Professional Brethren I need some advice!!!!!
 

Ok I have been cooking for a long time have cooked for 10 to 100 people on different occasions. I have been asked to cook for 200 people for a wedding reception close friends, anyway did a test run for them yesterday pulled pork, pork tenderloin and chicken, well they decided on pulled pork.
I would reallly appreciate help here, How many pounds of shoulder should I purchase and how much should I charge to cook? they are adament about paying me so I need to know? Any help is greatly appreciated....
BTW I have a 60 inch Rf smoker capable of cooking 16 shoulder if needed.
thanks again!!

As far as the meat bill is concerned, the calculations are pretty easy. If you are assuming 1/4 pound of cooked meat per person, you will need 50 pounds of meat for the 200 guests. Use Boston butts and you will get 50% yield after cooking. This means you will need 100 pounds of raw butts. If you want to go with 1/3 pound of cooked meat per person, you will need 67 pounds of cooked meat so start with 134 pounds for your starting weight. Are you doing side dishes? Providing buns and sauce? That all needs to get factored into your pricing. Best of luck!

there is a caterer for the whole reception and I am providing only the smoked meat, they will be having other proteins, shrimp, chicken tenders etc. so I think on the light side is ok for calculatoins... I will providing only meat, no sides, buns, just foil trays and foil to cover. thanks!!!

$10 / Pound

Ditto. :thumb:

I don't know if they will be adament about paying you when you tell them $10 a lb. That would be over $500. But then again they might be happy as clams to pay that. Good luck!

~60 lbs. (Butts) as others have mentioned. When I do these sota things for friends I just ask them to buy a butt or two for me and call it good. I see it as my contribution to the party so to say... Cheers!!!

that is what I have been thinking I really dont want to be paid I figured it would kinda be my wedding gift.... but the cool thing is that I am going to meet a caterer that was interested in talking about me cooking for her:clap2:

If you are hoping to generate contacts with the caterer -- charge for the meat. $10 is fair, but depending on your area you may need to look at $8-8.50 per pound. When I do pork only, $8 a pound makes me feel like Black Beard...the pirate!! I used to do 40# per week to the church at $8 per pound and knew I was giving them a good and fair price and making enough that I didn't feel "underappreciated".

Don't go cheap with a caterer watching.

$10 a pound is cheap here for retail, seems like a good price for catering

Catered here is $4 a serving for pork.

And how much is a serving? 1/4 or 1/2 lb?

Posted from my fancy android fone!!

Ok I gather that around 60-70 lbs of shoulder should do it, again there are other proteins in the game. the suggestion I made to caterer is to have small rolls for sliders so that is the course of action. This will not be a sit down dinner where everyone has 1/4 lb of pork on the plate... because of being a friend I think somewhere in the $8.00 per lb should be ok to pay for meat, time cooking and foil pans etc... Is there anything I should pay special attention too besides the quality of my product???? Thanks again

you may want a change of clothes if you plan to dance with the bride. other than that, it looks like you have it covered. have a great time!