Feeding the masses a success for local caterer

How do you feed 2,000 people in one sitting?
With a calculator, of course.
That’s how Kathy Cuthbertson of “Kathy’s Katering” here figured out how much it would take to feed the masses attending the FFHS Millennium Reunion supper Saturday night.
“Because I’ve been [catering] for 18 years, I knew how much it took to feed 300 so I just got out a calculator and figured it out for 2,000,” she said Monday morning.
“All you have to do is multiply–it’s not as hard as you think,” she added, though it was the first time she’d served up a large meal to such a large crowd.
Cuthbertson and the crew of 25 volunteers who worked with her Saturday evening managed to pull off the buffet-style prime rib dinner in about two hours, with reunion guests–plate in hand–filing past countless dishes of food set up in the new arena lobby.
And just how much food did it take to feed so many?
Included were 87 prime rib roasts, 24 cases (1,200 pounds) of baked potatoes, 12 cases (600 pounds) of glazed baby carrots, and 2,000 brownies for dessert.
“Generally, I was really organized, but I probably used a whole ream of paper with all the notes I made [beforehand],” Cuthbertson admitted. “And I was generally in control of my stress. As long as I make lists, I’m okay.”
“I used ovens everywhere,” she added, noting most of the prime rib roasts and baked potatoes were cooked at the Canada Safeway store here, which donated its bakery ovens to the cause.
“Safeway’s ovens hold 50 roasters at a time and we cooked the potatoes on 15-shelf trolleys in walk-in ovens,” she explained, lauding the store’s contribution, and the time and effort put in by volunteers and family members, that helped make the dinner a success.
The only thing Cuthbertson ran out of during the meal was horseradish after she misjudged people’s passion for the sharp condiment. She nipped the shortage in the bud by garnering more jars of it from the kitchens at the Red Dog Inn and La Place Rendez-Vous.
“In my family, one out of six likes it so I went by that. I underestimated–a lot more people than [one in six] like horseradish,” she chuckled.
Cuthbertson also served up the meal on real plates and although happy with the added touch of tableware, next time she’d consider choosing a meal that didn’t require it.
“I wanted real plates because I knew people couldn’t sit in the stands and cut prime rib on a paper plate,” she reasoned. “But that also means that I have to go back to the arena and wash [a lot] of plates.”
Although Cuthbertson said she probably would be busy until Friday wrapping up loose ends, she’d already taken at least one session of “down-time” for herself.
“I had [a Calgon bath],” she noted. “I turned out the lights in the bathroom and sunk in the tub–I could have slept in there.”