Catering Portions Calculator
Plan ingredient purchasing for an event from guest count, take-up, portions, preparation yield and a buffer.
Purchase quantityExample17.6 kgkg
- Planned whole portions
- 88 servings
- Ready-to-serve quantity
- 13.2 kg
How to calculate catering portions
Planned portions = ceil(guests × take-up × (1 + buffer)); purchase kg = portions × portion grams ÷ 1000 ÷ yield
Use an observed preparation yield and a ready-to-serve portion weight. Buffers and take-up are planning choices, not food-safety guidance or attendance forecasts.
Worked example
An illustrative scenario. “Reset to example” restores it in the calculator.
- Expected guests
- 100 guests
- Guests expected to choose this dish
- 80%
- Ready-to-serve portion weight
- 150 g
- Extra portions buffer
- 10%
- Purchase-to-ready yield
- 75%
Purchase quantity: 17.6 kg
Catering Portions FAQ
Why separate take-up from the buffer?
Take-up estimates how many guests select this particular dish. The buffer adds reserve servings to that estimate. Applying 100% take-up to every buffet dish can overstate total demand.
Guides for this calculation
Build context around the numbers with worked examples from our guides.
How to Scale a Recipe Without Losing Portion Control →