Party of 60, number of servings?

Kirk

Kirk

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I'm cooking pulled pork and chicken (thighs and drumsticks) for 60. There will be people coming back for seconds. I was thinking at least 40 generous servings of pork and about the same number of 2 piece servings of chicken. Probably 30 thighs and 50 drumsticks since drummies are smaller and people tend to grab more per plate. I want to be sure there's enough but I don't want a ton of leftovers either.
Whatcha think?
 
I would think about 10 to 12lbs of pork butts would be good. Be about 1/4 servings. And the chicken sounds about right.

I just did one for a group of 90. I got a case of chicken hind quarters for $.59/lb and split them myself. Save some money that way. I also had the about 30 skinless chicken breasts. Might want to think about putting some white meat in there.
The breast where gone before the thighs and legs were.
I also did 30lbs of porkloin with the chicken.
 
BBQ_Mayor said:
I would think about 10 to 12lbs of pork butts would be good. Be about 1/4 servings. And the chicken sounds about right.

I just did one for a group of 90. I got a case of chicken hind quarters for $.59/lb and split them myself. Save some money that way. I also had the about 30 skinless chicken breasts. Might want to think about putting some white meat in there.
The breast where gone before the thighs and legs were.
I also did 30lbs of porkloin with the chicken.
Click to expand...

I did the same thing. $.60 for leg quarters. I cut them after they are cooked. Fewer pieces to manage in the cooker. If it were me, I'd cook four butts which would yield 12-15 lbs. which should fill one aluminum pan. For the chicken, cook about 2/3 of the 40# case of chicken. Freeze the rest.
 
Plowboy said:
If it were me, I'd cook four butts which would yield 12-15 lbs. which should fill one aluminum pan.
Click to expand...
Thaks guys. I figured 4 butts and 80 (total) pieces of chicken ought to be enough. And thanks for the tip on the 1/4 birds to save some $.
Thanks Todd for the tidbit about that amount fitting in one pan. I'll just be dropping off the meat in pans and I was wondering about how many it would take.
 
If you are going to sauce your chicken, here's what I do...

Cook quarters, cut into drums & thighs, pour generous amount of sauce in one end of an aluminum pan or hotel pan, place a few pieces at a time in the sauce, coat, and move to other end of pan. Add more sauce as needed.

Works better than brushing and everything stays in the pan. All you have to clean is a set of tongs. No BBQ sauce all over your pit.
 
If you are going to serve 4 Oz / portion of pulled pork then you need 15 lbs cooked weight or 27 + lbs uncooked weight.

If you are doing a drop off for a client, then the chances are your portion control on the pulled pork will go out the window.

If you send 5 Oz/ portion you'll need 20 lbs cooked weight or 37 + lbs of uncooked weight.

Better to offer too much than be the caterer who ran out.

If you charge for the cooked meat / lb you aren't the one running out and you've covered your costs and they are getting a good deal.

Don't short them if you can avoid it, a bad reputation spreads twice as fast as a good reputation!
 
SoEzzy said:
If you are going to serve 4 Oz / portion of pulled pork then you need 15 lbs cooked weight or 27 + lbs uncooked weight.

If you are doing a drop off for a client, then the chances are your portion control on the pulled pork will go out the window.

If you send 5 Oz/ portion you'll need 20 lbs cooked weight or 37 + lbs of uncooked weight.

Better to offer too much than be the caterer who ran out.

If you charge for the cooked meat / lb you aren't the one running out and you've covered your costs and they are getting a good deal.

Don't short them if you can avoid it, a bad reputation spreads twice as fast as a good reputation!
Click to expand...

That assumes everyone will eat pork, which they won't. Go with 15 lbs cooked (27+ uncooked) if you really want to be safe.
 
SoEzzy said:
If you are going to serve 4 Oz / portion of pulled pork then you need 15 lbs cooked weight or 27 + lbs uncooked weight.

If you are doing a drop off for a client, then the chances are your portion control on the pulled pork will go out the window.

If you send 5 Oz/ portion you'll need 20 lbs cooked weight or 37 + lbs of uncooked weight.

Better to offer too much than be the caterer who ran out.

If you charge for the cooked meat / lb you aren't the one running out and you've covered your costs and they are getting a good deal.

Don't short them if you can avoid it, a bad reputation spreads twice as fast as a good reputation!
Click to expand...

Lots of good advice here and by all the brothers above!

Just to be "cute", "Party of 60, number of servings?" is:

TA DAH---60 :lol:

Sorry, my evil twin (NPAK) made me do that :lol:

Do cook some extra though--like the guys said!

Good luck,

TIM
 
Plowboy said:
If you are going to sauce your chicken, here's what I do...
Click to expand...
Are you saying to cook the chicken, dunk in sauce and don't return to the cooker?
SoEzzy said:
If you are doing a drop off for a client, then the chances are your portion control on the pulled pork will go out the window.

Don't short them if you can avoid it, a bad reputation spreads twice as fast as a good reputation!
Click to expand...
Excellent points. I am just dropping off the food but I don't think everyone will have pork and chicken. Some will only have one or the other. I charged this client by the person so it's up to me to be sure there's enough. On the other hand, if I go overboard, I cut into my profit and she'll think my price was too high because I figured on too much meat per person. I did tell her though that if I had anything extra I'd give it to her at no extra charge (like if 4 and 1/4 butts would do, obviously I'd just cook 5 and give her the rest). I'm hoping to get more business out of this so I definately won't skimp.

The_Kapn said:
"Party of 60, number of servings?" is:

TA DAH---60 :lol:
Click to expand...
Thanks Tim, I wish it were that simple though. Like when buying beer for when my friends are coming over. You know you have enough when your car is full. :wink:
 
I'll have to think about that one. I've always liked to leave whatever sauced meat on the cooker for a little while at least to set the sauce. Thanks for the idea though Todd.
 
Generally try to keep your food cost to a 30% max. This means if you charge $300.00 to the host then you cannot spend more than $100.00 for food. Don't forget about little things also: plates, forks, wood, disposable pans, etc.
Therefore it depends on what price the host is paying. If you gave them a great deal or they lowballed you then give them an amount based on that only. You do not "owe" a client more than what they are paying for. If you're trying to impress then expect to have a higher food cost.
It also is a good idea to give a client an invoice of exactly what you'll be bringing at that price. We have the luxuary of being able to bring extra in reserve to add on an additional charge because we can absorb it into the restaurant as specials or add it back into the inventory if it doesn't get used.
 
Thanks again guys. The client and I have agreed on a price that we're both happy with and if I do wind up giving them a little extra, I'll still come out fine. I had a minimum profit in mind when I worked up the price for her, then I added in the price of the meat, buns and ingredients for slaw (I wanted control over this since the pork will be for sandwiches), rubs, sauces and all the consumables. I stayed on the safe side of all these prices, rounding up slightly and came up with a deal that made us both very happy.
 
Plowboy said:
If you are going to sauce your chicken, here's what I do...

Cook quarters, cut into drums & thighs, pour generous amount of sauce in one end of an aluminum pan or hotel pan, place a few pieces at a time in the sauce, coat, and move to other end of pan. Add more sauce as needed.

Works better than brushing and everything stays in the pan. All you have to clean is a set of tongs. No BBQ sauce all over your pit.
Click to expand...

Sometimes what we like is to dunk the pieces in that chicken bathtub like Todd described, let them drain a little, but then put it back on the cooker for just a few minutes to get a little caramelized. I think the dunk works mo' betta than brushing, too.

Best of luck, Kirk. It sounds like you have it covered.
 
Just wanted to say thanks again guys for the tips. I dropped off four 1/2 pans of pork last night, along with rolls and slaw, and five 1/2 pans of chicken. That came out to about 65 - 70 servings of pork and around 90+ pieces of chicken (thighs and drummies). I can't imagine anyone needing more than that for 60 people but like y'all said, I didn't want to be the caterer who didn't bring enough food. Since it was for a friend's sister, I didn't mind giving a bit more.
Dunking the chicken worked out good and I did put it back on to caramelize for a bit. Much nicer that way I think.
Waiting for feedback now, hopefully everyone enjoyed it.
 
Congrats on a successful gig!

A little extra food is cheap advertisement. What's $20 bucks of extra grub when you are trying to attract business to make sure your event runs smoothly and the stress of worrying about running out?
 
big brother smoke said:
Congrats on a successful gig!

A little extra food is cheap advertisement. What's $20 bucks of extra grub when you are trying to attract business to make sure your event runs smoothly and the stress of worrying about running out?
Click to expand...

Gonna hire Big Bro Smoke, $20 brethren discount, $20 extra food. Not bad for a $100 party :mrgreen: .
 
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