How to plan catering headcount without waste

The most common catering mistake is ordering for the invite list rather than the attendance curve. Guests arrive across ninety minutes, not at once, and peak load is usually sixty percent of the total in a twenty-minute window.

Plan counters against that peak. One live counter per hundred and twenty guests keeps a queue under four people; below that ratio, the chaat station becomes the whole evening bottleneck.

Buffet flow matters as much as menu length. Double-sided counters halve queue time instantly. Place desserts on a separate island so the main line does not stall while someone considers the dessert bar.

On quantities: a longer menu does not mean more food per head, it means smaller portions across more dishes and more waste. Twelve dishes served well beats twenty served thin, and it costs less.