Can this be right?

[lentil]

I just looked on the Waitrose website and they have a canape calculator. You type in the type of apps you want, the # of guests, and how many hours the party lasts and they give you the # of canapes you need.

I entered 40 guests for 3 hours and it told me 400 items per hour. Can that be right? That would be 1200 items.

[shroomgirl]

40, 17 year old boys.....that have hiked 10 miles and haven't eaten in the last hour....yep they got it right.

[pgr555]

Ah, my 17yr old sone when he has just hiked 10 miles would eat that alone schroom! lol! 1200??? Who's cooking those? Pass on the job! lmao

[BombayBen]

Ah yes! but if you look at their website - along with these bogus figures - they are also heavily advertising their party canapes!! They also seem to make the assumption that guests are going to spend the WHOLE 3 hours stuffing their faces!!

[lentil]

Ah ha! Just what I thought. They're selling their product, of course they want you to think you need more!

I have that party for 40 coming up and got a little fright!

[BombayBen]

basically if you have forty people and you are making 5 or 6 different things - then you are looking at 6-7 pieces per person. Also if there are going to be things like sausage rolls, pork pies and the regular staples - then you can have a few extra as they always get eaten and are quite filling

[shroomgirl]

Trully depends on the group and timing.
What I would serve to 40 atheletic men would vary dramatically from what I would serve 40 ladies for tea or lunch or afternoon meeting.....

Right now I've got a "cocktail dinner" with tenderloin for big men....it's really interesting trying to figure out how many ounces of meat I'm going to have for these guys....pork loin too not as much worry on that front.
Whoever cuts for the sanwiches has got to have a VERY sharp knife.

[Jim]

Which, I suppose, brings up the question... Do you have a sure-fire way of calculating quantities? I have comes across some methods in the past (ie. 2oz of cheese per guest for a cheese display, etc). Often, depending on the item, I figure 1-2 pieces per guest per half hour of service if butlered. You?

[shroomgirl]

no standard formula......just educated guessing.....time of day, profile of guests, is there something afterwards... such as tomorrow's breakfast will be 20 minutes of being slammed. I made larger bagels/scones so they'll only take one.....fruit will be interesting, we'll see how piggy they are. I've got 2 pineapples, 4 bags of grapes, 4# of strawberries for 40 people.....about 30 bagels, 30 scones. There will be leftovers, but I will not run out. Right afterwards is a meeting about the Food and Wine Show 2008.

Last week I did a 2 hour open house median age was mid 60's-mid 80's....they ate, seriously I would not have planned more for 20 year olds.

Meat for the 70 older atheletes, 25# of shrimp, 10# crab, 18# of tenderloin, 20# pork loin.....lots of meat....big guys with an open bar and open food.
kinda wanna stand out of the way....may even throw in a ribeye just to cover the beef thoroughly.

[bbally]

Originally Posted by Jim

Which, I suppose, brings up the question... Do you have a sure-fire way of calculating quantities? I have comes across some methods in the past (ie. 2oz of cheese per guest for a cheese display, etc). Often, depending on the item, I figure 1-2 pieces per guest per half hour of service if butlered. You?

Along with time of day and demographic profile, you can control what is eaten and how much by the order in which they are presented. I like to align it so we cut down on the amount of labor intensive appetizers we need, therefore I roll out the smoked salmon and the crackers first. The guests that arrive first and there to eat. I like the heavy protein like salmon to fill them up so they go easy on my labor intensive appetizers. (I make our smoked salmon so we don't have a huge food cost with it.)

[shroomgirl]

And there is always the option of having a staff serve protein on the buffet line......

[Blueicus]

Yeah, 30 items per person is quite excessive unless it's a party of freeloading grad students (in particular the Arts or Humanities) or late night computer programming monkeys.

Learned my first real lesson of portioning this Sunday. I was supposed to prepare enough food for a running party (around 8 hours) for around 70 and I realized that I prepared enough food for triple that number. So a $4.50pp food cost could've been knocked down by around one half (assuming I had still planned conservatively).

[lentil]

Originally Posted by Blueicus

I realized that I prepared enough food for triple that number. So a $4.50pp food cost could've been knocked down by around one half (assuming I had still planned conservatively).

Don't you just hate it when you do something like that?! It makes me crazy! Still not having enough is much worse....

[Blueicus]

Originally Posted by lentil

Don't you just hate it when you do something like that?! It makes me crazy! Still not having enough is much worse....

And having lots of food left over because people thought it was crap is even worse . Fortunately, I did get very positive feedback, so I'm not worried on that front.

[lentil]

Originally Posted by Blueicus

And having lots of food left over because people thought it was crap is even worse ..

That only happens at home....