Ratio of Diet vs. Regular Pop for Party

[smokeyblue]

A vendor is putting on a BBQ at work, but we need to provide drinks. We have a head count of 160. How many cans of pop/soda should I get and what ratio of regular to diet? Should i get a few cases of lemonade? We have water coolers all over so I don't need bottled water.

I've never planned for this many and I seem to always way overestimate or slightly understimate.

 

[RangerPooh]

First, is it a bad thing to have extra beverages on hand? Yes, you'll be out the cost, but if cans they could be stored and used for a later function. At work we often budget for 1.5x the number of guests. Some people will take 2 drinks, while others will go for the water. We often do about 1/3 of the beverages as diet. I'm assuming that the lemonade will be in cans. If it is then you might consider doing something like 1/2 regular soda, 1/4 lemonade, 1/4 diet. Ultimately you won't please everyone.

 

[Disneylover99]

Not knowing the crowd I’d say maybe 200 cans of Pop divided into half diet/half regular.
Maybe grab 50 cans of lemonade too.

If it was my workplace I’d do a ratio of 3/4 diet and 1/4 regular pop. Most people are watching their weight.

 

[anniemae]

I would do half regular half diet and also provide an alternative for those who don't drink soda like iced tea and lemonade. I would do what a pp suggested, plan for 200 then add in the extra non soda drinks on top of that. I would rather have too much than not enough, so I tend to over estimate.

 

[L&Lfan]

Most people I know (even the thin ones) choose diet or zero, so I would just say don't underestimate the amount of diet you'll need.

 

[ICF]

Most people I know drink regular (IMO, most diet pop's taste nasty)…..so I'd say 2/3rd reg - 1/3 diet.

You could always just try to notice what people seem to drink on a given day -- and go with what seems to be the majority.

 

[Hikergirl]

I would definitely get some lemonade (or iced tea), not everyone that doesn't drink soda drinks water so another type of beverage is good.
For soda I agree with the pp- 2/3 regular, 1/3 diet. I always end up with diet left over.

 

[nkereina]

Not trying to complicate things, but my initial thought was the same amount in regular and diet, and then the same (but lesser) amounts of Sprite, iced tea and/or lemonade. Non-soda drinkers will lean towards iced tea or lemonade. And there may be some soda drinkers that prefer something caffeine free like Sprite. Plus, if someone is a diet drinker and you run out of diet, they have other options (or vice versa).

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Here, we would do 2/3 regular soda (50/50 caffeine vs non), and the remaining 1/3 split evenly between tea, lemonade, & diet soda.

 

[kimblebee]

Will someone be standing by the drinks to make sure no one takes any for their friends?

 

[HannaBelle]

First, is it a bad thing to have extra beverages on hand? Yes, you'll be out the cost, but if cans they could be stored and used for a later function. At work we often budget for 1.5x the number of guests. Some people will take 2 drinks, while others will go for the water. We often do about 1/3 of the beverages as diet. I'm assuming that the lemonade will be in cans. If it is then you might consider doing something like 1/2 regular soda, 1/4 lemonade, 1/4 diet. Ultimately you won't please everyone.

I agree with this 100%.

 

[Southernmiss]

A vendor is putting on a BBQ at work, but we need to provide drinks. We have a head count of 160. How many cans of pop/soda should I get and what ratio of regular to diet? Should i get a few cases of lemonade? We have water coolers all over so I don't need bottled water.

I've never planned for this many and I seem to always way overestimate or slightly understimate.

I would still get bottled water. So many people at events and parties that I go to and plan drink bottled water these days and not any of the other beverages you listed.

It just seems right that if you are offering single serve cans of beverages to offer bottles of water than to expect people to go find the water coolers.

Probably just me, but I also don't understand places that offer complimentary coffee and nothing else. As a person that doesn't drink a lot of coffee and only started drinking it recently, that has never set right with me.

 

[dish rag]

I would must likely provide water and carbonated waster. Perrier, La Croix that sort of thing.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Will someone be standing by the drinks to make sure no one takes any for their friends?

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

I'd get two regular for every diet. And I'd get some non carbonated such as lemonade or tea or something like that. Maybe even some Gatorade.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Will someone be standing by the drinks to make sure no one takes any for their friends?

As long as they only touch what they take.

 

[smokeyblue]

If it was my family, it would be 2/3 diet. I actually only see about 20 of the 160 people on a regular basis and barely anyone in my building drinks pop enough for me to notice what they drink. I decided to go with 1/3 diet. I'm going to get a couple of cases of water too. It's still a working day so people will probably just be ducking in real quick to get their plate and leave so there are probably not too many that will grab 2 cans, but I think I'm going to go with the 1.5 ratio/person for the pop and it will probably be 2 each if the water was added into the numbers.

 

[AustinTink]

At my workplace it would be bottled water, sparkling/flavored water and iced tea. Not many soda drinkers here.

 

[ronandannette]

When I host at home I never buy diet; never even consider it but then again, pop doesn’t feature too prominently - usually just a few mini cans of Coke and ginger ale. We have larger-scale events at work with huge ice tubs of canned beverages. There’s always a fairly even split between regular pop, iced tea and juice but usually only one selection for diet (cola). The bottled water is what goes most - everybody always takes a water even if they don’t take a sweet drink.

 

[Kellydelly]

Most of my friends and family don't drink diet soda, so I would only order 1/4 to maybe 1/3 diet drinks. I don't think most people like flavored seltzer water (I drink it, but I have to be in the mood and I don't drink it when I'm eating). I like the idea of lemonade and tea as an offering.