Grad Party

[Garth57]

I am doing a high school Grad Party for almost 50 (first time for me). Mix of teens, parents, grandparents. They want Briskit, pulled pork, ribs, beans, coleslaw....and maybe chicken. I am thinking about 3 brisk, 2 butts, 10-12 racks of spares (trimmed to St Louis style), 8-10 whole fryers/quartered, 1 full size pan of beans, 1/2 pan of coleslaw for the pork sammies. Does this sound like enough? Now I just need to borrow one of Norco's UDS's to go with my UDS and mini UDS.

[Smoke & Beers]

Plan on a lot of leftovers...which isn't always a bad thing
I fired up the drums for my son's party grad party and did two 10 lb briskets, three 8 lb. butts, 6 slabs of ribs and had way too much...of course, I made the mistake of serving the four 2 lb fatties and 100 moinks balls as appetizers and everyone filled up on those
We had about 50 people show up as well...

A little advice...be prepared to explain how your drum works...over and over again... Since his party in mid-May, I'm building the 3rd and 4th drum right now for some friends/family that were at the party...and # 5 & 6 will be started later this month....So I'm doing my part of spreading the good word of the drumheads!

[Big Ugly's BBQ]

I did 4 Briskets, 6 Butts, 2 pans of beans, and 12lbs of slaw for my daughters Grad Party (70 People). I had less than one Butt left, no Brisket, Beans or Slaw.

Thankfully someone brought a bushel of Blue Crab.

[Bbq Bubba]

Originally Posted by Garth57

I am doing a high school Grad Party for almost 50 (first time for me). Mix of teens, parents, grandparents. They want Briskit, pulled pork, ribs, beans, coleslaw....and maybe chicken. I am thinking about 3 brisk, 2 butts, 10-12 racks of spares (trimmed to St Louis style), 8-10 whole fryers/quartered, 1 full size pan of beans, 1/2 pan of coleslaw for the pork sammies. Does this sound like enough? Now I just need to borrow one of Norco's UDS's to go with my UDS and mini UDS.

Really? 3, maybe 4 meats? I'd talk em into 2 meats unless your getting like $19.00 per person.
If your charging for this, you need enough food for everybody.
25 lbs of Brisket and Pork.
Your other numbers look good!

[Garth57]

I'm actually doing it for a friend. They will buy the food and I cook it. Hope to get some business from it though.

[txschutte]

I would follow Bubba's advice if you're trying to get some biz from this gig. Part of being a good caterer is helping your customer whittle down extravagant ideas when they can't afford it.

Briskiet and ribs is a good place to start with the showing of your skills. If you layout the whole schmear, and tons is leftover, potential customers may look at this as a waste, and balk at the reasonable price you give them.

If you tell them you can cook 2 meats and 2 sides for $15/pp, they may remember the leftovers and wonder if they are paying for too much food, based on what they had seen at the freebie party.

If your friend insists about that much food, make sure he/she understands your motives for drumming up business, and that they agree to let others know what they would be paying if you weren't such a good friend.

[Garth57]

Thanks, that makes sense!!