Buffet Math Basics

I don’t know anyone who likes standing in a line, especially one that doesn’t seem to be moving very fast, and definitely not when they’re hungry. Buffet-style seems to be the most popular way to serve a meal lately, but not everyone executes these well. There is a bit of coordination to a buffet, it isn’t just throwing food on a table and handing out plates. Planning a buffet includes understanding the ratio of number of lines to number of attendees and in what order to place the food on the table to ensure everyone gets fed in a reasonable amount of time.

The number of buffet lines is important for the attendee experience. People don’t want to stand in line forever to get their food and they don’t want to be waiting at their table making small talk as they watch others get dismissed, grab food, and even finish their meal before they get excused to fill their plates.

Industry standards will tell you that one double-sided buffet line will allow for 100 people to get their food within 30-40 minutes. Then allow an additional 30 minutes to one hour for everyone to eat. That is entirely too long if there is a presentation of any kind planned during or after the meal. Nobody is presenting until 95% of the people are done eating so the people better get through the line faster than that.

In my experience, I find that for 100 people, two double-sided buffet lines and about 35-45 minutes total for service and dinner works out just fine. This is assuming the beverages and desserts are served at different stations. If the crowd is any larger than 100, more than one beverage station and a double-sided or second dessert station should also be set.

To keep the buffet line moving as efficiently as possible, there is also a preferred order in which to set the items on the table. Plates go first, obviously, so attendees can put their food on something. Do not put the silverware here because then everyone has to juggle their plate, possibly a salad bowl, serve themselves, AND hold silverware all at the same time. Placing the silverware at the end of the buffet or pre-setting it on the tables shows your attendees that you care about them.

Cold items such as salads are generally served first then the warmer items, and if there is a natural order for building a dish, make sure these supplies are in the proper order. For example, if you are serving Italian beef sandwiches, make sure the buns are set BEFORE the meat, not after. The same goes for a baked potato bar. First of all, pre-split the baked potatoes because having 100 people stop to open their potatoes takes forever. Also, put two of every topping on the buffet or two sets of serving utensils with each one. So much time is wasted when people are waiting for someone else to finish loading up the cheese on their spud and then hand over the tongs. Consider putting toppings or condiments on a separate table as not to hold up the line at all.

A self-serve buffet line tends to go faster than a served buffet line for a couple of reasons. First, a served buffet line is usually one-sided. The servers have to stand on one side while diners parade down the other. Second, it takes a little bit of time for the diner to decide what they want, tell the server, then for the server to actually serve the food. You might think this is only a few seconds of time, but even if it’s just three seconds per person per dish, that could be 30 seconds for a single person to fill their plate and get their meal. Multiply this times 100 people and you’ve added an extra 30-minutes to get the meal served! However, one benefit of a served buffet is that the portions are controlled which will help with the amount of food ordered and ultimately save on waste and budget.

Two other logistical items that often get overlooked but can make or break someone’s buffet experience:

• Make sure there is enough room for the buffet lines. People are often squished between tables or against a wall. Work with the venue to determine the most ideal location to setup the buffet and position a “line host” to shuffle people to lines they cannot see or indicate to diners how many lines are available.
• Label everything! It is incredibly important and can be life-threatening for some if they eat the wrong thing. Ensure the name of the dish implies what is in it, lists the main ingredients, or lists who can eat an item such as gluten-free or vegetarian.

Now, the next time you’re dining at a buffet meal, you will (perhaps even subconsciously) be checking the setup, seeing if the order of items seems efficient, and observing how fast the lines are moving.

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