How to Estimate a Catered Dinner

Buffet style service is an easy and cost efficient choice for a catered dinner.

Calculating the amount of food needed for a catered dinner depends on the type of food and the style of service you are planning on. The dinner can be plated and served, buffet or heavy hors d' oeuvres. A dinner party will need to have more food than a lunch party. If you plan to give a meat option for a dinner that is plated and served seated, you will need to get an RSVP from your guests with their choice of meat to make an accurate estimation.

Instructions

1. Multiply the number of guests by 8 oz. if you will have a buffet style dinner. This is the weight of meat or protein you should serve. If you are planning to serve an all in one casserole type dish, multiply the number of guests by 10 oz. and have this amount of the all in one dish catered.

2. Multiply the number of guests by 4 oz. This is the amount of vegetable side items you will need. For all other side items, multiply the number of guests by 2 oz.

3. Multiply the number of guests that will be attending the party by five hors d' oeuvres if you are planning to have hors d' oeuvres prior to the main dinner. Multiply the number of guests by 15 hors d' oeuvres for a heavy hors d' oeuvres dinner party where you will have only hors d' oeuvres.

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Tips & Warnings

• It never hurts to estimate about 5 percent more than your final number of guests in the case that you have an unexpected last minute RSVP or someone who forgot to RSVP.

References

• Giant Food: Catering Tips
• Caterista: Catering Tips: How Much Food is Enough for Your Event?