Applebee's Catering: Platters, Prices and How Much to Order

How Much Applebee's Catering to Order

Start from one rule: a platter feeds 6 to 8 adults only when it's one part of a spread. A pasta tray with an appetizer and a salad next to it covers eight. The same tray on its own covers five.

Adjust for who's eating

The table assumes mixed adults at a sit-down meal. A high school football team is not that. Plan on 4 to 5 per platter for athletes, teenagers and anyone who's been doing physical work all day, which means roughly 40% more food than the table says.

Office lunches go the other way. People eat less at a desk, and 8 per platter holds. At a standing party with no seats, cut an entrée and add an appetizer, because guests graze. Evening events with alcohol need one extra platter. Every time.

The split that doesn't run out

One appetizer platter for every two entrée platters, and one salad or side for every two entrées. The common mistake is four entrée trays and nothing else. The table runs out of variety long before it runs out of food.

What's on the Applebee's Catering Menu

Catering menus are set by each restaurant, but the same items show up again and again: Boneless Wings and Classic Wings platters, Mozzarella Sticks, Spinach & Artichoke Dip, a Chicken Quesadilla platter, Riblets, Chicken Alfredo and other pasta trays, and cheeseburger sliders. Salads and desserts round it out.

Pasta is the best catering item on the menu. Sauce holds heat, the tray survives an hour in a chafing dish, and nobody gets a dried-out portion at minute fifty. Riblets and sauced chicken come second for the same reason.

Fried food is the one to manage. Wings and Mozzarella Sticks steam in a closed container, and the coating goes soft on the drive over. Order sauce on the side and toss the wings right before people eat. For salads, get the dressing separately or the greens will wilt before the second round.

You won't find steaks or anything served sizzling. A steak that rides 30 minutes in a container keeps cooking, and that's why they're left off.

Browse the regular-menu versions: appetizers, pasta, riblets and salads.

Applebee's Catering Prices

Applebee's doesn't publish a national catering price list, and any site that prints exact platter prices is guessing at your restaurant. Franchisees price catering the same way they price the regular menu, so a platter in suburban Ohio costs less than the same platter in Manhattan.

The fastest way to an accurate number is a phone call with three facts ready: headcount, pickup or delivery, and the date. Find your restaurant's number in the location finder.

How Far Ahead to Order Applebee's Catering

A catering order shares a kitchen with every table in the dining room. Four platters ordered for 11:30 on a Tuesday is an easy yes. Twelve platters for 6:00 on a Friday lands in the middle of the dinner rush, and something gives: your food or someone else's.

So give two hours for a small weekday order, a full day for 10 or more platters or anything on a weekend, and the full two weeks for graduations, holiday parties and game days, when every restaurant in town is getting the same calls. Then confirm by phone. An online order nobody saw doesn't help anyone.

Pickup, Delivery or ezCater

Pickup is the cheapest route and the one where you control timing. Order direct and collect it, or use Carside To Go so staff bring it to your car.

Direct delivery depends on the restaurant. Some deliver catering; plenty don't for large orders. Ask when you call.

ezCater is the one to use for offices. Applebee's catering is listed there, delivery windows are scheduled instead of as-soon-as-possible, the couriers carry insulated gear sized for platters, and tax exemption lives on the account. It costs more than pickup, and for a lunch that has to hit a reception desk at noon, the fee is worth it. Regular delivery apps are the wrong tool for a big order. The delivery page explains why.

How to Keep Applebee's Catering Hot

Don't put the catering containers in the oven. They're plastic.

The containers keep food hot long enough to travel and serve. Past about 45 minutes of open serving, move everything into a chafing dish. You'll need a wire rack, a full-size water pan, half-size aluminum pans and gel fuel cans, all sold at party supply and warehouse stores.

1. Set the rack on a steady, heat-safe table.
2. Put in the water pan with about an inch of hot water.
3. Light the fuel cans underneath.
4. Move the food into the aluminum pans and set them in the water bath.

Hold hot food above 135°F. Below that, bacteria start multiplying. A chafing dish keeps food hot for a couple of hours, but it won't bring cold food back up. If a tray has already cooled, reheat it properly before it goes back out.

What to Order for Your Event

Office lunch for 20

Two pasta trays, one salad with dressing on the side, one slider platter and one appetizer. Skip wings. Nobody wants barbecue sauce on a keyboard.

Game day or tailgate

Go heavy on finger food: two wing platters in different sauces, Mozzarella Sticks and a Riblets platter. Salads mostly go untouched at these. Bring extra napkins. The ones included assume a seated meal.

Family party

The widest mix of eaters, so the widest spread: two or three appetizers, three or four entrées across chicken and pasta, plus a salad and a side. Kids menu items aren't sold as platters. Order those individually from the kids menu.

Tax-Exempt Catering Orders

Schools, nonprofits and government offices can skip sales tax. Ordering direct, bring a printed copy of your exemption certificate to the restaurant. Saying you're exempt isn't enough, because the franchise has to keep the paperwork.

Ordering on ezCater, upload the certificate to the account once and it applies to every future order. If your office caters monthly, set that up before the first order.

Applebee's Catering FAQs