I get asked to do parties for friends (graduation, birthdays, etc.) and do a few large cookouts every year (the marching band cookout - 140 hungry high schoolers/staff - was my latest one).
Currently, since I am not licensed, and do NOT operate as a business, so I only do this as a favor, or as a volunteer (such as with the Band), and only ask for them to pay for the food cost, so I have not made any money.
People keep telling me I should open a catering business. I am actually looking into possibly doing a full on catering business, and am learning there's a lot to consider. Besides equipment, the insurance & licensing are the biggest upstart issues, especially if you plan to cook at events. That may require a different license, such as a Transient Vendor's license. Since you're dealing with food, you will need to check your local health inspector to see what they expect, local codes, etc. They may require you to have either a commissary (or food truck) which can be inspected. Again you will need to check.
Now for the actual work:
I have done enough large cookouts over the last 7 or 8 years to learn that the most important thing is to PLAN, PLAN, PLAN EVERYTHING!!! Know how many you are cooking for and plan your menu, down to the ingredient level so you know how much of everything to buy. Know exactly how long your food items will take to cook and leave yourself some fudge room, just in case!
As far as how much food to cook, portion control is KEY!!!
Meat: If doing one meat, plan 1/4 - 1/3 pound per person average. If doing two meats, plan on 1/4 lb per person for each meat. Trust me on this or you will be cooking WAY too much meat, and be sure to calculate in bone weight for pork shoulders, etc.
Note: Ribs are hard to do for a large crowd unless you have a monstrous cooker that can handle them!
Side dishes: For most sides, plan on about 1/4 lb per person per side and you will have plenty!
For something like Corn on the Cob, don't go overboard! 1/2 an ear per person is plenty!
Buns: For meat that will be served on buns: 1 - 1.25 (max) buns per person, per meat item is usually as much or more than you will need. HOWEVER, buns are cheap, so buying a little extra doesn't add much to your cost.
This means you will need to cook some trial batches and become familiar with your food weights (no. servings), ingredient amounts, cook times, etc.
Example: For My Mac & Cheese - I know that 1 lb of uncooked macaroni will yield 6 lbs of cooked macaroni cheese, 24- 25 servings!
I have my batch sizes written out, so I know how much ingredients to buy, and the total weight and number of servings, and total prep/cooking times.
Write your Prepping/Cooking schedule out!
For cooking, I actually print out a Prep/Cooking schedule, to keep everything on time. This is especially helpful if someone is helping you cook! They can see the game plan.
For the band cookout in August, I was told to plan for 140 kids.
Meat: 140 X 1/3 lb = 46.2 lbs
Sides: 140 X 1/4 lb = 35 lbs each side.
Buns = 144 buns (18 8-packs)
What we actually cooked:
● 60 lbs shoulders (including bone weight), which yielding about 50ish lbs Pulled Pork
● 40 lbs Roasted Potatoes
● 60 lbs Mac & Cheese (We didn't need this much, but I was asked to make extra of this. People wanted to take some home.)
● 144 half-ears of Corn on the Cob
● A 10 lb tray of Baked Beans (this was extra, as an alternative, in case someone didn't want corn,etc.)
● 144 Buns - Buns were donated by my butcher, so I did not ask for extras.
● I also had the prep/cook schedule printed and posted in large type so everyone could see it.
Everything was cooked and ready to serve on-time at 5:00 pm sharp, and except for the Mac & cheese, those amounts were right on. We had enough for everyone with some of everything left to spare. And trust me those kids were hungry and ate well!
Again, the best advice is to Plan, Plan, Plan!!!
Cliff
