Catering Pulled Pork for 250


 
J

Jason Duhamell

TVWBB Fan
I just got a call from a local company that asked me if i was interested in catering their company picnic in September for 250 people. They said they found my website while searching for bbq. I have never cooked for this amount of people before, the most i have done is 100. He said they want pulled pork and chicken pieces. The chicken is no big deal because i have a large catering grill i can do the chicken on. The problem is the pork I only have 2 WSM and i estimate I am going to need about 110-115 pounds of raw meat in order to get the 63 pounds of cooked pork they ordered. I used the bbq catering worksheet program and my personal experience to get the figures. I think I should have to cook 16 pork butts. The most i have ever done is 12. I know i can cook 3 per rack i have done it before. I think I am going to have to do it in 2 seperate cooks. I guess what i am asking is how do my figures sound to everyone and any suggestions would be great. i dont want to pass this opportunity up. I also have a performer and a 22" kettle but i have never smoked a pork butt on them.
 
Well the good news is my buddy is letting me borrow his Good One smoker for the cook. I can do all the butts on one smoker so that will make it a ton easier. I will use the WSMs to do the chicken.
 
Man I would totally do this in two easy 8 butt cooks.

I think a huge issue is adequately cooling all that pork quickly once you cook it or pull it, if you're doing it in advance.

Since you can do it in one shot it might be easiest to cook them to be pulled and served right out of the smoker and not have to bother with cooling and re-heating.

Sounds fun, though. Take some pictures!
 
Thanks for the advice Dave thats exactly what I planned on doing. The good thing is said company is only 1 mile down the road from my house. Should make for easy transport.
 
I don't post much here but I am always looking. What I do know if how to cook for the masses. Been cooking almost 30 years for large groups of people. There is a simple calculation to figure out how much meat you will need.
ounces (you want to feed each person) x's amount of people, divide by 16 (16 ounces in a pound) For example 7 ounces per person x's 200=1400 ounces, divide by 16 = 87.5 lbs.

7 x 200 =1400 divide by 16 = 87.5 lbs

That would be raw product you have to take into account how much you will lose (lol loose) to fat. I'm thinking your original guess of 100 lbs is about right and you will have some left. Not everybody will eat 7 of 8 ounces of meat. Hope this helps.
 
I did a 100 lb cook this past Sat and have a 100 person cook this Sat.

Here are sample numbers:
(a x b) / c = d
then in lbs.
d / 16 = e

a = total amount of people
b = amount of meat per person in oz.
c = 100% - % of loss from bone or fat/cooking loss
d = amount of raw meat in oz.
e = amount of raw meat in lbs

example:
100 people, 6 oz of finished meat per person, 40% shrinkage

(100 x 6) / (100%-40%)
600/60%
= 1000 oz.
1000 / 16 = 62.5 lbs
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based on the above numbers for 250, you will need about 156 raw lbs. At 8.5 lbs avg for each butt will need about 18 butts
 
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