Mockup. A sample site built as a design concept, not affiliated with any real caterer. Long Pan Catering Co. is an invented name, and the phone number, address, prices, open dates and menus below are placeholders.
Long Pan Catering Co. Excelsior Springs, Missouri · Since 2016 (816) 555-0119
A black offset barbecue smoker with thin smoke rising from its stack, a long stack of split firewood beside it on gravel behind a metal roofed building at dawn.

How many people are you feeding?

That one number decides almost everything else: whether we serve it on a buffet or plate it, how many of us show up, whether your venue's outlets can carry the warmers, and what it costs a head. So the whole price list is built around it. Find your number below.

A long line of open stainless chafing pans holding sliced meat and pasta inside a timber barn, strings of bulbs overhead and set tables running away behind it.
A 180 head reception at a barn outside Lawson. Four pans deep, two servers on the line, forty minutes end to end.

What changes at every size

Per-head prices below include the food, the pans, the serving equipment, disposable plates and cutlery, and setup. They do not include tax, linens, a bar or gratuity, and we will say so again on the quote so there are no surprises at the end.

Up to 25 Drop off $14–19per head

We cook it, we deliver it hot in the pans with wire racks and fuel, and we leave. You serve. This is graduations, office lunches, funeral dinners and family gatherings, and it is by far the most common order we take.

Service
Delivered hot, set up on your table, picked up next day.
Our people
One driver, twenty minutes on site.
You provide
A table, and somebody to keep an eye on the fuel.
Notice
Seven days. Three if we already have the meat on.
26 to 60 Buffet, one attendant $18–24per head

At about thirty the line starts backing up if nobody is tending it, so one of ours stays to keep pans full and cut the meat. This is where most rehearsal dinners, church dinners and small company parties land.

Service
Buffet with an attendant for the length of service.
Our people
Two, on site about three hours.
You provide
Two eight foot tables and one standard outlet.
Notice
Two weeks.
A smoked brisket with a dark bark crust on a wooden board, several slices fanned off the end showing the smoke ring.
61 to 150 Full service buffet $24–34per head

Two lines instead of one, because a single line for a hundred and fifty people takes fifty minutes and the back of the room is eating cold food. This is the wedding reception size, and it is the size we do most Saturdays from May to October.

Service
Double buffet line, carving station, bussing through the meal.
Our people
Four to six, on site five hours.
You provide
A prep space out of sight, and two twenty amp circuits.
Notice
Six weeks, and Saturdays in June go a year out.
151 to 400 Off-site kitchen $28–42per head

Past about a hundred and fifty we bring our own heat rather than relying on yours, which means a site visit before we quote. Company picnics, reunions, benefit dinners and the occasional very large wedding.

Service
Multiple lines or stations, our own warming and holding equipment.
Our people
Eight to twelve, on site seven hours.
You provide
Vehicle access to within a hundred feet of service.
Notice
Three months, and a walkthrough before the quote is firm.

Two kitchens, one crew

The pit runs Thursday through Saturday and the Italian side runs off the stove, which is why you can have both at the same event without either one suffering for it. Mix freely. Most people do.

A deep stainless pan of baked pasta with browned cheese across the top, sitting on a steel prep table in a working kitchen.

Off the pit

Post oak, overnight, sliced or pulled the morning of. Prices are per head at the 61 to 150 rung.

  • Brisket, sliced$11
  • Pulled pork shoulder$8
  • Burnt ends$12
  • Smoked chicken, quartered$7
  • Pit beans, cheesy corn, slaw$3 each
  • Carving station, add$4

Off the stove

Sunday food, scaled up. Sauce is made Wednesday for the weekend, never the same day.

  • Baked mostaccioli$7
  • Chicken spiedini$12
  • Lasagna, meat or spinach$9
  • Italian beef, provel, giardiniera$10
  • Garlic bread, salad, green beans$3 each
  • Tiramisu or bread pudding$4

The trailer

A separate thing entirely, and booked separately. The concessions trailer goes to ball tournaments, festivals, car shows and school events, and it sells to your crowd rather than being paid per head by you.

A white concessions trailer parked on gravel at dusk with its serving window propped open and the interior lit warm yellow.
Two windows, generator on board, sets up in forty minutes.
  • Menu. Pulled pork sandwiches, brisket nachos, walking tacos, hot dogs, fries, funnel cake, canned drinks.
  • Terms. A flat site fee, or a percentage of sales for events over about four hundred people. We will tell you which one is better for you.
  • Power. Self contained. We do not need your outlets and we do not need your water.
  • Footprint. Twenty six feet with the tongue, and level ground within reason.
  • Booking. Tournament weekends fill by February. Everything else is usually available with two weeks' notice.

What is still open

Saturdays only, because that is the day everyone asks about. Weekdays and Sundays are nearly always available.

August
All four Saturdays booked.
Fridays 8 and 22 open.
September
Open: the 6th and the 27th.
Others held or booked.
October
Booked through the 18th.
Open: the 25th.
November onward
Wide open, and holiday office lunches are the busy part, not weddings.

A date is not yours until the deposit clears. We will hold one for seven days while you decide, and we will tell you honestly if somebody else is asking about it.

Booking it

  1. Ring with your date, your headcount and your venue. Five minutes on the phone gets you a real number.
  2. We send a written quote the same week: the menu, the per head price, the staffing and everything not included.
  3. A quarter down holds the date. The balance is due the week of, and we take a check, a card or cash.
  4. Two weeks out we confirm the final headcount. That number is what you pay for, so guess honestly.
  5. Tastings are free for anything over sixty, at the shop, usually a Tuesday evening.
Call about a date

The shop

304 S Titus Ave, Excelsior Springs, MO 64024

  • Office and tastingsTue – Thu, 9 to 4
  • Pit runsThu – Sat
  • We travel60 miles, no charge
  • Beyond thatMileage on the quote

No storefront and no walk-in lunch counter. It is a production kitchen with a loading door, so ring before you come by.