How Much Crawfish Should You Order? A Wholesale Portioning Guide

As the main dish at a boil: 3 to 5 pounds of live crawfish per adult is the standard rule of thumb. Lighter eaters and mixed crowds trend toward 3; dedicated crawfish eaters will put away 5 or more.

As part of a larger spread (with shrimp, sausage, potatoes, corn, and other food): 1 to 2 pounds per person is usually plenty, since the crawfish isn't carrying the whole meal.

A standard wholesale sack runs about 30 to 35 pounds. At roughly 3 to 5 pounds per person as a main, that's about 7 to 10 people per sack. Scale from there: a 40-person event as the main event is roughly 4 to 6 sacks, depending on the crowd.

Order a little over your headcount rather than under — running out at a boil is worse than a small amount left over, and you're accounting for some shell weight and the occasional cull.

Tail meat is peeled, so it goes much further than live crawfish by weight. Roughly 6 to 8 pounds of live crawfish yields about 1 pound of peeled tail meat, so a pound of tail meat carries a dish that would take many pounds of live crawfish to match.

For menu costing, work from your recipe's tail-meat weight per serving rather than from live-crawfish math — that's how a kitchen plans étouffée, bisque, or pasta portions consistently year-round.

For standing foodservice accounts, order to your covers and set par levels: track how many pounds you actually use per service, add a buffer for busy nights, and adjust as the season and your menu change. A supplier on a scheduled route can help you dial in a consistent weekly volume so you're not over- or under-buying a perishable product.