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Catering an upcoming spring event? Tips to consider

When planning on cooking for a crowd, be sure to plan meticulously and design your menu with crowd-pleasing and easy-to-prepare meals to make the process go more smoothly.

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March 4, 2019 by Richard Traylor — Writer, WebstaurantStore

When the weather starts to "cool down," it becomes an excellent opportunity to host an outdoor event, such as a company picnic or family reunion. These types of events can be fun, but preparing food for a crowd of 50 or more can be difficult. Fortunately, we came up with some helpful tips and recipe ideas that you can make in bulk and at an affordable price. We'll break your catered meal down by courses from appetizers to desserts, ensuring that you have all of your bases covered, and that your family reunion or picnic goes off without a hitch.

How much food do you need?

The amount of food you need for your event will depend on how many people are planning to attend. We've created a sample menu, though, with recommended portion sizes that you can use as a guideline to ensure that you have enough food for all of your guests.

Additionally, you can plug your recipes into a recipe resizer to double check your calculations and make sure you have enough food for your customers.

It can be difficult to decide what dishes you want to prepare for guests at your event. You may be limited by price or, if you're holding your event outside, there may be minimal access to cooking equipment. So, we created a list of meal ideas that are cost-effective, crowd pleasing, and easy to prepare, which makes them perfect for your catered event, family reunion, or company picnic.

Appetizers: pigs in a blanket, charcuterie, fried wontons
Salads: Caesar salad, pasta salad, house salad
Side dishes: french fries, potato salad, mac and cheese
Entrees: barbecue ribs, hamburgers, grilled chicken, pork chops
Beverages: margaritas, sangria, wine, lemonade, iced tea, water
Desserts: chocolate sheet cake, apple pie, chocolate chip cookies

Buffet or portioned plates?

Should you serve your food from a buffet or should you serve portioned plates at your family reunion or catered event? The answer will depend on whether you prioritize customer happiness or cost and food waste. Buffet style service is a great way to please guests because it gives them a variety of options to choose from and allows them to eat as much as they want.

The downsides of buffet service at your catered event is that it's more expensive because you need to prepare more types of food and in larger quantities.

Additionally, buffet service can lead to increased food waste, especially if you have several dishes that are more popular than others.

Serving portioned plates allows you to perfectly control the amount of food that you use, which can help you reduce food waste and cut food costs. But, if you choose to offer portioned plates at your family reunion or company picnic, you may have some guests who will be displeased with what you're offering. One way to counteract this is to ask guests before the event which meal they want to choose.

Planning for a crowd

Here are some tips and things to keep in mind when planning your event to ensure things go smoothly:

When designing your menu, think about the demographics of your event. For example, if there will be a lot of teenagers and young adults, you might want to increase your portion sizes.
Make sure to have items that can accommodate people with alternative diets, such as vegetarians, vegans and people who are gluten-free.
During the planning stage, don't forget drinks. Decide if you want to hire a bartender for your event to mix drinks or if you'd rather mix drinks like sangria or vodka punch ahead of time and serve them in beverage dispensers.

Planning a large event like a big family reunion or a company picnic can be a lot of fun, but making sure that you have enough food that will satisfy everyone can be difficult. So, when you're planning on cooking for a crowd, be sure to plan meticulously and design your menu with crowd-pleasing and easy-to-prepare meals to make the process go more smoothly.

About Richard Traylor

Richard Traylor graduated from Temple University in the winter of 2014 with a degree in Strategic Communications. After graduating, he taught English in South Korea for two years, during which he was fortunate enough to travel and see the world. In October 2016, he returned home and started to work in SEO Content at Webstaurant Store. This blog previously ran on Webstaurant Store.

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