How EventCalc Calculates Quantities and Costs

Many sources give a range rather than a single figure — for instance 100–150 g of dry pasta as a main course. EventCalc stores that range unchanged and picks a calculation value from it, usually the midpoint. Both appear separately in the interface: source range and EventCalc basis. A card never claims the source recommends exactly the figure EventCalc uses.

Where a source gives its own child-specific value, that value is used — as with pizza. Where it does not, EventCalc applies its own child factor, consistent across the whole catalogue, and labels it as an EventCalc assumption. Such a value is never presented as a recommendation from the source.

The "Conservative / Standard / Generous" setting is a global factor (0.9 / 1 / 1.15). It is applied to the calculated total — exactly once. It does not additionally act on each individual dish, and it is never combined with a second safety margin.

Dishes serving the same purpose share one demand instead of each counting in full. That applies to main dishes, sides and salads in a menu, as well as to drinks and to buffet mode. In practice: an additional main dish does not increase total demand, it redistributes it. How much each dish contributes can be adjusted per group.

A recipe is always one named variant with a source, never "the" recipe for a dish. Ingredient amounts are scaled linearly to the demand. Where something can only be made whole — a cake, a pizza — the result is rounded up to whole units rather than a fraction. Spoon measures such as "3 tbsp" are converted to grams or millilitres through one central, visible conversion; ingredients with no stated amount are never given an invented one.

The exact demand stays untouched. Only afterwards are the amounts of all dishes combined per ingredient and converted into packs — rounded up to whole packs, with the surplus stated. Rounding therefore happens once, at the end, on the sum: not per dish and not per guest. For cans with a drained weight, the actually usable amount counts, not the gross weight.

A price comes either from a verified market reference or from you — a custom price always takes precedence. There is no third "plausible estimate" tier. If an item has no price, it is carried as missing and never counted as €0. An incomplete sum is therefore never shown as a final total, but as a known partial amount together with the number of open items.

Every price reference carries two dates: reported — the date the source itself states for the price — and verified — the date EventCalc checked the link and the figures. Where the source shows no date, none is invented. Market references are user-reported prices, not nationwide guaranteed prices; they vary by location and date.

All quantities are planning guidance. EventCalc relies on practical cooking, retail and catering sources, not on research of its own.

The specific publications behind the figures are listed on the sources page. Background on the project itself is available under "About EventCalc".