Quantities
Baked potato bar for 100: the whole list
For a baked potato bar where the potato is the meal, plan on 55 lb of russet potatoes for 100 people. That is one potato a head plus 10 per cent, so 110 potatoes, at about half a pound each.
Potatoes are sold loose or in bags, and for a crowd the realistic buy is the big bag: six 10 lb bags gives you 60 lb. Pick through them for size. A bag mixes big and small, and a bar works best when the potatoes are close to the same weight, so they finish baking at the same time.
The whole table, for 100 people
| What | Amount | In ounces | What to buy | Working |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Russet potatoes | 55 lb | 880 oz | 6 × 10 lb bag | 1 potato a head, plus 10% |
| Butter | 3.4 lb | 55 oz | 4 × 16 oz | 0.5 oz a head |
| Sour cream | 6.9 lb | 110 oz | 7 × 16 oz tub | 1 oz a head |
| Shredded cheese | 10.3 lb | 165 oz | 6 × 32 oz bag | 1.5 oz a head |
| Bacon bits | 1.7 lb | 27.5 oz | 2 × 18.8 oz | 0.25 oz a head |
| Steamed broccoli | 6.9 lb | 110 oz | 10 × 12 oz bag | 1 oz a head, averaged |
| Green onions | 10 bunches | — | 10 bunches | a bunch tops about 12 |
| Chili, as a topping | 1.5 gal | 192 oz | 13 × 15 oz can | 3 oz a head |
| Paper plates | 110 | — | 2 × 64 pack | 10% over the headcount |
Topping package sizes are the ones actually stocked in American supermarkets rather than catering sizes: shredded cheese comes in 8 oz, 6 oz and 32 oz; sour cream in 16 oz, 8 oz and 12 oz; bacon bits in 2.8 oz, 3 oz and 18.8 oz. The 10 lb potato bag is a common grocery size, not a figure from our shelf data.
The chili row comes straight from how much chili you need for 100 people, which has the working for chili as a topping and as the main dish.
Why one potato a head
A half-pound russet with toppings on it is a full plate. Most adults eat one and stop. The 10 per cent spare covers the people who come back for a second, and the potatoes that split or turn out underdone in the middle.
Adjust for the crowd. A high school team or a youth group will want closer to one and a half a head, so plan on about 85 lb, or nine 10 lb bags. If the potato bar sits next to a salad and a dessert table at a church supper, one a head holds. Leftover baked potatoes reheat well, so round up rather than down.
What actually goes wrong
- The oven is the bottleneck. A home oven holds 25 to 30 potatoes on two racks, and each load takes about an hour at 400°F. 110 potatoes is four loads. Plan which ovens you have, or ask volunteers to bake a dozen each at home.
- Keeping them hot. Wrap each baked potato in foil and pack them into an insulated cooler with no ice. They stay hot for an hour or two, which makes baking at home and driving them over work.
- Sour cream and cheese run out first. On a potato bar almost everybody takes both. The amounts above are a floor. Butter and bacon bits usually come back.
- Butter is hard to spread cold. Put it out soft, or melt it in a small crock pot with a ladle. Cold butter on a line of 100 slows everything down.
- Nobody brings a knife. Somebody has to split each potato open. Put two people with knives and a towel at the head of the line.
If you are organizing this with other people
The arithmetic above is the easy half. The hard half is turning it into asks that one person can carry, keeping track of who said they would bring what, and reminding them before the day. That is what Event Wranglr does. You describe the event in a sentence, it works out the quantities and the package counts, and it produces a sign-up sheet your volunteers claim from a link with no account and no advertising. A volunteer can take two of the six bags of potatoes and leave the rest on the sheet for somebody else.
Describe your potato bar and see what comes back.
Create an accountFree, ad-free, and volunteers never need an account.