Cooking for a thousand people is not about making a bigger paella: it is logistics, batches and getting the timing right. Here it is, told through a real event.
The L’Estartit case
At the port of L’Estartit, for Club Nàutic L’Estartit, we served 1,000 portions to the swimmers of the Travessia de Natació Illes Medes, with capacity ready for 1,200 that same day. It is the kind of event where everyone arrives at once, and hungry.
First, the arrival time
For 300 or 400 guests we arrive about three hours ahead. For 1,000, we either set up the day before or we are there before dawn. Setting up several pans, the burners, the gas bottles and the work tables is not a half-hour job, and a sofrito on that scale takes its time.
The sofrito, the base of everything
All our paellas start from the same sofrito: onion, artichoke, a picada of garlic and parsley, smoked paprika, tomato and wine. From there the stock changes. The senyoret paella is made with fish stock; the vegetable one with water; the mountain one uses chicken and pork ribs browned first, with a stock of about forty minutes.
Gas, never firewood
At a mass event, and even more so in a public space, gas is the only sensible option: you can regulate it, shut it off, and it throws no sparks. We work with our own bottles and need no power socket.
Serving without anyone eating cold
The trick is not to cook everything at once but to stagger it. We cook in batches and start serving while the next pan finishes resting. Tickets and queues are always handled by the organisers; with a few volunteers keeping the line in order, the service runs itself.
Plates, cutlery and waste
We bring compostable plates, cutlery and napkins, included in the price per person. At large events it is worth agreeing in advance with the organisers where the waste goes and who removes it.
What it costs
The price is per person and drops a lot at this scale. From 400 guests we are at €7.15 per person including VAT, and for events of 1,000 or more it drops further. Travel is calculated according to distance.
You can see photos and real cases on paella for 1,000 people and giant paellas, or ask for a quote with your date.