Catering for 20 People

At 20 people, every dish on a buffet arrives as a whole pan, and a standard pan feeds 25 to 40. A group this size needs about 25 plates in total. So each main you add puts another full pan on the table for the same 25 plates, and the surplus grows faster than the choice.

Each main you add puts another 25 to 40 portions on the table for the same 25 plates, so put the extra variety into sides instead. A buffet plans 1.25 plates a guest, and that added quarter goes to sides on the way back, so the sides can run heavier than the mains. Rice, bread, a grain salad and roasted vegetables carry a room of 20 better than a third protein.

Half trays solve the variety problem. Pasta in a half tray stretches to 8 to 10 guests when other dishes share the table, and to about 6 when it stands alone. Three half trays of pasta put roughly 24 to 30 portions on the table for 20 people, about one full pan split three ways.

Not every menu comes in halves, and portion counts differ between kitchens, so ask for the count per tray before you order. Party trays use a different unit: a medium tray covers 12 to 15 people, so 20 people need two main trays, and the second one can be a different dish.

At 20 people, one vegetarian is 5 percent of the room and easy to forget, and four restrictions cover a fifth of it. Two moves handle most rooms this size. Make one of the mains vegetarian and good enough that the meat eaters want it as well, which keeps the vegetarians from meeting an empty pan. Then give gluten-free its own labeled dish, never a variant of a shared one.

When the room has four or more separate restrictions, individual builds take over from the shared table. Boxed meal catering turns each restriction into its own sealed meal. Under 25 people the format question is mostly open, and office lunch catering walks through how to pick one.

This page covers 20 to 25 because the order barely moves across that range. At 25, a buffet plans about 32 plates. Mains still fit one pan each, and the sides tip into one or two pans. A boxed order becomes 27 to 28 meals, and party trays go to two or three medium main trays.

A typical lunch order from Zerocater groups of 18 to 27 went in a week before the meal. Budgets by city sit in the boxed lunch pricing guide. Bigger rooms start at catering for 30 people, and the group size catering calculator covers any count in between. CaterAi accepts the count and the diet list in one message, and the menus it suggests account for both.