The Costing and Portioning Decision
Your class is catering a fundraising morning tea for 80 people. You plan to serve three items: mini quiches, fruit skewers, and brownies. Your budget is $180 for ingredients. A trial batch shows that one quiche recipe (cost $9.60) yields 24 minis, one fruit skewer batch (cost $14.00) yields 40 skewers, and one brownie batch (cost $7.20) yields 20 brownies. You estimate each guest will take two items on average, and you want each of the three items to be equally represented. Half the guests are expected to take a brownie.
1. Calculate how many batches of each item you need and the total ingredient cost. State whether you are within budget.
Read the worked answer
Total items needed: 80 guests × 2 items = 160 items.
If the three items are equally represented, each item accounts for about one third of demand. However, the brownie estimate is given directly: half of 80 = 40 brownies.
- Brownies: 40 ÷ 20 per batch = 2 batches × $7.20 = $14.40
- Remaining items: 160 − 40 = 120 items split between quiches and skewers, so 60 each.
- Quiches: 60 ÷ 24 = 2.5, round up to 3 batches × $9.60 = $28.80
- Skewers: 60 ÷ 40 = 1.5, round up to 2 batches × $14.00 = $28.00
Total = $14.40 + $28.80 + $28.00 = $71.20.
This is well within the $180 budget, leaving $108.80. The judgement here is recognising that you always round batches up, because you cannot make half a batch, and that rounding creates surplus rather than shortage.
2. The teacher suggests using the remaining budget to add a fourth item, a gluten-free slice at $1.10 per portion, for an estimated 20 guests who require gluten-free options. Assess whether this is feasible and what you would need to check before committing.
Read the worked answer
Cost: 20 × $1.10 = $22.00, which fits comfortably within the $108.80 remaining. So on cost alone, it is feasible.
Before committing, I would check:
Cross-contact controls. A gluten-free slice must be prepared with clean equipment, separate boards and uncontaminated ingredients. If the kitchen is also handling wheat flour for brownies, this is a genuine risk.
Whether 20 is a reliable estimate. If the number is uncertain, I would cost a buffer (for example 24 portions, $26.40) and confirm the supplier can provide the ingredients in time.
Ingredient availability and labelling. The slice must be verified as gluten-free from the packaging, not assumed.
Whether the extra item strains the labour and time plan, even if the money is available.
The judgement being tested is that budget headroom does not automatically mean a plan is sound - allergen control, sourcing and time are equally part of the decision.