Party Food
Calculator
How much food do you actually need? Set your guest count, service style, and menu — get an exact shopping list, with the math shown.
Guest count carried over from your drink plan.
Guest breakdown (adults / teens / children / seniors)
Fine-tune
30 guests → 36 eater-equivalents. Buffet service and your menu size are already factored in.
Cake sizing
₹15710 estimated total · ₹524 per guest
Estimate only, based on editable average retail prices per kg — see the shopping list below to adjust.
Shopping list
Prep timeline
These are planning estimates for the whole event across all guests — not a per-person target. Confirm with your caterer, who will have their own per-plate standards.
Don't leave prepared food at room temperature beyond about 2 hours (1 hour in hot weather).
Label allergens clearly and keep veg and non-veg dishes visibly separated.
Serving alcohol too?
Work out the drinks next
Carries your guest count and event length across automatically.
Party Drink CalculatorThis whole calculation depends on your guest count.
Send your invite first, get an accurate headcount
Once RSVPs come in, come back and dial in the exact numbers.
Start Your InviteHow this calculator works
We start from eater-equivalents, not a flat headcount: an adult counts as 1.0, a teen as 1.25 (teenagers reliably out-eat adults), a child under 10 as 0.5, and a senior as 0.75. That figure is then scaled for appetite level, your service style — buffet guests take roughly 20% more than a plated dinner, family style 15% more, potluck only 60% of what the host needs to provide — and how much leftover buffer you want.
Then we apply the rule most other calculators skip entirely: the more dishes you serve, the less of each one people eat, because they're sampling rather than filling up on one thing. We model this as perDishQty = baseQtyPerPerson ÷ (numberOfDishes ^ 0.75) for appetizers, mains, sides, and desserts independently — the total for the course still rises as you add dishes, just far more slowly than a straight multiplication would suggest. The exact per-dish and total figures for your menu are shown under the mains card above.
Cake sizing is its own small model: a standard 12" round cake cut in party slices serves about 48 people, but wedding-style slices are cut roughly half that size, so the same cake serves nearly double. If you're also running a dessert table, the cake only needs to cover about 60% of your guest count.
Quick reference tables
Food quantities per person for a buffet
| Course | Per person (raw/uncooked) |
|---|---|
| Main protein, boneless | 150g |
| Main protein, bone-in | 200–225g |
| Paneer / tofu main | 100–125g |
| Vegetable side | 100–120g |
| Rice (dry) | 60–75g |
| Dessert (non-cake) | 100–120g |
These are single-dish baselines. Add more dishes per course and each one goes further — see the dish-count rule above.
Appetizers per person, by event type
| Event type | Pieces per person (first hour) |
|---|---|
| Appetizers ARE the meal (cocktail party) | 10–12 |
| A full meal follows | 6 |
| Each additional hour | +2 |
Cake size by guest count
| Cake | Party slices | Wedding slices |
|---|---|---|
| 6" round | 10 | ~19 |
| 8" round | 20 | ~38 |
| 10" round | 32 | ~61 |
| 12" round | 48 | ~91 |
| Quarter sheet | 24 | ~46 |
| Half sheet | 48 | ~91 |
| Full sheet | 96 | ~182 |
| 3-tier (6"+8"+10") | 62 | ~118 |
Wedding portions are cut roughly half the size of a party slice, so the same cake serves nearly double. Use the cake module above for your exact shape and size.
Indian buffet quantities per person
| Item | Per person |
|---|---|
| Rice (dry) | 60–75g, 75–90g if biryani is the main |
| Dal (dry) | 30g (≈150ml cooked) |
| Roti / naan | 2–3 pieces if rice is also served, 4 if not |
| Curd / raita | 80g |
| Chutney / pickle | 30g |
| Sweets / mithai | 2 pieces |
How much rice, dal and roti per person
For a mixed buffet where rice, dal, and roti are all on the table, budget 60–75g of dry rice, 30g of dry dal (which cooks up to about 150ml, or a small ladle), and 2–3 pieces of roti or naan per person. Drop the roti to 4 pieces per person if rice isn't being served, since bread becomes the main starch. If rice is the headline dish — a biryani or pulao being served as a main rather than a side — increase it to 75–90g dry per person and treat it as a main in the calculator above, not a side.
Service style and how much it changes the total
| Service style | Adjustment vs. a plated meal |
|---|---|
| Buffet | +20% |
| Family style | +15% |
| Plated / served | baseline |
| Boxed / packed | baseline |
| BBQ / grill | +15% |
| Potluck (host-provided portion) | −40% |
Buffets and family-style meals run higher because guests serve themselves and inevitably over-portion slightly; plated and boxed meals are portion-controlled by design.
Frequently asked questions
How much food do I need per person for a party?
Start from about 400-500g of total food per adult across mains, sides, rice/bread, and dessert for a buffet dinner, then adjust for how many dishes you’re serving — more dishes means less of each per person, not more food overall. Enter your guest count and menu above for an exact, rounded shopping list.
How much food for 50 guests?
For a 50-guest buffet dinner with a typical 2-main, 2-side menu, budget roughly 40-45kg of total food including rice, dal, and dessert — enter 50 guests above with your own service style and menu for the exact breakdown.
How many appetizers per person should I plan?
If appetizers are the whole meal (a cocktail party), plan on 10-12 pieces per person for the first hour, plus 2 more per additional hour. If a full meal follows, halve that to about 6 pieces per person — toggle "A full meal follows the appetizers" above to apply this automatically.
What cake size do I need for 100 guests?
A 12" round cake in standard party slices serves about 48 people, so 100 guests needs roughly a 3-tier or full sheet cake. Wedding-style slices are cut about half the size of a party slice, so the same cake serves nearly double — use the cake module above to pick a shape, size, and slice type and see exactly how many guests it covers.
Why does adding more dishes not multiply the total food quantity?
Because guests sample rather than fill up on any single dish once there are options. We model this with a dish-count rule: perDishQty = baseQtyPerPerson ÷ (numberOfDishes ^ 0.75), applied to appetizers, mains, sides, and desserts independently. The course total still grows as you add dishes, just far more slowly than a straight multiplication.
How much rice, dal and roti do I need per person?
Budget 60-75g of dry rice, 30g of dry dal, and 2-3 pieces of roti or naan per person when all three are served together. Drop to 4 roti per person if you’re not serving rice, and increase rice to 75-90g if it’s the headline dish, like a biryani.
Do I need less food for a plated dinner than a buffet?
Yes — buffet service typically runs about 20% higher than a plated meal because guests self-serve and slightly over-portion, and family-style service runs about 15% higher. Plated and boxed meals are portion-controlled, so they use the base quantities directly.
How much food do I need if I’m hosting a potluck?
As the host, you typically only need to provide about 60% of the usual quantity, since guests bring the rest. Select "Potluck" as your service style above to apply that adjustment automatically.