How to Plan a Catering Menu with GAIL's for 20 People

Quick answer

For 20 people, aim for roughly two to three pastry or bun items per person at a breakfast or meeting, and three to four items per person if the food is the main meal. Build the menu from a mix of shareable boxes and individual items, order slightly more of the cheapest crowd-pleasers, and confirm your pickup or delivery slot before you finalise quantities.

Catering for 20 people sits in an awkward middle ground: too big for a casual office run, too small for most full-service caterers to handle smoothly. GAIL's works well here because the menu is built around boxes and buns that scale in predictable multiples, so you can plan quantities without guessing.

This guide walks through the order you should actually do things in, from setting the brief to checking the boxes on arrival. It uses real GAIL's products as examples, but the process applies whether you are feeding a team meeting, a workshop or a family gathering.

Start with the brief, not the menu

Before you look at a single product, write down four things: the time of day, how long the event runs, whether people are seated or standing, and whether this is the only food or one part of a longer day. A 9am meeting needs very different quantities from a 1pm workshop that runs through lunch.

This matters because how much catering per person you need is driven by context, not a fixed number. Pastries at a stand-up morning session get eaten faster than the same pastries at a seated afternoon event, and if lunch follows an hour later, people will eat less.

• Checkpoint: if you cannot answer the four brief questions in one sentence each, you are not ready to order.

Decide your items per person

For 20 people, a workable starting point is two to three items per person for a breakfast or coffee-style event, and three to four items per person when the catering is the meal. That means roughly 40 to 60 items for a morning event, or 60 to 80 for a lunch.

Treat these as starting points and adjust for your group. A team that has just come from a big breakfast will eat less; a group arriving straight from travel will eat more. If you are unsure, order at the higher end of the range on the cheapest items rather than adding expensive ones.

• Common mistake: ordering only premium items and then running short. Bulk out the spread with lower-cost buns and pastries.

Build the menu in layers

A menu that works for 20 people usually has three layers: a base of plain or broadly popular items, a middle layer with one or two flavours that feel a bit special, and a small layer of something sweet or savoury to finish. This stops the spread from being all one note and makes it easier to hit your quantity target.

GAIL's boxes are useful here because they are already built as mixed selections. The Pastry Heroes Box (Serves 6) contains two Croissant, two Pain au Chocolat and two Cinnamon Bun, which makes it a simple base layer. The Savoury Croissant Box (Serves 6) covers the savoury side with three Kimchi & Cheddar Croissants and three Ham & Cheese Croissants.

• Tip: three Pastry Heroes Boxes give you 18 pastries and a clear, recognisable spread for a morning event.

Do the maths in whole boxes

Once you know your items-per-person target, convert it into whole boxes and packs rather than loose counts. Boxes that serve six are easy to multiply: three boxes cover 18 people at one item each, four boxes cover 24. This is faster than counting individual pastries and reduces the chance of an odd, uneven spread.

For 20 people at two items each, you need about 40 items. That could be four boxes of six (24 items) plus a tray of individual buns to close the gap, or a mix of boxes and loose items. Write the running total down as you go; most over-ordering happens when people add items without tracking the total.

• Checkpoint: your running total should land within 10% of your target. If it is 30% over, you have over-corrected.

Add individual items for flexibility

Boxes give you structure, but individual items let you top up to an exact number and cover dietary gaps. A pack of 4 Cinnamon Buns or 5 Burger Buns is easy to add without changing the character of the spread, and they are simple to split across a table.

If you want one item that reads as a treat rather than a staple, the Babka Bun is laminated brioche dough swathed in chocolate custard and dark chocolate chips, rolled into buns and brushed with demerara syrup out of the oven. It is a good single addition rather than the whole menu.

• Common mistake: adding a second premium item before you have enough of the basics. Fix the base layer first.

Confirm timing, delivery and setup

Food arriving late is worse than food arriving plain. Confirm your pickup or delivery slot at least two working days ahead, and build in a buffer of 20 to 30 minutes before guests arrive. If you are collecting, assign one person to do it and give them the order reference.

Think about what you need on the table too: plates, napkins, a knife for anything sliceable, and a way to keep hot drinks hot. If your venue does not provide these, add them to your list before you finalise the food order, not after.

• Checkpoint: if nobody owns the pickup or delivery task by name, it will slip.

The 20-person catering order, step by step

1. Step 1: Write the brief: Note the time of day, event length, seating style, and whether this is the only food. These four answers set your quantity target. Checkpoint: if the brief is vague, your quantities will be too.
2. Step 2: Set items per person: Use two to three items per person for breakfast or coffee events, three to four when catering is the meal. For 20 people that is roughly 40 to 80 items. Round up on cheap items, not on premium ones.
3. Step 3: Choose a base, a middle and a finish: Pick one broadly popular base layer, one or two flavour items, and one sweet or savoury finish. Boxes like Pastry Heroes (Serves 6) and Savoury Croissant Box (Serves 6) cover the first two layers quickly. Common mistake: an all-premium menu that runs out early.
4. Step 4: Convert to whole boxes and packs: Multiply boxes of six and packs of four or five until your running total lands within 10% of your target. Write the total down as you add. Checkpoint: if you are more than 30% over target, cut back before ordering.
5. Step 5: Confirm timing and logistics: Book the pickup or delivery slot at least two working days ahead, add a 20 to 30 minute buffer, and name the person responsible. Add plates, napkins and a knife to your list if the venue does not supply them. Final check: food, timing and setup each have an owner before you place the order.

GAIL's products that work well for 20

• Pastry Heroes Box (Serves 6): Includes two of each: Croissant, Pain au Chocolat, and Cinnamon Bun, for six pastries in total, designed to serve 6. Three boxes give you 18 pastries with a built-in mix, which is a fast way to build the base layer of a morning spread for 20.
• Savoury Croissant Box (Serves 6): A box of six savoury croissants: three Kimchi & Cheddar Croissants and three Ham & Cheese Croissants. Covers the savoury side of a lunch or brunch menu in one line item, so you do not have to balance two separate savoury orders.
• 4 Cinnamon Buns: Golden, flaky croissant pastry filled with cinnamon, brown sugar and butter, baked and then tossed in cinnamon sugar. A pack of four is an easy top-up unit when your box maths leaves you a few items short of your target.
• 5 Burger Buns: Brioche dough enriched with cream, egg and butter, topped with sesame seeds and sea salt, with a soft, thin crust and pillowy crumb. Useful if you are building your own fillings rather than buying pre-made sandwiches, and packs of five divide cleanly across 20 people.

Catering for 20 people comes down to a clear brief, a realistic items-per-person target, and whole-box maths you actually write down. Get those three right and the menu almost plans itself.