Question:
How many portions does a hotel pan hold? Generally I serve 125 meals in the dining room.
– Beverly Acosta, Santa Ana, Calif.
Answer:
This is a question I get with surprising frequency, and I’ve heard some mythology around this from various caterers and chefs over the years—most often that a full pan feeds two dozen (or 25). Your next question, though, should be: two dozen of what? For who? And what else is on the menu?
There are a few considerations that go into how many pans of a dish are required in a foodservice capacity:
- How many items are available for selection?
- Is the pan filled to the top like a lasagna or scalloped potatoes or is it just on the bottom?
- Is there space between items as you’d have with chicken or fish?
- What is the depth of the pan?
In short, there’s no good way to convert number of portions to hotel pans needed except for particular products.
To calculate accurately, you need to do some old school math. Chef’s Resources and other sites have helpful tables of various pan capacities. I like the one at Chef’s Resources for a few reasons: They list not only full pans, but all of the available inserts and variations; they include both full capacity and 85% capacity; they include both imperial and metric calculations; and they have a calculator to make it easier.
So to go back to your question, here’s how to calculate:
- Calculate your average portion size and how many portions you’ll actually need (keeping in mind that not all 125 guests will choose every item, but some may want seconds). For example, if every guest receives a half-cup of mashed potatoes (62.5 cups), for example, you know you need 15.6 quarts.
- Based on the table, a full 2-inch hotel pan at 85% capacity holds 7 quarts, you’d need a little over two pans to get through service, or two filled to capacity.
While it’s cumbersome, you would need to follow the same process for each item if you really want an accurate take on how many pans to prepare. Keep in mind that weight is always a better measure than volume.
Better aligning production with your needs will have a positive impact on your food waste, food cost and labor.
More on steam table capacity here.