HELP-Catering for 200

[katsina]

Hello all,

Newbie here and I hope this is the right forum to post my question. I've been asked to cater a graduation party in June for 200 people. The clients wants mexican food and suggested chicken/beef fajitas, spanish rice, beans, 7 layer dip and a taco salad. I would like to use chicken thighs and need to know how many lbs of meat I need.

[dano1]

Chicken only-or throwin beef out there too? High school graduation? I generally start at 7-8oz combined protein and up it by 10% or so to cover me, but if ya got the high school football team showing up your gonna have to up it .

Chix thigh are gonna shrink on you too-maybe 25% if using boneless, skinless. Make sure to take into account, although you will be cutting with onion, bell pepper, etc. Another thing to remember is waste when it comes to the younger crowd. Many times i see the kids going back for another full plate only to ditch in the dumpster....Make sure to put your proteins at the end of the line to avoid waste.

hth, danny

[katsina]

thanks for the info it's actually a college graduation............maybe use whole chickens and then shred.........what do you all think? would it be cheaper to go that route?

[dano1]

whole chix may be cheaper but factor in laber to shred the carcass. Boneless, skinless thigh is easy to cook-either bake on sheets or poach-and to shred toss in the hobart for a minute or 2 with the paddle.

For college grad 7-8oz protein should be just fine. That actually may be a little on the high side once you cut in the peppers, onions...but better safe than sorry . IME most of the younger females are watching what they are eating-especially carbs-and tend to go light. Not much in the way of beans, rice, tortillas, heavy on the salads, fruit, veg. and so on. maybe offer a liitle more in the way of fresh veg and fruit, a couple of different salads, etc.

hth, danny

[katsina]

thanks a lot...........really great info. Will let you know how it all turns out.
as far as pricing goes, is $12.99pp about right for fajitas, salad, chips, rice/beans etc.?

[dano1]

your selling yourself short IMO, even for a lunch buffet at +(tax),+(gratuity). If you can do a rough foodcost estimate, start there. Are you serving beef, or chix only? Providing dessert, churros, flan, coffee, punch, etc..Any equipment rentals to deal with? Staff? Setup and cleanup? All comes out of the same pie, along with your cut , unless otherwise provided for.

personally, i'd start ~20. Check your market out though(make some calls around to other caterers in the area) and price accordingly. 5 years ago or so... in my area i was selling Mexican lunch buffets for 15.00++, just to give you an idea. This was in a hotel environment without the overhead that you may need for rentals, transportation equipment and so on.

hth, danny