Cater for 400 people at a wedding!!!

Hawgsnheifers

Hawgsnheifers

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OK, so I'm out watering the plants this evening when my next door neighbor, who had bought 5 pounds of my BBQ brisket for his sons high scool graduation this year, announces his daugher is getting married in June of 07. You probably already see where this is going. Anyway, she loved my Q so the neighbor say's , "can you cater the wedding reception? There will be about 400".

At this point my common sense told me to drop the hose and run away as fast as I could. But this stupid Farkin dumb chit, won't back down from a challange idiot inside my head, (yes the same one that will not ask for directions) made me say, "sure, no problem". So now I'm on the hook for doing this guy's daughters meal for her most important day.

Mrs Hawgnheifers thinks I have completly lost my mind, which now in retrospect, I believe my mind was DOA earlier when I committed. She thinks I should be committed.


Anway, knowing you all out there that cater have all the answers, It's time to share what you know with your Brother here so I can pull this off. I do have some time to get prepared since it's 11 months away. Maby if I start smoking now, I will have it all done by then.

Oh Fark...What the hell did I get myself into???

Here are my questions:
1. How much meat per person do I figure?
2. They want 2 meats and 2 sides, BBQ beef and pulled pork and buns and plates and table service and 2 sides, coleslaw and beans and sweat tea. What the hell do I charge per head?

That's enough right there for now..


HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!! :icon_smil :icon_smil :icon_smil :icon_smil :icon_smil
 
Todd, first off, you're farking insane for taking a wedding! I wouldn't want to be the one to ruin her most important day! LOL! Seriously, I'm sutre these guys here can walk you through this just fine. Me? Hell, I am going to start learning but I don't know chit about it!

Anyway, check out KCMike's Catering spreadshhet that you can download for free here: http://www.azbbqa.com/catering/. I've downloaded it and looked it over. Seems pretty danged solid!
 
Most people say 1/4 to 1/2 pound meat per person cooked, figure an average of 1/3 pound. Which means you will have to cook roughly ONE TON of meat to feed that crowd.

OK, my math is fuzzy, but I hope you get the point.
 
Well here we go again. Go with 8 oz meat per person. Figure women less, men more, so avg 8 oz per head.
That comes out to 200 pounds of finished product.
So assuming you lose probably half during cooking and trimming you will need about 1 lb raw meat per head. So therefore you will need about 400 lbs meat to start with.

Figure about six ounces each of both sides. People always take more than they can eat, so there is a fair amount of waste, but slaw, and beans are pretty inexpensive. Tea is cheaper than all get out.


This is a wedding, I'd charge no less than $15 per head. And I'm sure there are some here who will say do it for less and others for more.

Don't forget, there is your time, your equipment, your planning, your stroke, no wait, hope you don't have a stroke.
Paper goods etc.

Before you shoot a quote. Total the raw costs of everything. Take your time, think of EVERYTHING.
Meat, sides, paper goods, tea, ice, warming dishes and fuel, charcoal, gas, travel time, wood and any other table ware/service, salt condiments...everything.
Now devide that by 400. What do you get?

If it comes to 15 per person, you're doing it for free.
Go from there.

My 12 minutes, and two cents.
 
Go with The BBQJoe Man,
8 oz. will be a little too much, BUT, if you don't take enough, you're Jacked!!!! If you're over, they'll take it on their Honeymoon with them.
Hey, ay least they are giving you a year to plan.
And, as most relationships go, they won't get married anyway.
Also! Make sure they now exactly what you ARE going to do and what you ARE NOT going to do as far as setting up, serving, clean up and so on.
GET 1/2 the money up front and nonrefundable with a certain amount of days before the wedding.
GET A CONTRACT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! stating all of this.
Smoke On!!!!!!
 
BBQ Beef and pulled pork....a fairly straight forward smoke with good results probably guarenteed. I'd jump on it. Good for you. Scott
 
Bear in mind also that a 400-person reception a year away may be a 200-person reception in reality. Or maybe 600. Obviously, this impacts your bottom line, so you won't be able to get a really accurate account until you have a firm number- which you'll have to have significantly ahead of time, I would think.
Bear in mind also that I've never catered anything myself.
 
Listen to Joe. At least with pulled pork and beef you can cook it ahead of time and not all at once.
 
I'd let them know that any quote now is based on current prices of meat etc.... One year from now there is no telling what your costs may be.
 
When you say "cater" do you mean meat and sides only or full cater? Gotta watch out since canopies, tables, chairs, etc. cost bucks for the rental. Also, paper or china, plastic or glass? Lot's to consider.

Also, what are you cooking on? I overloaded my butt when I did pork and sides for 400 a few weeks ago...I NEEDED a bigger or additional cooker.

I kept mine "on the cheap" since I was doing it for the church. I provided meat, sides, drinks, paper, plastic, etc. They provided/rented the canopy, tables and chairs, etc. My costs ran about $1200 and I cleared right at $1K.

Again - what are you going to cook on? Get a handle on that real early!!
 
"I'd let them know that any quote now is based on current prices of meat etc.... One year from now there is no telling what your costs may be"

Now THAT is excellent advice. In the contract put in todays prices of meat and that the final price will be reflective of the price of meat when it has to be ordered.

Also, start asking around,begging, lying, stealing or whatever it takes to get your hands on a big @rse cooker like a Lang or Klose mobile.

I'm sure it will come out well so have some cards printed up and ready to be handed out at the wedding as you WILL pick up some other gigs.
 
Last week I served around 150 with flatware, soft drinks, water, slaw, beans (from scratch wife did the recipe), and pulled pork on a bun (208 buns,) and chicken legs material cost 300 = or - 20 dollars. Beef will run more than the chicken and your meat should be about 1/3 lb per person of cooked weight as a starting est. Others with more experience can help but this is figures from last Thursday.
 
Hawgsnheifers said:
Oh Fark...What the hell did I get myself into???

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!! :icon_smil :icon_smil :icon_smil :icon_smil :icon_smil
Click to expand...


I wouldn't worry about it now......wait until 5/31/2007, then worry.

:cool:

With the advice you'll get from the folks here that cater, have catered or are in the restaurant bidness, you'll be fine.
 
I just got to thinking about it, by the time the wedding date arrives this thread will probably be longer than the fark thread!
 
One thing from the business side: If they tell you 400 and you prepare more (that's your problem)...if they tell you 400 and you prepare more because two days before they tell you 450 - THEY OWE YOU MORE MONEY!! Never, ever, ever, ever give your food away at a paying gig!! I've had cases where they tell me 70 - I always cook at least 10% more - and 85 show up - they owed me for the 15...tell them up front that they pay for what's served.

Price out per person - not flat rate. An exception is when you are delivering only the meat, sides, etc. In that case weigh it and price it out per pound (per pan can cost you lots of $$$) - beans, slaw, etc. are ok to price per pan...not the meat!!

If you are doing meat, sides, drinks, paper, plastic, etc. you need to come pretty close to what a similar plate goes for at a restaurant...if you are providing other stuff - bill it seperately. Avoid like the plague being responsible for table decorations!! (Been there, done that, and bit the big one!!)

As always, this advice is for a paying gig. If you know the people, etc. you'll probably feel guilty and lower your price. Be fair to yourself...you're looking at hours and hours of work and a lot of "sunk costs"...definately get a deposit to cover meat and supplies costs.

In catering it's usually something like 10% at contract signing, another 40% NLT two weeks out from the event and the balance ON DELIVERY. The 10% is non-refundable. The 40% would be refundable up to, say, 5 days - or whenever you buy your meat.

Gotta cover the bases...at this point it's not personal, it's business.
 
That's also a lot of fridge/freezer space. Even if you do it all in one cook that meat will have to see the inside of a fridge or freezer at some point in the process, unless you have a commercial ice maker and a bunch of marine coolers.
 
Rockaway BeachBQ said:
Most people say 1/4 to 1/2 pound meat per person cooked, figure an average of 1/3 pound. Which means you will have to cook roughly ONE TON of meat to feed that crowd.

OK, my math is fuzzy, but I hope you get the point.
Click to expand...

You did your math "backwards"! :eek:

Since he's doing 2 meats he'll need approximately 180# of pork butts (raw weight) and depending on the cut of beef about the same amount of beef. Pork butt shrinks about 40% and brisket packers are a bit more (as much as 60% if they are real fat). Leaner beef gives you a better yield. A lot depends on whether you are slicing or chopping the beef.

Since you are doing two meats figure about 1/4 pound each per person.

Sixteen to 18 cans of beans will cover 400 and about 50-75 pound of slaw mix...don't forget the dressing!! :-D

For a gig like this I'd start the estimate at about $18 per person. Your costs is going to be in excess of $1200 and since you are doing beef it'll probably be closer to $1600. I'm guestimating this since my last gig with one meat, 2 sides, 2 drinks, cups, plates, utensils, etc. costs me about $1200. I was doing a church gig so I only charged about $8.50 per person.

Do you have a prep kitchen available? Like Jorge pointed out, you'll need refrigeration, somewhere to cook the beans, prep the slaw, etc. etc. etc. I've been lucky to have my local church kitchens available for my gigs. I would not advise trying to prep, store, etc. this amount of stuff at home.

The $18 is for "full catering" at a professional pricing level. If you're bashful just call around to a few places for pricing...you will be amazed! The way I've done most of mine is figure costs and double -- again, I do mostly church gigs. I do sell my pork for $8 per pound and that's $1 per pound under the local "going rate"...I've sold quarts (approximately 2-2.25 pounds) for $5 following an event to help the church recoup some costs (the money went to them, not me) and I've sold other "quarts" to friends for about $8-10 per quart, depending on how well I like them!!
 
Wow... A bunch of info Brothers. Where do I start?

I'm going to boil everything in liquid smoke and smother it all with sauce.

No no. Wait. Sams has BBQ beef in a big tub for like $5.99 per. I could buy a bunch of them and pass it off as mine... Hmmmm. Naaaa..

Actually I'm figuring between my Dera and Silver Smoker I can do all the Beef and Pork in 4 weekends. I figured they would want 70% beef and the other pork. Seems more folks eat BBQ beef. It's all going to be chopped for buns.

They already rented a hall to the tune of $1800. I think it has a kitchen.

As for the freezer space, I have a 26 foot upright and another spare fridge and my inlaws have a couple of those chest freezers big enough for Frankenstein.

I don't have a commercial kitchen but maybe this is a good time to buy one of those kitchen trailers that they sell funnel cakes out of at the circus. I saw some of those available on ebay. Hell, I could use it for BBQ comps too. :oops:

I have to provide, plastic fork and spoon, napkins, 2 meats, beans and slaw, plastic cups for the tea, and I figured I'll need to rent 3 of those raised serving dishes that have the bunson burner under them. One each for the meat and one for the beans. I'll have to get about 10 of those 5 gal coolers with the spout for the tea.

I guess I better pick up a pallet of Kingsford and a cord of cherry somewhere.

Wait.

Hey Jeff, can I borrow your Spicewine rig? I bet I can do about 24 briskets or about 30 butts in there at one time. Hey, want to partner with me on this gig? We can use fake names so they won't be able to track us down afterwards. Wait, that won't work. They live next door. Is your basement empty?

Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most...
 
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