Planning a party? Here's how to entertain a crowd.
Invitations have been mailed and R.S.V.P. cards are coming in. Now, how much food and beverages you need? There are some factors you want to consider: type and format of the event, day of the week, time and length of the event, the age group of people and the types of food you're serving. Contact our catering specialist for more information.
Here are some tips,
- Always round up your estimates.
- Anticipate which food selections will be most popular and serve more of them than the general portion guidelines suggest.
- The more choices you offer, the smaller your calculation of individual portion size should be.
- Assume your guests will taste everything on a buffet, but the tastes will be small. However, overall consumption per individual will be greater than if there were fewer choices.
- Add "bulk" items to your menu such as bread, crackers, nuts, olives, etc.
Here are basic guidelines for individual serving sizes of various foods. Multiply these estimates by your number of guests and, once again, always round up your estimates.
Portion Size Per Person
Hors D'oeuvres
- 6 bites when preceeding a meal.
- 4 - 6 bites per hour when hors d'oeuvres are the meal.
- The longer your party and the larger your guest list, the greater the number of selections you should offer.
The Main Meal
- Poultry, meat or fish - 6 ounces when you have one main dish, 4 ounces when you offer two or more main courses.
- Rice, grains - 1.5 ounces as a side dish, 2 ounces in a main dish such as risotto.
- Potatoes - 5 ounces
- Vegetables - 4 ounces
- Beans - 2 ounces as a side dish
- Pasta - 2 ounces for a side dish, 3 ounces for a first course, 4 ounces for a main dish
- Green Salad - 1 ounce undressed weight
Desserts
- 1 slice cake, tart or pastry
- 4 ounces creamy dessert such as pudding or mousse
- 5 ounces ice cream
- When serving two of the above, reduce each by half.
Beverages
1 drink per person every ½ hour for the first hour, then 1 drink per hour for each additional hour.
General Beverages (coffee, tea, juice, water) - 1 gallon = 128 oz or 16-- 8 oz cups in a gallon (2 cups per person)
- Beer
- 1 case beer serves 24-12 oz bottles
- 1 keg beer serves 165.3 --12 oz beers or 15.5 gallons
- 1 pony keg (1/2 keg) serves 83-12 oz beers or 7.5 gallons
- Wine/Champagne
- 1 bottle of wine serves 5 (5 oz glasses)
- 1 case of wine = 12 bottles of wine serves (60-5 oz glasses)
- 1 bottle champagne serves 6 (4 oz glasses)
A Few Other Menu Planning Tips
- Don't repeat a main ingredient. For example, don't serve a shrimp appetizer and shrimp main dish.
- Consider the colors of the food that will be served together and make sure there is variety.
- Offer both hot and cold foods on a buffet.