaw (I bought too much). We were able to feed everyone, sell some quarts (at least 60 or so), and provide a full counter pan of pork and fixin's to the fire department. There was still some meat left. I left it there for the staff to lunch on this week!

Providing the "only" meat for an event is different from providing "an additional meat" - you sure don't want to run out until after everyone has had at least one serving!!

Check out this thread: http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=18189

Funny thing happened when I cooked for my Daughter's Graduation Party. We were expecting 60 - 80 but only 30 or so actually showed up. the catch was that there were teen age boys there. I had 25 pounds of pork but and 20 pounds of Brisket , a huge pan of Beans, hashbrown casserole, mac & cheese, 96 homemade rolls and salad. After the carnage I ended up with 3 pounds of pulled pork and a few beans that was it!! They all had thirds and I had never seen plates piled so high with food.

If you have Excel, interesting spreadsheet here:

http://www.azbbqa.net/catering/

FWIW,

TIM

That's a good spreadsheet. If you don't have Excel you can download and install open office. The price is right (free).
http://www.openoffice.org/index.html

Okay, here's the deal. Dropping off 45#'s of cooked pulled pork, 45#'s of cooked Italian Beef, beans and home made slaw for 200 people and 216 rolls. Case price at Sam's for the beef,whole eye of the round round roasts, $1.77/lb. and $1.14/lb. for the pork butt. Charged $1038.00. I think I'm going to pick up a couple of Nesco roaster ovens for the Italian Beef and baked beans and serve the pulled pork from a chafing dish.

Neil, those roaster ovens are nice to have. I've got a couple and only use them a few times a year, but when you need them they are hard to beat.

Neil, cook a pork butt in tomato sauce(or county ribs) for a few hours... , then pull it and add some sauce to it.... just like pulled pork.. but italian style..

awesome..