Burgers, Brats and Dogs for 500
 

My church is picking back up doing Octoberfest after about a 5 year hiatus and they have asked me to organize the food for it. I'm thinking of just keeping it simple for the first year in order to see how things go so just burgers, brats and dogs.

Question would be, about how much of each? It's more of an evening thing, but still family friendly. I'd say it will probably be 50/50 kids to adults, with a little over half of the kids population being in the upper grade school range.

Would appreciate any input folks have, from the meats to amount of condiments, etc.

Thanks

What kind of church allowed YOU to be a member???:shocked:








Oh, and upper grade means teenagers, correct? They can EAT...

Catholics. They'll let anyone in! :becky:

Yeah, say 4th - 8th.

Bump.

What is the total number of attendees expected?

I wondered the same. 500 seems like a lot to feed at a church event so is it 500 what's expected to attend? Hours serving? Any other food vendors? Any info on the event before the hiatus?

I've seen these types of events serve a bunch of food to people who's main motivation for buying is "supporting".

200 brats, 200 burgers and 200 dogs

Is there a store close by that you can run to if you are running low on something?

We catered an event for 300 with just burgers & dogs. We got 320 of each figureing 1 of each for each person. It wasnt enogh, there needed to be some sort of feeding order, but it all worked out. Too many people came back through the line too many times

500 burgers, 300 dogs, 300 brats.

Have done 300 a number of times. YMMV, but this schema leaves me with very little left overs. Fwiw I always boil the brats in beer ahead of time and then grill golden before serving. No raw brats and great flavor.

Have a hundred extra dogs just in case.

For 500 people and really, once they are 14, they are adults. I would consider that hot dogs are a minimal item, however, hot dogs store well. Burgers, unless you are doing fresh, can be frozen and thus, they store well also. I see the breakdown as thus.

500 total people, two servings per person

350 adult portions (assume 2/3 take a brat and burger, 1/3 hot dog)
200 children (assume hot dogs, singles)

you need:
315 hot dogs
130 brats
130 burgers

But, as stated above, you can freeze most of this stuff, and in these amounts, you are going to have the ability to buy wholesale at low prices. Over buy, this is not the thing you need to skimp on. I would buy...

you need:
350 hot dogs
200 brats
250 burgers

BTW, don't forget that you will need a lot of condiments, and it is better to buy them in large quantities and repackage into several small squeeze bottles, if possible. You cut down on both waste and spoilage that way, plus, you can move the line faster with several small condiment locations.

Sorry, I bumped this and then couldn't get online yesterday!

The 500 we feel would be on the high end of possible attendee number. But if you think about that, it's only about 100 families of 4, each with 1 kid over and 1 under 14 plus another 100 folks. We have over 200 school families plus at least double that non-school families.

We're the only food that will be available at the event. There is a Sams Club just up the street that will be open later than 'dinner rush' hours if needed.

Hawg, that's how I cook the brats as well and I'm with you on the flavor and ensuring that it's not raw.

I'm not sure of the particular hours but I believe it will be 4p - 10p.

6 hours, open event? In a residential neighborhood?

At a parish in a residential area, yes open event, but won't be advertised outside of the parish so not likely to get too many people strolling up.

Once you start cooking, you are advertising, and over 6 hours, open event, go 400 burgers, 300 of dogs and sausages. IF there are leftovers, find the hungry in your parish and feed them for the week.