How Much Food Is Enough for Your Catered Event?

By Catering Staff | June 28, 2016

After you have received the RSVP notes, your next step is to discuss with your catering company like Rubio’s the number of expected guests. You and the catering company’s supervisor must answer the question, “How much food will be necessary to satisfy your guests?” Keep in mind that you want to feed all of your guests instead of running out of food, as well as paying for excess food that will likely be thrown away.  

Good Planning Is Crucial

Running out of food and throwing away plenty of leftovers are both a waste of money. You and your caterer should then closely work together to ensure that the right quantity and quality of food will be served to your guests. You must consider several factors including but not limited to:

• The expected number of people attending
• The type of event
• The types of food that will be served
• The duration (i.e., length of time) of the event

For example, if you are hosting an evening cocktail party, you will likely prepare less food than in an all-day event because the longer your party, the longer your guests will stay and eat food.

Keep these tips in mind, too:

• Round up the numbers just to be on the safe side, especially when your venue is open (i.e., gatecrashers are more likely to come in and partake of the food)
• Order more quantities for the food and drinks that will likely be more popular than the other selections
• Serve food in smaller portions (i.e., bite size) so that your guests will have a sampling of most of the food and be relatively full

Your experienced caterer should be able to work through these matters.  

Basic Catering Guidelines

You can treat the following as basic guidelines in establishing the amount of food that every guest can consume. You can change, as necessary, these amounts.

• Appetizers

For an evening function, each person can get 10-15 pieces. You can serve 1-3 pieces/person for a mid-day function and 3-5 pieces/person as pre-dinner appetizers.  

• Beverages

Each person will enjoy 3-4 beverages. For coffee, you should ideally allot a cup for every person every 1.5 hours.  

• Breakfast items

Each person may have a main entrée, two sides, and bread as well as fruit for dessert. Choose from either 3-5 pieces cut fruit/person or a cup of fruit salad/person. Pastries can be 2 pieces/person.

• Lunch or dinner menu

Each guest should ideally have 3-5 hors d’oeuvres, about 5 ounces of a main entrée, and 2-3 sides of either pasta, vegetables, or beans, as well as small portions of salad, soup, or bread and a selection of beverages including water.

When properly planned, your event will be a success on the food and drinks aspect – and, oftentimes, that’s the most important part as you don’t want your guests to go hungry.