80 people · company drinks
How many bottles of wine for 80 guests?
Eighty guests at a company cocktail reception drink about forty bottles in three hours, 54 once rounded up to the case: nine cases, without a drop of red. It is the most common format at this number, the one for a launch, end-of-year drinks or a client evening. The calculator takes it as the default; the table shows what changes if the evening goes on or if people sit down.
The calculation for 80 guests
Set for a three-hour cocktail reception (standing buffet), standing, 75% of guests drinking wine: at a company event, more people are driving or going back to work than at a wedding. Tick the meal or the party if your format includes them.
Depending on the format of your event
For 80 guests of whom 60 drink. 8% margin standing, 10% seated, rounded up to the case of 6 per colour; the calculator gives the exact figure.
| Format | Unrounded | In cases | Cases | By colour |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 h drinks, after-work | 30 | 42 | 7 | 18 sparkling, 12 white, 12 rosé |
| 3 h cocktail reception (the setting) | 40 | 54 | 9 | 24 sparkling, 18 white, 12 rosé |
| 3 h cocktail reception + 2 h party | 55 | 72 | 12 | 36 sparkling, 18 white, 18 rosé |
| One hour of drinks + seated dinner | 50 | 66 | 11 | 24 red, 24 white, 6 rosé, 12 sparkling |
The cocktail reception includes no red: standing, with cold canapés, little of it gets drunk. If you want a case for the diehards, add it: that is six more bottles, not another order. Red only really comes in with the seated dinner.
The figures that matter at eighty
bottles per guest, margin and rounding included. Without them, it is exactly one bottle for every two guests.
cases of 6. A parcel, not a pallet: well below the 120-bottle threshold.
bottles to chill, all of them: sparkling, white and rosé. An office fridge won't do; three ice tubs at the bar will.
per guest at the “good” level with champagne, or about €1,160; €820 at the decent level.
How many bottles of wine for a drinks reception of 80 people?
For a three-hour cocktail reception, 40 bottles drunk and 54 to buy in cases: twenty-four sparkling, eighteen white, twelve rosé. For two hours of drinks before something else, 42 bottles, seven cases. All of this assumes 75% of guests drink wine.
How is it different from a seated dinner for 80?
One hour of drinks followed by a seated dinner needs 66 bottles, twelve more than the cocktail reception, and half of them move to red and white table wine. The cocktail reception costs less in wine but more in sparkling, which makes up nearly half the bottles. The wine for a cocktail reception page details service at the bar and in the room.
How many waiters and glasses for 80 standing guests?
One waiter for forty people standing, so two in the room with the white and the rosé, and a bar that keeps the sparkling cold. For glasses, one flute per guest plus 5% for breakage, and a wine glass for six guests in ten, those who move on to still wine: 84 flutes and 48 glasses. The how many glasses to plan page redoes the count for your numbers.
Do we need a wine merchant for 54 bottles?
Not necessarily. If the caterer supplies the wine in a package, or if a nearby wine shop delivers nine cases with an invoice in the company's name, take that option. A wine merchant becomes useful when you want champagne and Bordeaux at the same wholesale price, a single invoice and delivery to the venue. The purchasing department's questions, invoice and payment terms, are on the corporate event page; VAT on a reception, on the VAT on wine page.
What if the 80 become 50, or 100?
The calculation is linear: change the number in the calculator. For a shorter format among colleagues, the 50 people page; for a full day with a meal and a party, the 100 people page.
Mistakes that cost a lot
- Counting 100% drinkers. Between drivers, those going back to work and those who don't drink, a quarter of the guests at company drinks don't take wine.
- Ordering as for a wedding drinks reception. Two hours and three hours are not the same thirst: the extra hour costs twelve bottles and two cases.
- Planning red as for a dinner. Nobody sits down, the red stays closed, and unopened cases are not taken back.
- Forgetting the chilling. Fifty-four bottles to serve cold for three hours: ice tubs at the bar, topped up halfway through, not a kitchen fridge.
The general calculator does the same calculation for any number of guests.