How To Determine Amount Of Food To Cater A Dinner Party

Need to know how to determine the amount of food to cater a dinner party? When planning and throwing a dinner party, you will find that some people eat a lot while others hardly touch their food. When you want to cater a dinner party, you need to know how much food you will need so that everyone is satisfied and nothing is wasted. Check out the tips below to help you find out how much food you need to cater a dinner party.

1. How many guests will you have at your dinner party? You can get a rough estimate of the necessary amount of food to serve at your dinner party by checking out the guest list. Make sure you serve enough food for every person on the list to fill his plate at least once. One way to do this is to picture the family dinner table. Consider the amount of food necessary to serve a family of four or five, and then multiply that amount by the number of people coming to the dinner party.
2. Find the ratio of men to women. Men tend to eat larger portions than women. Examine the guest list and allow for more dense food if there is a larger number of men, and lots of lighter foods, like greens and salads, if women dominate your party. Cater to the group.
3. Consider carbs. If you are not sure that you will have enough food for everyone, pick up a few extra loaves of bread or a box or two of pasta. Even if your main course falls slightly short, serving a decent array of carbohydrate-heavy side dishes will even things out. If guests fill up on garlic bread, they will never notice the small portion of salmon on their dinner plates.
4. Add wine. Like carbs, wine helps distract guests from the main course. You don’t want your dinner guests to get drunk, but making sure there is enough wine on hand for each person to drink a couple of glasses makes things smooth. Serve both red and white wines, and estimate that you will need one bottle for every two to three people.  
   
5. Serve coffee. Once you have served wine and bread and the main course, make coffee to complete the evening. This is an important catering tip, especially if you aren't sure you have served enough food. No one will remember the main course by the time they have had wine and coffee.

Resources:

The New York Times