# How much food in a tray?



## rmwag

Hello all...

I am very new to the catering business (2 small jobs so far) and trying to make it a full time job...
Wondering if anyone can tell me how much chicken or beef would be included in a half tray of food? For example, many menus have chicken Marsala on the menu and was wondering how many pounds of chicken should be purchased for half a tray? Same for beef?

Thanks...cheers...


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## bughut

Hi Rmwag,
Good luck with the new business.
You need to be more specific with portion control. needs to be worked out per head, not per vague tray.


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## rmwag

thanks for the quick response...from what I have seen from other catering menu's a half tray will feed 5 - 7 people and a full tray 8 - 12 people...


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## shroomgirl

well a portion of protein can be 5-8 oz normally....depends on what goes with it....so I'd multiply that times the amount of people....
40 oz for 1/2 tray
80 oz for full.....

shooting in the dark here as we don't price product out that way.


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## psycho chef

Half tray in my book is for 6 people. for chicken marsala figure 8 oz per head after trimming, pounding or whatever, so start with a little more than 3 lbs. Or just decide your portion size, think about how much waste or shrinkage will occur then multiply by 6.


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## fstfrdy

I have found over the years that a butcher can be my best friend and a great source of info. If you are starting out get to know a butcher and they can be great help with meat portions. :smoking:


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## bluepinkstink

what if you just want to fill a full tray with one dish for a friends party, how would you know what to buy to fill it and dont know the amount of people eating it


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## smork

what is all this tray talk?   how many people do you wanna serve?   thats what you make.   if you buy a tray of something then you weigh it and divide it out to see how many people you wanna say it will serve.   when you buy stuff everything is bought by the oz/ltr.   just apply a weight of each item you want to serve/customer and just make it as simple as the fourth grade math that it takes to multiply and divide each item by.


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## just jim

smork said:


> what is all this tray talk? how many people do you wanna serve? thats what you make. if you buy a tray of something then you weigh it and divide it out to see how many people you wanna say it will serve. when you buy stuff everything is bought by the oz/ltr. just apply a weight of each item you want to serve/customer and just make it as simple as the fourth grade math that it takes to multiply and divide each item by.


Trays vary in size.

Unless you've already determined that a tray feeds a dozen, 2 dozen, etc., there is no way for anyone else to tell you how much a half tray feeds.


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## bluepinkstink

yea i was talking like normal trays for catering that you do hot trays with the sternos under, im guessing a full tray could maybe feed 12 , i know how to price everything i just dont know the amount of the each food to fill each tray to price that out , and i really dont want to go and buy stuff make a tray of each just to figure that out, i looked through my school book and cant find anything to figure out the amount of food to fill the volume? of tray?


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## bluepinkstink

I'm new to this and been looking all over the internet for the right advice to help me price a small menu for full and half trays for friends and family in the area


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## shroomgirl

bluepinkstink.....it may be best to post your question in the student forum, this is the pro catering forum.


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## sergeantpepper

Are we talking about hotel pans here? If so, six per "half tray" is too much of any type of food.


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## petemccracken

Steam (hotel) pan capacities
 
Depth
 
1"

2.5"

4"

6"

Length

Width

Capacity in Quarts
 
Full Size

20.75

12.75

4.2

10.4

16.6

24.9

Two-Thirds

13.88

12.75

6.7

10.8

16.2

One-Half

10.38

12.75

5.2

8.3

12.5

One-Half (long)

20.5

6.38

5.2

8.3

12.5

One-Third

6.88

12.75

3.4

5.4

8.1

One-Quarter

6.38

10.38

2.6

4.2

6.2

One-Sixth

6.88

6.25

1.6

2.6

3.9

One-Ninth

6.88

4.25

1

1.7

Capacity in Ounces
 
Full Size

20.75

12.75

134

332

531

796

Two-Thirds

13.88

12.75

214

345

518

One-Half

10.38

12.75

166

265

400

One-Half (long)

20.5

6.38

166

265

400

One-Third

6.88

12.75

108

172

259

One-Quarter

6.38

10.38

83

134

198

One-Sixth

6.88

6.25

51

83

124

One-Ninth

6.88

4.25

32

54

0

Capacity in 1 cup servings
 
Full Size

20.75

12.75

16

41

66

99

Two-Thirds

13.88

12.75

26

43

64

One-Half

10.38

12.75

20

33

50

One-Half (long)

20.5

6.38

20

33

50

One-Third

6.88

12.75

13

21

32

One-Quarter

6.38

10.38

10

16

24

One-Sixth

6.88

6.25

6

10

15

One-Ninth

6.88

4.25

4

6

0

Capacity in 4oz (1/2 cup) servings
 
Full Size

20.75

12.75

32

82

132

198

Two-Thirds

13.88

12.75

52

86

128

One-Half

10.38

12.75

40

66

100

One-Half (long)

20.5

6.38

40

66

100

One-Third

6.88

12.75

26

42

64

One-Quarter

6.38

10.38

20

32

48

One-Sixth

6.88

6.25

12

20

30

One-Ninth

6.88

4.25

8

12

0


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## chefbuba

Now the OP's head is really going to spin!


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## shroomgirl

you guys are having tooo much fun......


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## sergeantpepper

Pete, that's a real serious answer for such a quarter-baked question. . .


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## meezenplaz

Actually I appreciate you posting the chart. Havent seen all that data on one sheet,

wudda taken some time to dig it up.

Appreciated.


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