I am puttig on a picnic for 450 12year old girls and their families
for little league softball.  How do I calculate how many hot dogs and
hamburgers to buy.  Iam guessing that hot dogs might be the girls
favorites but not sure.  Is there a formula

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Clarification of Question by dairygal-ga on 30 Jul 2004 16:46 PDT

I see I wasn't clear.  We are hosting (no charge) this picnic.  We are
also going to have hamburgers too.  Here in the question of ratio.
We don't want to charge as these girls are coming from all over the world.
It is the "girls softball world series".  I really appreciate 
your comments and am sorry for the confusion.  Thanks too you all for
your comments.  But I don't have a ratio yet.

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Request for Question Clarification by revbrenda1st-ga on 31 Jul 2004 08:08 PDT

Hi, dairygal,

Picnics generally have a menu which includes more than just meat. Do
you plan on serving salads, baked beans, corn on the cob or other such
dishes? This would affect the hotdog/hamburger per person ratio.

Regards,

revbrenda1st

Hello,

While I do not know of a tried and true formula, I always estimate 2
servings per person that will be attending, that way, the people that
don't eat make up for the people that will eat more than 2. It's
always worked for me at my events.

Nenna-GA

I don't know the answer, but let me say that your question may be a
bit confusing. ON one hand you say you are feeding "feeding 450
people" and on the othe rhand you describe your party as "450 12-year
old girls and their families".

Assuming your group is 450 "PEOPLE" and 1/3 of them are 12 year old
girls, I would estimate the need for roughly 750 hot dogs. Why?
Simple...

Unless you have an "all you can eat" affair, planning for two hot dogs
each for those who will want more than one is not only conservative,
but reasonable:

1/3 (or 150) of the 450 guests are 12-year old girls

Each girl is likley to have 2 parents, or one parent and one guest
(the remaining 300 guests).

For each three person group (1 girl and 2 guests) 2 of them will be
able to each 2 hot dogs each. I think this is more than a reasonable
assumption.

Some guests probably won't want a hot dog at all. That means that SOME
of the 3 person groups will get 2 hot dogs each for all three members
of their group.

Since this is NOT an "all you can eat" affair, late comers, or those
who want 3 hot dogs, will have to accept their fate in the interest of
cost and waste conservation.

Let me know if this works for you as an answer.

tutuzdad-ga

respected ma'am
hope these links help

http://www.partypop.com/Tips/
http://www.partypop.com/budget_calculator.htm

Its agaisnt google terms to write a formula here .I can only give weblinks....
Hope some researcher may post a nice answer since picnics cant wait..

regards
arun

I should also mention this, suggesting that 750 hot dogs would be
maximum number and clearly more than enough:

Being the health conscious, sports oriented organization that you are,
3 hot dogs would be an excessive serving for any person, child or
adult (even the package claims that "one" is considered "a serving"
size). Therefore, 2 hots dogs (or 300 - equivilent to the number of
PPOTENTIAL adult guests) and 1 per child is a reasonable expectation.

Regards;
tutuzdad-ga

How much someone will eat will depend on how easy it is to eat. In
other words the "cost to eat". If the cost is high they will eat
less.. Cost is low they will eat more.

Example:
If you were to give them a big plate and offer free food, people will
load up that plate.  No plate would cause the opposite to happen.  
Low cost, it easy to load up plate.  High cost, they have to carry
food.

I think I may be thinkin' about this to much...... :)

I work in the hospitality trade, and the way to work this out is to
start by how much money you have to spend, or how much you are
charging and what revenue you expect to make!

Hiya Dairygal,

Take the pressure off yourself girl. Make it BYO. That way you only
have to have enough people on hand to cook what they want and it's at
their cost on a user/provider system. Your outgoings will then be
measured as a known fixed cost, not a variable cost. That way the
consumers can't blame you for any lack of tucker. If you want to be
generous, just have 5% in reserve for the idiots who forgot to bring
their own. Put the onus back on the parents, not yourself.

Kind regards, Phil

Even less effort than BYO, have a cash food counter operated by a
local mobile catering outfit. They may even pay you for the concession
to operate their catering trailer at your event, so you raise funds at
the same time.

Remember some people might want a healthy, vegetarian or just "adult" alternative.

Owain

PS using a catering outfit means they have the liability if anyone
gets food poisoning, not you.

Owain

a few times i prepared food for groups of 50 - 70 adults and children ...
you mentioned that these girls (and of course there parents as well)
"... are coming from all over the world..."

my own experiences are:

there are some who would love other than traditional US food,
depending on their own eating habits of their country, ..

some may be purely vegetarian as well ! From Asian countries like
India for example.

young people often love and prepare fruits, at least as a substantial
part of the meal - besides that it also is healthy in a sports event.

last time i served for 50+ i gave out abundance of fruits - whatever
was season, and all children were running for it, all was gone within
minutes !

then i prepare BIG pots of various food - several different recepees,
mild, sweet and sour, spicy, .. for all tastes ( it normally is a one
man action plus 2-3 assistants for preparing vegetables )

useful supplements i use are:
BBQd fresh sweet corn, BBQd potatoes, tomatoes, a rich mixed vegetable
soup (with or w/o meat, fish, seafood, chicken, ..) in a large pot,
... hence never a price question as such other food is within similar
price range than hotdogs and hamburgers.

Just look at a really big family party - may be you even organize one
these very days before your event to get a real experience about
proportions and preferences - for 12 or so - to see and practice.
Mixed age - and then you multiply to get quantities for the 450
persons and consider national preferences.