Planning Help

Forget worrying and slaving over food at your party!  Just call up or order online 24 hours in advance and we will have your food ready for pickup, or for a 15% charge we can deliver to you from Spanish Fork to American Fork.  

Pre vs Post Cooked Weights:  For simplicity, we have converted the meat prices over to finished (or post-cooked) weight instead of pre-cooked weight.  Where 1 lb. of meat used to feed 2-3 people, it now feeds 3-5 people. 

How to Plan and Portion:  1 lb. of meat will feed 3 people if your group is mostly hungry men and women, 4 people if it is slightly less famished men and women, and 5 people if it is men, women, and children.  You will also use less meat if you are doing sandwiches. 

BBQ sauces are included for free, but if you need extra you can buy that as well. 

Buffet Table Layout

Remember that the items that people see first on the buffet table are the first to go!  Put your sides first so by the time they get to the meat, their plates are full.  I would also recommend ordering more of the item that will be first on the table if you are doing a buffet style meal.

Buffet ,Served, Mixed

Buffet style service allows everyone to eat as much as they like and the planners don't have to worry about serving the food.  The downside is that you as the planner will have less control over portions and your food costs will be a little higher. 

Buffets can also be incredibly slow if there is only one or two buffet tables and when dealing with families that have small children.  Imagine mom and dad trying to load up and carry all the plates for themselves and the little ones.  This can create horrible buffet line congestion.  The best way to do a buffet is to have as many serving tables and lines as possible.  See Traffic Flow below for further explanation.

Served meals are better for food costs and planning since you can give everyone a controlled portion of food.  It also helps parents who have small children.  However, you will need to have people there to serve the food and some may not get as much food as they would have liked.

Mixed Service starts as a served meal style and then the a buffet is opened up to anyone who would like seconds.  Everyone gets a good portion up front, service is quick, parents are happy, and the people that are still hungry can go back and clean up your leftovers while not being disappointed if certain foods have run out.

Temperature Control Trays

If you are going to use temperature control trays, make sure to have them hot at least 30 minutes before the food arrives.  All too often we have seen heat trays that are not to temperature when the food arrives.  The food gets dumped in, cools down, gets served, and then gets hot-- after everyone is done eating.

Most of the hot items from the Smokehouse have a pretty big "heat mass", and therefore will stay hot (if covered) for 60 to 90 minutes.  This includes meats, garlic mashed potatoes, and beans.  The cold items will also maintain their cold for about 60-90 minutes.  This includes coleslaw and apple sauce.  Salad should be refrigerated if possible along with dressings, and chips and rolls will be fine at room temperature.

The most important thing is to get the food from the Smokehouse and into the stomachs of your guests as soon as possible.  For more on this, read traffic flow.

Traffic Flow

Eating as a Group

When serving a large group of people that are arriving and eating as a group, remember that you may not have to deal with keeping the food warm if it gets on the plates fast enough.  For this reason, I would suggest as many different serving stations as possible. 

Here is why.  The average one-sided buffet line will serve about one person every 20-30 seconds. 

If you are feeding a group of 300 people, I would set up at least 4-6 buffet tables and if possible, have the buffet tables be self serve from both sides, creating 8-12 buffet lines.  This means that you only have to move 25-35 people through each line before everyone is eating.  You don't have to worry about keeping food hot or cold and the majority of your food will be served to people who are impressed with your planning prowess within 10-15 minutes.

Contrast that with the standard one or two "large table" buffets where there is a huge line.  If there are 300 people and only 2 lines, it will take well over an hour to get food to everyone-- much longer if there are families with children.  You will need warmers, ice, etc. etc.

Eating as Guests Arrive

Certain events (like wedding receptions) have a flow of people that arrive at different times.  If this is the case, one or two buffet tables may work really well since not everyone wants to eat at the same time.

If this is the case, replenishment is the key to having fresh food out constantly.  Try to use smaller serving dishes and replenish more often to keep the food at temperature and fresh.  Try to keep food refrigerated or in the oven if you have a prep room and sealed as long as possible and serve as the food on the buffet line is running out.  You will need heating and / or cooling trays as well.

What you will need to provide

The food from the Smokehouse is packaged at temperature (hot things hot, cold things cold) when they leave the restaurant.  Foods (meats and sides) are packaged in large disposable aluminum containers, usually sealed with plastic wrap and aluminum foil on top.  Dressings or sauces are included with the price of the meat or salad and are packaged in pint cups and sealed in paper sacks so they are stable for transport.

If the event is fairly informal, the aluminum trays work well to serve from.  Sam's Club sells Sterno cans and wire racks that can make an inexpensive food warmer.

If the event is more formal, you may want to rent nicer serving trays.  Look for "party supplies" on www.dexonline.com.  We have used Diamond Rentals in the past and been happy with them.

You will need some large spoons or tongs to serve the meats and sides. 

You can purchase paper products (plate, knife, fork, spoon, and dinner napkin) from us for $0.50 per person, or provide your own.

We do not have drinks.  For informal occasions, the classic McDonalds punch is a winner.  For more formal occasions, look for "party supplies" on www.dexonline.com.  We have used Diamond Rentals in the past and been happy with them.

We do provide dessert, however, it is a gourmet dessert and as such is a little more expensive at about $0.65 per person.  BYU catering and your local Costco or Sam's club also do very inexpensive sheet cakes.

How Early Should I Order?

It is usually best to order as soon as you have a good count of how many people you will have at your event.  That being said, we usually help about 800-1,000 people or more at the restaurants every day, so short notice orders of under 200 people are not a big deal and can usually be worked into the system.

The main thing to remember is that we want your business!  If you think it can't be done, give us a call.  We have pulled off some amazing things in the past on very short notice.

The general rule is:

10-200 people:  24 Hours notice
200-500 people:  48 Hours notice
500-10,000 people:  One week notice

Remember that if you are ordering online and need a rush, please call and tell us to print off the order and what time you need it after you place the order!

Feedback

Do you have suggestions for making this advice better?  Have you tried it unsuccessfully or found other ways that work better?  We are always open to suggestions.  Please e-mail us at catering@the-smokehouse.com