Running the job
The disposables and small equipment that get left off the truck most often on off-site catering jobs, as a practical checklist, not a generic list.
Off-site, if it is not on the truck it is not at the event. The things that get forgotten are almost never plates and napkins. They are serving utensils, fuel, trash bags, and the small tools that only matter once you are set up and short. This page is the count for the obvious items, the list of the ones that get left behind, and the venue questions that decide both.
| Item | Starting point | The thing to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Plates | Plated, a plate per course by size: 2 small (7 to 8 inch, salad and dessert) and 1 dinner (10 inch) a guest, plus about 10 percent, each size to its own sleeve. On a buffet, 2 dinner plates and 1 small for dessert | Soup is a bowl in place of the salad plate; drop the dessert plate when the bakery or venue supplies the cake plates; bread plates are rarely used on disposables. A buffet guest takes a clean plate for seconds |
| Napkins | About 2 per guest, a quarter more on a buffet | Cocktail napkins are a separate line from dinner napkins, not the same line counted twice |
| Cocktail napkins | 1 for every 2 pieces passed, plus 1 a drink, in packs of 250 | A reception needs no plates for passed pieces; a display or station adds 2 small plates a guest |
| Cutlery | 1 set per guest plus about 10 percent, a quarter more on a buffet | One dropped fork and somebody eats with their hands; buffets lose more to guests re-setting after a second trip |
| Cups | 1.5 to 2 per guest, a quarter more on a buffet | More again if there is a bar or the guests are standing, because people put a drink down and take a new one |
| Chafing pans | 1 full-size per 25 to 30 guests, per hot dish | Two half-size pans cover roughly the same range and give you more control |
These are the defaults the calculator ships, the plated figures as the base and the buffet and cocktail factors on top, and every one of them is yours to change. If your crew runs a tighter buffet than two dinner plates a guest, or your supplier sleeves plates in 50s rather than 25s, edit it and it stays edited.
On premise there is a kitchen behind you. Off-site the buffer is not just for breakage and the guest who takes two, it is the only margin you have, because there is no cupboard to go to. That is the argument for the 10 percent being a floor rather than a cushion on any job where you are more than a short drive from your own stock.
How much of all this you need starts with headcount and service style, and the same two inputs drive your staffing: the staffing ratio cheat sheet is the companion to this list, since the people carrying the plates get counted the same way.
The items that get forgotten are rarely the big ones. They are the small, easy-to-overlook things that only matter once you are already set up and realise you are short. Organised by the moment you need it, because that is how you pack.
Service. Serving utensils counted per vessel rather than per event, so each chafer and each platter can be staffed independently. It is common to pack enough chafers and not enough matching tongs. Sternos or fuel for each chafer plus spares beyond the calculated burn time, because service runs long more often than it runs short. A lighter that works, and a second one.
The small tools. Gloves in the sizes your crew actually wears. Side towels, more than feels necessary. A box cutter. Sharpies and masking tape for labelling, which is the cheapest item on this list and the one whose absence costs the most time. Cling film and foil. A bottle opener and a wine key that is not in somebody's pocket at home.
Waste. Trash bags well beyond what looks like enough, since off-site venues rarely have their own, and a plan for where the full ones go. Bus tubs for the way back, because dirty equipment has to travel too.
Transport and the bar. Enough insulated ice transport to move ice from the truck to the bar without losing half of it on the way. Cups sized for both non-alcoholic and alcoholic pours. Cocktail napkins as their own count.
Linens and setup. Table linens sized for the venue's actual tables rather than your standard size. Extension cords and gaffer tape, taped down, for anything that draws power. Spare linens for the spill that happens.
Strike. Whatever you need to leave with, which is usually bags, tubs, and somewhere to put wet linen. Strike is half the job and it is the half that gets planned last.
The beverage side has its own math underneath the cups and ice. Ice and beverage math for an open bar works through how much of each to plan before you count the containers it goes in.
Power, and where the outlets are. Water, and whether there is a sink you may use. Ice, and whether any is available on site. A loading dock or a flight of stairs. An elevator, and whether it is shared with guests. Where trash goes and who takes it. The tables, how many and what size. Kitchen access, and whether that means a kitchen or a room with a counter in it. Parking for the truck, and for how long. Every one of those answers changes what goes on the truck, and the questions cost one phone call.
This page is about equipment counts and logistics. Holding, transport and handling rules are set by the health authority for the jurisdiction you are working in, and they are the caterer's to know and to follow. Catering Calc does not make rulings on food safety or compliance and nothing on this page should be read as one.
The forgotten items are almost always the same handful, which means the fix is not to be more careful. It is a checklist that is specific to this job's guest count and service style and gets checked against every time, rather than recreated from memory on each job. Catering Calc's free calculator counts the plates, cups, napkins, cutlery and tables from your guest count and service style in the packs a store sells. Catering Calc Pro orders them the way a caterer buys, plates by course to the sleeve and rentals to the crate, with every count above as a default you can change, and it saves as part of your event template so the same job type does not require rebuilding the list from scratch.
A checklist that lives inside a saved event is the point of building a repeatable event template, and it sits alongside the food, beverage and staffing numbers in the complete catering quantities picture.
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