When 60 becomes 260 guests

Last Saturday’s “casual 60” brunch ballooned to 260 at a 3 pm load-in, and I was still smiling because we’d scaled the prep list 4x and taped a run sheet to the hotbox. I went full Sharpie commander: multipliers on the board, station labels on sheet pans, a spare Sterno per chafer, and a 50’ extension cord at each buffet. What’s your go-to scale-up hack when the RSVP fairy goes feral?

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And i keep a ‘plus-30% go-bag’ in the truck — foil, gloves, oil, salt, extra utensils, a roll of labels, and two Sterno — so we can pop a bonus buffet in 5 minutes. Only caveat: rotate/restock it monthly so the fuel and labels don’t get weird.

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