For a buffet lunch or dinner for a wedding or any other banquet setting, the standard rule is to have 5% available above and beyond the guaranteed number of guests. But how much food you have to put out to feed your guests adequately? That amount is up to the chef and the catering professional where you want to have plenty of food but not excessive. The problem arises when a guaranteed number is unrealistic, and the day of the event the number increases by 20% in this one example. The budget for 350 people was $8000. 430 people actually showed up, and within 20 min. the food was gone, and a lot of people went hungry and complained.

With the budget  being very tight at $17++ per  person, and with a basic menu there was not a lot of extra fluff.

Other  issues concerning  the group such as are they big  eaters, what time of day is it, did they have lunch or did they miss a meal? If the catering people had sensed a problem brewing they could've erred on the side of success for them and success for the client.

The client who was in charge of the party was wrong to not get them a realistic number of attendees. The final resolve by the client was to maintain their budget even though they knew there were more people coming and that they did not want to pay more.

The facility comes off looking unprofessional and ill prepared for 430 people, and all the staff gets beaten up.

Sometimes accepting a client who is inflexible and ultimately doesn't care about the vendors reputation is not a client you want or to work for.

                                                           Photo by Ed Champagne

That being said this event was a lose, lose.