Trying to get a idea???

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lspilot82

Meat Mopper
Original poster
Nov 30, 2009
162
11
Lakeland Florida
Hey guy's some friends and I are throwing a softball tournament to raise some money for our entry fee's in tournaments next year. What I wanna do to attract more teams is give away free BBQ to the teams that enter so no one has to pay for concessions and stuff like that. My plan was to initially just charge $200 for the entry fee, then I came up with this idea about a Softball & BBQ bash where we could raise the entry fee to about $250-$275 per team to cover the meats and sides. My plan is to serve Ribs, Pulled Pork and chicken, as well as two or three sides. But charge for drinks. Also have a donation jar..which i'm sure people would donate since they are getting some good BBQ. Not only does this raise money but it also gives me practice to cook for 100+ people which I have never done before....so here are my questions.

1. Is $50-$75 enough money to buy enough food for 12-14 people. I can get spares between 1.69-2.29 a pound depending if they are on sale....I can get Butts for 1.69 a pound and leg quarters 40 pounds for $15.00?

2. Should I precook the pulled pork prior to the tournament and reheat day of....and how much pork should I buy for 100+ people...given the other things that we will be serving...same thing goes for ribs and chicken...how many racks should I buy, how much chicken?

3. What sides should we make....baked beans, tater salad???? Any others?

4. Is this even a good idea?

Thanks guy's and i look forward to hearing all the great responses and ideas.
 
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I would figure on 70-75 lbs. of pork (uncooked) for every 100 people. That means each person can have a 1/3 lb. portion. Definately do the pork ahead of time and re-heat the day of, much easier and no worries about it being done on time. For ribs and chicken plan on buying approx. 40 lbs. per 100 people, probaly more on the ribs - 50 or 60 lbs.

Realisticaly you are going to have to plan for extra the first time you do this, see what people eat the most of, and adjust for the following week. A basic rule of thumb is 1/3 lb. per person for a serving of meat., so if you want each person to have a portion of each meat type you can use that formula. On pork butt, or brisket you have to remember you lose approx. 40% of the uncooked weight so if you are needing 33 lbs. of finished pork you have to start with 66 lbs. of uncooked.
 
Only problem i see w/ what you are planning is that you are only looking at number of players on each team.

 I know around here most folks bring wive / girlfriends / kids to the tourneys .

 Not saying feed them for free. But you need to have food available for them to purchase. 

 LOGISTICS The hardest part of commercial Q
 
Only problem i see w/ what you are planning is that you are only looking at number of players on each team.

 I know around here most folks bring wive / girlfriends / kids to the tourneys .

 Not saying feed them for free. But you need to have food available for them to purchase. 

 LOGISTICS The hardest part of commercial Q
+1 what he said. For the first time you might want to have each team submit a head count to you that includes team members and # of guests, hoepfully that will put you in the ball park for a head count.
 
Can't help much on quantities of meat required but much of your meat costs could be recouped by selling plates to non-players.  Every team usually brings some spouses, girlfriends, etc.  Just selling 5-6 plates per team would go a long way toward overhead.  You probably have thought of this.  As long as you're cooking you might want to presale some plates to the general public. Good luck with tourney.

Mike
 
Ya usually there are only 10-12 people per team...I was thinking about selling to the fam and friends who come out along with the players and maybe charging some small $3 or $4 dollar fee per person for all you can eat....I know it sounds stupid but I'm not doing the BBQ to make any money. I figure $50-$75 a team is enough money to buy everything I need plus being able to feed a few others....I was thinking if you arent on the team...you pay $4 and it gets you a wrist band showing you paid and you can come back for as much as you want...I don't think people would take advantage to bad...Remember teams will be playing ball so they wouldnt be eating to much since it makes you sluggish. Also I'll have a donation jar up...From my experience doing things kinda like this...people tend to donate extra sometimes. I think it will work out pretty good as long as I prepare enough.
 
Hey guy's I'm back to see if anyone can answer my question about the cost of the food I'm going to prepare. Question is if I can get Spares for $1.69 a pound and Butts at the same price...ans Chicken quarters for .38 cents a pound....do you think $50-$75 dollars per team is enough money to feed them...including sides. Ill be selling drinks seperate.
 
You can cook up a batch of beans cheaply.  Tater salad and slaw will add a lot of refrigeration problems to your logistics headaches.

The ribs will raise your cost and labor as compared to pulled pork.  Chicken is more labor intensive too, but you will have to offer something besides pork.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes.
 
Hey guy's I'm back to see if anyone can answer my question about the cost of the food I'm going to prepare. Question is if I can get Spares for $1.69 a pound and Butts at the same price...ans Chicken quarters for .38 cents a pound....do you think $50-$75 dollars per team is enough money to feed them...including sides. Ill be selling drinks seperate.
It really depends on how much of each meat you plan on buying (plus cost of sides). You said the teams are approx 15 people, then if you add family you have to at least double that to 30 people, probably add another 5-6 heads to be safe and I imagine ball players will be big eaters so call it 40 people total.

If you figure .33 lb. per person/per meat that is 13.2 lbs. of finished product of each meat. Butt loses 40% during cooking so you need 26-28 lbs. of butt, ribs are about 5 lbs. per rack figure on buying 4 racks, and then figure on about 20 lbs. of chicken.
  • Butts: 28 lbs. x $1.69 = $47.32
  • Ribs: 20 lbs. x $1.69 = $33.80
  • Chicken: 20 lbs. x $0.38 = $7.60
Meat Total: $88.72

Sides toat: ????? (Depends on the sides you provide)

40 heads - 15 players = 25 additional heads

$88.72-$50 (team cost) = $38.72 (+ cost of sides)

$38.72 + (cost of sides) / 25 (heads) = Cost per extra person to charge.

You will need to fill in the blanks as far as what your sides are going to cost you, but if you fill in the blanks that should give you a ball park for approx. 40 people getting a good sized plate of grub. After you do one or two teams you will get a feel for what amounts you need to reduce or increase, then just re-run the numbers and see where you are. And there may be additional extra costs you haven't thought of that you will need to work into the total as well. Like cost of fuel for running your smoker for example. Just make sure you write down every penny you spend the first time or two and you will see where your costs are at.
 
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