Charcuterie board for 50 people: how much to buy?
For a grazing table for 50 people standing in for a meal, with five cheeses, buy about 17.2 lb of cheese (55 oz of each) and 10.3 lb of cured meat, plus 550 crackers or bread slices and 10.3 lb of fruit, with 10% extra.
How to work it out
- Cheese: 50 adults × 1 oz × 5 cheeses × 1.1 = 17.2 lb (55 oz of each)
- Meat: 50 × 3 oz × 1.1 = 10.3 lb · Together 27.5 lb
A grazing table for fifty — a long table covered in cheese, meat, bread and fruit — is a popular choice for showers, rehearsal dinners and evening receptions. When it replaces a meal, plan it like one.
Adjust for your project
More options: Kids · Extra
- Cheese, all kinds
- 17.2 lb
- Of each cheese
- 55 oz
- Cured meat (salami, prosciutto…)
- 10.3 lb
- Crackers or baguette slices
- 550 pieces
- Fresh and dried fruit
- 10.3 lb
- Nuts, olives and pickles
- 3.4 lb
- For a big crowd, several smaller boards around the room beat one huge one — shorter lines, and you can refresh one board at a time.
- Cut cheese and meat sit out like any perishable food. Perishable food should not sit out more than 2 hours (1 hour above 90 °F / 32 °C). Keep hot food at 140 °F (60 °C) or above and cold food at 40 °F (4 °C) or below (USDA FSIS).
Cheese and meat by number of guests (role as above)
| Guests | Cheese, all kinds | Cured meat (salami, prosciutto…) | Crackers or baguette slices |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 2.8 lb | 1.7 lb | 88 pieces |
| 12 | 4.1 lb | 2.5 lb | 132 pieces |
| 20 | 6.9 lb | 4.1 lb | 220 pieces |
| 30 | 10.3 lb | 6.2 lb | 330 pieces |
| 50 | 17.2 lb | 10.3 lb | 550 pieces |
| 100 | 34.4 lb | 20.6 lb | 1,100 pieces |
A grazing table as the meal
At Wisconsin Cheese’s ounce of each cheese per person, five cheeses is 5 oz of cheese per guest — over 15½ lb for fifty, and about 17 lb with 10% extra. Cured meat, at the “at least two ounces” guidance pushed to 3 oz because the table is dinner, is about 10¼ lb. Add bread and crackers at around ten pieces each, plenty of fruit and vegetables, and a few hot items if you can.
- Cheese: about 3½ lb of each of five cheeses — a mix of soft, firm, blue and two crowd-pleasers.
- Meat: three or four kinds; buy some pre-sliced so the table can be refilled quickly.
- Bread and crackers: about 550 pieces — several baguettes plus crackers.
- Fruit and vegetables: about 10 lb in all; grapes, berries and crudités fill a table cheaply.
Keeping fifty people’s food safe
A grazing table is out for the whole party, and that is the problem: perishable food should not sit at room temperature more than 2 hours, or 1 hour above 90 °F. Build the table in sections, keep the reserves cold, and refresh one section at a time rather than piling new cheese on old. Hard cheeses hold up better than soft ones; put the brie out in small rounds.
If the table is not the meal — say, before a buffet — set the role to “one appetizer” and the cheese drops by half. Compare with the smaller charcuterie board for 20 people, and see how many appetizers per person with no dinner for hot bites to add.
Different size? Use the full Charcuterie Board Calculator.
What you’ll need
- Large charcuterie boardMid-range price
A big board or two smaller ones. For a crowd, several small boards around the room keep lines short.
See options on Amazon (opens in a new tab) - Cheese knife setBudget price
A soft-cheese knife, a hard-cheese knife and a spreader cover most boards; put one with each cheese.
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Frequently asked questions
How much cheese for 50 people as an appetizer?
About 6.9 lb of cheese across four kinds, with 5.2 lb of cured meat.
Charcuterie for 100 people: how much?
About 34.4 lb of cheese and 20.6 lb of cured meat for a grazing table.
Charcuterie board for 30 people as main nibbles?
About 8.3 lb of cheese and 4.1 lb of meat.
Other common sizes
- Charcuterie board for 20 people — 5.5 lb cheese + 2.8 lb cured meat
Sources
- Wisconsin Cheese (Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin) — How to build a perfect cheese board (opens in a new tab) — 0.5 to 1 oz of each cheese per person; closer to 0.5 oz with lots of other food; three to five cheeses.
- Wisconsin Cheese (Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin) — Charcuterie and cheese board basics (opens in a new tab) — One ounce of each cheese and at least two ounces of charcuterie per person, scaled to the other dishes served.