The reason many people turn to catering companies for their events is that cooking for a large group is difficult. You need a kitchen that will accommodate cooking several dishes at once, and then you have to figure out how to keep everything warm and serve it. If that sounds like more work than you want to take on, we understand. That’s why we offer catering services at Constantly Pizza so you can enjoy your event and let us worry about the food.
Now that we’re a catering company as well as a pizza shop, there’s a question customers ask us a lot: How do you know how much food to make?
Catering companies answer the question of how much food to make by answering four other questions. Here’s our catering Q&A.
How Many People Are Coming?
The first thing we do is confirm the guest count. This number is the first factor in all our food calculations. When you request our catering services, we’ll double-check the number of guests so that we don’t under- or overestimate the amount of food we need to make. We build in a little wiggle room, but we need to know how many people you expect to attend so we can plan your menu based on standard serving sizes.
What Kind of Event Is It?
But guest count is only one piece of the puzzle. The type of event also helps us do our food math. For example, an office lunch and a backyard birthday party are two very different animals. At a sit-down lunch, guests will more or less stay in their places and eat at the same time. If it’s a buffet, some people will go back for seconds. At an outdoor party, people will eat when they’re hungry and nibble throughout the course of the event. At that kind of party, we’ll favor finger foods and small bites over a meal you need to sit down to eat.
When Is the Event?
The time of day also affects the quantity of food. People tend to eat more at dinner than at lunch, and late-night events also call for lighter fare. What we’re serving will also influence portion size. If the host requests multiple side dishes, the entree portions can be smaller. The more dishes available, the smaller the portions of each can be. However, we do need to ensure there’s enough of each dish for those people who like to try a little bit of everything.
Should We Make Extra?
As impressive as it would be to say that we have a foolproof system for calculating exactly how much food to make, we have to build in a buffer. We have to account for people bringing extra guests they didn’t clear with the host in advance, dietary restrictions, and alcohol consumption. While no one wants to be left with too much extra food, they definitely don’t want to come up short.