Help me not run out of meat

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nachos4life

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Hello brethren. Another how much to cook thread here....We run a successful food truck and mainly do beer events, festivals, and stuff like that which we know how to plan for pretty well. But we are now getting into catering (more than just drop off and run stuff). We have our first wedding coming up soon where we are doing an actual buffet set up (self serve). Wedding count is 200 guests.
Menu is brisket, pulled pork, chicken wings/legs, salad, slaw, beans, and corn casserole. Hamburger buns and tortillas also on the buffet.

I am trying to determine how much meat to prepare. My initial thoughts are:

60lbs cooked brisket
60lbs cooked pulled pork
220 pieces of chicken (whole wings and drumsticks mix)

This would give everyone 4oz of each meat per person and a piece of chicken with some extra. then plus all the sides that seems like a bunch of food to me. I don't want to run out of any meat but also don't want to go crazy with cooking way too much. Having some leftover is not a big deal as I can use it for other things. As far as meat preference in Indiana, we tend to sell pork and brisket about equally.

any feedback would be awesome. thanks!
 
At my last place (Sandfly BBQ) when we had large self serve events like this our go to was 2-3 servings per lb. I'd shoot for less, In total you should only need around 120-130# of meat total to feed everyone. If it were me I'd try to hit maybe, 50# & 50#. 220 pieces of chicken might not be a bad idea because people are likely to double up on that than anything (or gut the white meat depending on where you are).

With that everyones getting 8oz of meat and a piece of chicken. Some will eat less, some will eat more but it'll level out.

Catered my wedding of 80 with 30# and we had PANS left over.

Rules of thumb for us
Pound of meat:
2-3 people as entree
3-4 people as sandwiches

Pint of side: 2-3 people
Quart of side: 4-6 people
 
Last edited:
Two things I've learned on here and from catering...


Set up the buffet so they get the sides first and meat last. Less room on the plate means they'll take a little less meat.


Cut the brisket into smaller slices instead of the long single slice. It looks like more and people take less.
 
medic92 said:
Two things I've learned on here and from catering...


Set up the buffet so they get the sides first and meat last. Less room on the plate means they'll take a little less meat.


Cut the brisket into smaller slices instead of the long single slice. It looks like more and people take less.
Click to expand...
If you put an attendant on your meat too they'll naturally take less. We use that little trick at buffets for high cost items.

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk
 
If your numbers above are cooked weight you are good. You will have leftovers for sure but you shouldn't run into a situation where one meat is gone before all guests have a pass.
 
HBMTN said:
If your numbers above are cooked weight you are good. You will have leftovers for sure but you shouldn't run into a situation where one meat is gone before all guests have a pass.
Click to expand...

thanks! yea that is cooked weight.
 
what about sides? we have beans, slaw, and a corn casserole. was thinking be prepared for 4oz per side per person?
 
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