# How many canapes do you assume per person?



## tranquillo (May 26, 2012)

Hi all, 

I've started catering for small events at my university and this has lead to the occasional paid catering gig during conferences and other university related events (university friend's party). Before university, I worked as a line cook in a restaurant. Anyway, I was wondering, when you make canapes - do you assume that everybody is going to eat 1 canape or 2? How many should you make? 

Thanks!


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## petemccracken (Sep 18, 2008)

There are numerous variables involved:

Time of day (after a meal = less, meal time = more, etc.)
Duration of event (short time = less, longer = more)
Beverages (wine = moderate, liquor = maybe more)
Demographics (men = more, women = less)
General rules of thumb:

4-6 pieces first hour, 2-4 pieces each hour thereafter
Passed = less, free access stations = more
At meal time, increase by 25%-50%
Immediately following meal, decrease by 25%-50%
Predominately women, use smaller number, conversely for men


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## meezenplaz (Jan 31, 2012)

Thats a pretty complete list of factors going into it....to me it provides the basis

of explaining the variables involved--as and in the end, I always

considered the bottom line being how many hor d'oeuvres per person

the client wants to pay for.


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## tranquillo (May 26, 2012)

Thanks, I suppose I'm not making to little then. 

It's normally 15 - 30 minutes following a lecture, and I serve two canapes - one sweet one savory. 

I was asked to do morning and afternoon tea the other day, and it was two canapes each time (the first time was 20 minutes, second time was 30 minutes) - the second time there were left over ingredients, so I assembled them and they were eaten.


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