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When it comes to hosting a large group of people, you can expect them to eat quite a bit of food and that is no exception for side dishes either. One of the most popular styles of food to prepare for a lot of people is Italian food, and often included with that is garlic bread.
For one hundred guests, you will need 200 slices, or about ten pounds of garlic bread. Each person is likely to eat two pieces of garlic bread. Some will only eat one or none, and some will eat three or more. It will balance out and be enough for one hundred people.
Feeding one hundred people can be a huge task and a big responsibility, but with the correct proportioning it can be done quite easily. Keep reading to learn about how to correctly proportion garlic bread for large groups of people.
Preparing Food for a Large Group: The Basics
Before we talk about specific proportions for garlic bread and what to expect when preparing that much food for that many people, it is important to know some general rules for preparing food for large groups. One of the most basic rules for catering food is to make sure that there is one pound of food for each guest attending. This means that you should have the appropriate amounts of each dish for the rations that you plan for them to be eaten in.
This is a great place to start when it comes to planning heavier foods, but because garlic bread is lightweight, you do not need a whole pound of garlic bread per person; that is a lot of garlic bread! Instead, garlic bread, and any other kind of bread, can be measured more accurately in pieces. When it comes to serving breads like rolls, toast, and garlic bread, the general rule is to provide at least two pieces per guest. If there are fewer different dishes, then you will need a bit more bread, but if there are a lot of different dishes, then two pieces per person will be plenty.
Another factor that affects how much bread each person will need is how big the bread is. For larger pieces of bread, two pieces per person is appropriate. This applies to rolls that can be split in half, as it is almost like twice as much bread per piece. If the size of each piece of bread is smaller, then you can expect to need more than just two pieces per person. For garlic bread that is made on smaller slices or even short breadsticks, you will likely need to provide about 3 pieces per person.
Specific Proportions for Garlic Bread
Now that you know more about general proportions for providing a lot of food for a small group of people, we can talk more about the specifics of providing large proportions of garlic bread for guests. Garlic bread is included with the general rules for providing bread as a side. A good place to start is by planning for each guest to eat two pieces of garlic bread.
When the amount of garlic bread needed can change is when the size of each piece is different, and when there are fewer dishes available. Generally, pieces of garlic bread are about six inches long and about 2 inches wide. When it comes to calculating the amount of garlic bread guests will need, you can assume that each person will eat two pieces of standard-sized garlic bread. This makes it easy to calculate how much standard-sized garlic bread you need for any group of people.
If the garlic bread is smaller than the standard size, you will need more than just two pieces per person. Smaller pieces of garlic bread mean that you will need about three pieces per person instead of two. If the pieces are larger than average, then you will only need about 1.5 pieces of garlic bread per person. This is because some people will still eat two pieces of larger garlic bread while others will only eat one.
The other big factor for the amount of garlic bread needed is the number of other dishes available for guests to eat. If there is only one other dish like pasta or pizza, you will likely need more garlic bread because there are fewer other foods to eat. If you happen to have more dishes, like pasta, pizza, salad, and a vegetable platter, you will need less garlic bread because there are other things for people to eat outside of the main dish and garlic bread.
Cost of Garlic Bread
When you need to provide garlic bread for a large group of people, it is important to know how much it costs, whether you make it yourself or you have it catered. Catering and making it yourself both come with their pros and cons. Catering is a great way to take pressure off of yourself, but making it yourself will save you money. Keep reading to learn more about the costs of providing large amounts of garlic bread.
Making it Yourself
The first way to provide enough garlic bread for a large group of people is to make it yourself. This requires you to buy the ingredients and do the cooking, but it will be significantly cheaper to do it this way. The benefit of saving money and having control over the recipe is huge, but having to make it yourself can be stressful. On top of everything else you have to do to prepare for so many guests, you will also have to prepare the food and make sure it comes out delicious.
For garlic bread, you will just need some kind of French bread, butter, and garlic or garlic powder. This is a simple recipe with very few ingredients, which means that it will be even cheaper to prepare than other side dishes. A loaf of French bread often ends up being able to be sliced into 10 to 14 pieces. Let’s say to feed 100 people you will need 10 loaves of French bread. This will cost about $12.00 for the bread at an average of $1.20 per loaf.
For the other ingredients, you will need about 5 sticks of butter, or 20 ounces, which will cost $6.25 in total. You will need about 50 cloves of garlic, or 5 bulbs, which will cost about $3.15 in total. Overall, making garlic bread for 100 people will cost on average $21.40. These prices can fluctuate based on where you shop for the ingredients, and if you need more or less of any ingredient. If you shop at a grocery store that is a bit more high-end, you will spend more than if you shop at a cheaper store.
Having it Catered
The other popular option for providing garlic bread for large amounts of people is to have it catered. Catering has its benefits and downfalls just like making it yourself. One benefit is that you do not have to spend the time and energy to make the garlic bread. When planning an event this big, you will likely have plenty of other tasks on your plate, and making food does not need to be added to those.
A con to catering garlic bread and any other food is that you will be spending much more on this dish. Catering costs are on average three times as much as just the cost of the ingredients. This is because you are paying for them to prepare, cook, and often deliver the food as well. You are paying for the convenience of catering, and that can end up costing quite a bit.
Catering from restaurants is popular because then you already know what the food will taste like, and hopefully, you would only order from a restaurant with yummy garlic bread! However, ordering from restaurants can become expensive quickly. On average, having garlic bread for 100 people catered from a restaurant will cost about $300.00. This is 14 times more than just making it yourself!
When just catering garlic bread from a caterer, enough for 100 people can cost anywhere from $560.00 to $675.00. This is usually calculated by how many trays you are ordering. These prices are the cost of 5 or 6 trays of garlic bread. This price varies between caterers, and some even discount the total order when purchasing several trays of garlic bread. Catering can become very expensive, but it does take another task off of your plate!
How to Prepare Garlic Bread for a Large Group
Now that you know roughly how much garlic bread for 100 people will cost, we can talk about the best ways to prepare garlic bread for a large group. We will talk about how to prepare a general recipe when you are making it yourself. It is pretty simple to put it together and to prepare in large quantities.
Preparing Garlic Bread Yourself
You should start with your loaves of French bread and cut them in half lengthwise so that you have two long, open sides of each loaf. Make sure you preheat the oven, or ovens if you have more than one available to you.
Take your cloves of garlic, peel each one, and cut off the stem end of each one. Mash up the garlic so that it becomes a very thick paste, but don’t mash too much.
Next, melt the butter and then mix it in with the mashed-up garlic. With a glazing brush, butter each half of French bread with the garlic butter mixture. If you want, you can also sprinkle some parsley, Parmesan, or both on top. Place two halves on each baking tray and bake for about 10-15 minutes, so that the edges become golden brown and crispy.
Once all of the halves are done baking, you will cut them up into slices about one to one and a half inches thick. You can place these slices into aluminum trays with lids to keep them warm if there is time before eating, or you can serve them immediately. If you bake the garlic bread ahead of time, you can always reheat them in the oven on low heat or just on “keep warm”.
Prepping Catered Garlic Bread
Reheating garlic bread in the oven is something you can do with catered garlic bread as well, if it has gone cold, or if it is just not brought to you warm, you can prep it for the guests in the oven. Just turn it to the “keep warm” setting or about 175 degrees Fahrenheit. This will warm the bread up again so that it is perfect for serving without cooking it any more than it already has been. You can do this for large quantities of garlic bread, so it is great for reheating enough garlic bread for 100 people!
Garlic Bread Proportions in Increments
We have talked about all of the aspects of preparing garlic bread for large groups of people. However, it might be difficult to figure out how much garlic bread you need for your specific event and amount of guests. Here is a chart that shows how much garlic bread you will need for different amounts of people and how much it will cost to cater or to make it yourself.
| Amount of Guests | Garlic Bread Needed (Slices) | Price of Making it Yourself | Price of Catering |
| 10 | 20 | $2.14 | $56.00 |
| 20 | 40 | $4.28 | $112.00 |
| 30 | 60 | $6.42 | $168.00 |
| 40 | 80 | $8.56 | $224.00 |
| 50 | 100 | $10.70 | $280.00 |
| 60 | 120 | $12.84 | $336.00 |
| 70 | 140 | $14.98 | $392.00 |
| 80 | 160 | $17.12 | $448.00 |
| 90 | 180 | $19.26 | $504.00 |
| 100 | 200 | $21.40 | $560.00 |
| 200 | 400 | $42.80 | $1,120.00 |
This chart should be of some help when trying to plan smaller parties or even one twice as big as a 100 person party! When adequately preparing with the numbers there, your guests will be thrilled there is enough garlic bread to go around and you won’t have to worry about what to do with all the extra garlic bread!
