City BBQ catering works two ways, and most people pick the wrong one. You can buy meat by the pound and build a spread yourself, or you can buy one of the fixed packs — the Family Pack at $29.99 or the Motherload at $89.99. For anything under about fifteen people the packs win outright. Above that, by-the-pound takes over. Here is the arithmetic.
City BBQ prices at a glance
The prices referenced on this page, collected up front. They vary by location and change without notice.
| Meat | Per pound | Feeds as a main |
|---|---|---|
| Beef Brisket | $22.79 | 3 |
| Turkey Breast | $17.39 | 3 |
| Pulled Pork | $16.19 | 3 |
| Pulled Chicken | $16.19 | 3 |
| Smoked Sausage | $16.19 | 3 |
How much meat to order
City BBQ portions one pound of meat as roughly three servings when it is the main course. From that single figure everything else follows:
- ⅓ lb per adult when you are serving two meats with two sides and buns
- ½ lb per adult when barbecue is the only thing on the table
- Children under twelve count as half an adult — or simply order the flat $7.19 kids meals, which are the same price whichever meat you choose
- Add 10 to 15 percent on top. Pulled pork is what runs out first, every time
Meat by the pound
This is where City BBQ is genuinely competitive. At $16.19 a pound the pulled pork is about $2.50 under Mission BBQ and roughly eighty cents under Sonny\u{0027}s, and the brisket at $22.79 undercuts both. On a thirty-person order that gap is real money rather than a rounding difference — worth reading against the wider barbecue catering price comparison before you commit.
Packs versus pounds: where the crossover sits
| Group size | Best order | Roughly per head |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Pick Two Meats with Two Sides ($21.57) | $10.79 |
| 3–4 | Family Pack ($29.99) | $7.50 |
| 5 | Judge\u{0027}s Sampler with 2 Pint Sides ($46.07) | $9.21 |
| 8 | Two Family Packs ($59.98) | $7.50 |
| 10–12 | The Motherload ($89.99) | $7.90 |
| 20+ | Meat by the pound plus pint sides | $9–11 |
The lesson in that table is that stacking Family Packs beats almost everything up to about a dozen people. Eight guests fed with individual Pulled Pork with Two Sides plates costs $95.76; two Family Packs cover the same eight for $59.98. That is 37 percent saved for placing one fewer order.
Sides, salads and drinks for a crowd
Fixed packs arrive with sides included, but a by-the-pound order does not, and pint portions are what you want rather than a wall of individual cups. Budget roughly one pint for every three guests. The sides that travel best are the ones that are already wet: Baked Beans with Brisket ($2.99) and 3-Cheese Baked Mac ($3.59) hold heat for an hour in a foil pan, while Fresh-Cut Fries do not survive the car at all — order the Basket of Hush Puppies at $6.59 instead if you want something fried on the table.
For guests who do not eat meat, the Jumbo Party Salad at $55.19 is the item most planners forget exists, and the Small Party Salad at $29.99 covers a smaller table. Both matter more than they look, because three of City BBQ\u{0027}s best sides contain meat — see the City BBQ allergen guide before you promise anyone a vegetarian plate. Drinks scale cheaply: a gallon of tea is $5.99 and a gallon of lemonade $9.59, against $3.59 for a single cup.
Timing and lead time
City BBQ restaurants open at 11:00am and close at 9:00pm, and the kitchen is smoking for the counter all day, so a small pack order is often same-day. Anything above about ten pounds of meat should be placed at least 24 to 48 hours out, and holiday weeks need more. Brisket is the constraint — it is the item most affected by what time of day you collect, and late-afternoon brisket has been sitting. If your pickup lands after 2:00pm, ask for it chopped rather than sliced.
A worked order for thirty
Thirty adults, barbecue as the only main: about 10 lb of meat. Six pounds of pulled pork ($97.14) plus four of brisket ($91.16) is $188.30, roughly $6.28 a head before sides. Add eight pint sides and two gallons of tea and you land near $9 a head — cheaper than any per-plate approach and cheaper than most of what you will find on the City BBQ menu ordered as individual trays.