Tips on catering a buffet for 80 people

[Apocketfulofposies]

It's my husband's fiftieth in about 6 weeks and we are having a party at a rugby club with a band and some money behind the bar. I am in charge of catering and have said in the invite there will be snacks provided (rather than dinner). 80 people ish and we'll be buying food in not making it, but not using a caterer. So I was thinking some huge celebration pork pies (says they serve 40 people each), baguettes, cheese, some pickles etc to have on the side with these. (I hate both cheese and pickles but I am told this goes!). There will also be birthday cake enough for everyone (chocolate).

What else do I need? Not spending huge amounts but not on the cheap either.

Crisps, olives, breadsticks, hummus, salads, cocktail sausages, crusty bread, samosas, sausage rolls, mini pizzas. A few of those might work

If you’ve said snacks then I wouldn’t do baguettes with cheese and pickles. That’s more of a proper buffet.
Also decent cheese for those numbers would be quite expensive.
Snacks implies finger food, basically anything someone can eat from a napkin whilst also holding a glass, rather than needing to balance a plate with a sandwich on it.

If you have an Indian bakery/sweet shop they sell amazing samosas cheap in bulk usually. Houmous pitta carrot sticks sorts out the vegans

I think what you've said sounds lovely, and bridges the snack/dinner divide very well! For those that are hungry there will be plenty to fill them up and for the rest they can just graze.

When I need to do this on a budget I go to lidl.

Quiches,
Cheeseboards
Sausage rolls and cocktail sausages
Dips
Crisps etc
Salad bowls
Crusty bread
Meat platters of ham, beef, salami
Chicken drumsticks

Easily doable with £50 for 80 people

If you know you have lots of vegetarians, ensure you do masses of veggie stuff, as carnivores always eat lots of that too, leaving lots of meaty stuff that your veggies cant eat.
Dont put it all out at once, as it may get hoovered up instantly, leaving nothing for post booze soakage.

Yy to indian snack stuff, bread etc especially if you are expecting it to be a boozy affair..

A trip to Costco. They do huge pizzas, quiches, pies, satay chicken, cakes, breadsticks, dips, coleslaw in huge tubs etc.

I would also advise not catering for 80. Rule of thumb with an evening buffet is generally cater for 80% otherwise you will have a lot of food leftover.

Bread stick dips
Sausage rolls / cheese rolls
Cheese board
Crisps
Pasta salad bowls - easy and cheap

Why not ask guest to bring a dish? Quite common round where I live - people are happy to bring something

How old are the people coming? I catered an event for over 60’s and they literally hoovered up the buffet. I could not keep up with it. Over cater. Better too much than too little.

Interesting @DartmoorChef as I would always cater for more rather than less.

Ages are everything between 7 and 70 but majority will be 40-50.

Many will eat before they come. Even when you say there is food on the invite.

Best bet is not to put it all out at once. Keep some back in the fridge and if you don't need it, it can be taken home or frozen if possible.

Something like attached photo is quite straightforward to create ...... breadsticks, crackers, breads, cheeses, olives, salad stuff, dips, hummus, fruit....laid out like photo looks really impressive

I would never say cater for fewer people.
Pizza, samosas, sausage rolls, crisps, crudités and dips.

Do not serve cold sausage rolls.
They are rank

Always cater for 80% ....if youve said snacks rather than a buffett you can get away with no sandwiches but remember these always bulk up the buffett and are cheaper...people dont like making there own ie meats and baguettes etc ...i assure yoi they dont ...have lots of pick ups like individual pork pie ..pasties...pizzas...samosas...cheese and biscuits ..but portioned ones...sausages and dont forget chicken ..
Of any description..goujons ...drumsticks ..etc..first to go xx any advice give me a shout xx

I think baguettes isn't an easy thing to have - you want things people can pick up with one hand and put on their plate, without having to put down their plate and 'do something' with. Same with cheese.

Have a serious look at the trays of ready made sandwiches that all the Supermarkets do.
Also any freezer dept will do catering packs of "Indian food selection", spring rolls, sausage rolls and veggie alternatives (will need to be able to cook before taking, but still an easy thing to bung in the oven - and perhaps ask a friend or relation to bung a load in their oven if an issue).
Many of the Indian takeaways around here will do you a batch of 50 or 100 samosas (ready cooked).
Pork pie is a bit 'marmite' - I wouldn't assume everyone will be keen.

I've been catering large parties for 30 years. Rule of thumb is always to cater for 80 to 90‰.

Do you have a local bakery that can do hot pot pies ? they always go down well and in this cold weather I think hot food would be more welcome .
The pies stay hot for ages ( about 2.5 hrs ) if the crust is left on .
my local bakery does them for about £20 each one will easy serve 15 people.
They do a meat / veggie and curry meat / veggie versions

@Blondienut those sharing platter tables look awesome at the start but after the first few people have been up and picked at it, it usually resembles a food waste bag that's been poured onto the table. 😂

Tesco do easy entertaining platters, all prepared and delivered ready to be put on the table providing to don't buy anything that needs cooking.

Cheese is expensive and could take up a large part of your budget; if you do decide on a cheeseboard, I'd cut slices or some greedy people are bound to hack off huge chunks.

Do you have a local bakery that can do hot pot pies ? they always go down well and in this cold weather I think hot food would be more welcome .

^^

This is a really good idea.

Pie, peas, buttered barms! Put pickles, beetroot etc on side.

Morrisons sandwich platters are really good value and nice.

Make sure there's a lot of vegetarian food as people who eat meat want variety and will look for an alternative to five ways with processed pork, so might have a piece of pork pie, but will then look at the cheese or egg sandwiches, onion bhajis, cheese etc.

If you have pork pie, TBH you don't need sausage rolls, mini sausages, ham sandwiches and scotch eggs too. Maybe just one of these.