How many bites per person? Worked out per type of reception

How many bites per person for a drinks reception?

Allow 5 bites per person for a drinks reception of an hour or two. If a dinner or foodstands follow, 3 per person is enough: the bites are then the start of the evening rather than the food itself. That holds for office Christmas drinks just as much as for a birthday or a reception after a ceremony.

Our number for a drinks reception matches the rule of thumb from eventplanner.nl, a platform for the events industry: 3 bites per person in the first hour, and 2 for every hour after that. After two hours that brings you to 5.

Exactly how many you need depends on three things: how long the reception lasts, whether your guests eat afterwards, and what counts as a bite. We work through all three below.

Worked out per type of reception

An aperitif of 3 bites costs €12 per person, a drinks reception of 5 bites €20; for 50 guests that is € 600 and € 1,000. Our luxury bites cost €4 each excl. VAT, and chefs, waiting staff and tableware are included.

The bottom two rows are there on purpose: from 12 bites per person, a drinks reception costs more than a Walking Dinner. If your reception replaces dinner, read the section on that below first.

How many bites if the reception runs longer?

By the rule of thumb from eventplanner.nl, every hour after the second adds 2 bites per person, so a three-hour reception comes to 7 per person.

But a three-hour reception that starts at five lasts until eight, and then the question is no longer how many bites, but whether this is your guests' dinner. If colleagues come and go all evening, foodstands suit better: everyone eats hot, at the moment they arrive.

Does the reception replace dinner? Then don't count in bites

If the drinks reception replaces dinner, you need a meal, not just bites. If you would need 12 or more bites per person for that, a Walking Dinner is cheaper: 12 bites at €4 cost €48 per person, and a 6-course Walking Dinner starts at €44.50. For that your guests get a menu with a structure, from cold to hot and ending with a dessert, rather than a string of separate moments.

It stays a standing format: your guests keep moving and talking, just as at a drinks reception. We cater a Walking Dinner from 25 guests. If you want both, start with a round of bites at the reception and let the dinner follow; for that round allow 3 per person, and the minimum for bites on their own falls away.

For office Christmas drinks, the answer to this question belongs in your request. Why, and how that makes the proposals you get back comparable, is covered in organising the office Christmas drinks.

Why does the advice vary so widely?

The advice varies because a bite is not a fixed size. A bitterbal (a Dutch fried croquette ball), a cube of cheese and a tuna tartare with mango all count as one bite. Two pieces of advice about the same reception can therefore be far apart without either being wrong: they are counting different things.

So compare numbers for the same kind of bite. Ours assume small restaurant-level dishes, in one bite or on one spoon, finished at your venue. If you are serving something else yourself, work from advice about that same kind of bite.

The way they are served matters too. With us the waiting staff carry the bites through the room in rounds, so the guest at the back or deep in conversation gets their share as well. Put a platter on a table and whoever stands next to it eats more, while whoever stands further away finds an empty platter. With bites that are carried round, the number per person really is per person.

How to work it out for your own guest count

Multiply the number of guests by the number of bites per person. For 20 guests at a drinks reception of an hour or two that is 100 bites, or 60 as an aperitif before dinner.

If you book bites on their own, bear in mind our minimum of 200. At 5 per person you reach it from 40 guests; below that you pay for 200. For 20 guests you therefore pay for 200 bites, € 800 excl. VAT, and get 10 per person. Combine the bites with foodstands, or from 25 guests with a Walking Dinner, and the minimum falls away; only what you order counts.

The bites calculator works it out for your own guest count, with the minimum built in. If you would rather have it worked out for you, request a proposal; you will hear back within one working day.