Lucille's BBQ Catering: Feasts, Prices, Per-Head Math

Lucille's catering runs through its feasts rather than a by-the-pound counter, which makes the arithmetic simpler and the headline number larger. The Backyard Family Feast is $124.99 and feeds five to six; Lucille's Super Feast is $244.99 and feeds ten to twelve. Both land around $21 to $25 a head — and there is a way to beat that by forty percent using the regular menu.

The two feasts

Note that scaling up barely helps. Doubling from the Backyard to the Super Feast saves about forty cents a head, which is unusual — at most chains the large format is where the discount lives. At Lucille's the feasts are a convenience product, not a value one, the same way the BBQ Two Meat Combo at $29.99 costs more than two sandwiches ordered separately.

The order that beats the feast

Here is the same job — six people fed — done three ways off the regular menu.

That third row is the whole page. Two BBQ Half Chicken & Two Meats platters at $23.99 put six proteins on the table, and two BBQ Rib Tip Appetizers at $13.99 add smoked pork rib meat on top. Roughly $76 against $124.99, with more variety, because the half-chicken platter is the one genuine value anomaly on this menu — three proteins for six dollars less than the two-meat combo.

What travels and what does not

Lucille's smokes in house and cooks to order from held supply, and that shapes what survives a car ride.

• Travels well: ribs of both cuts, tri tip, brisket, the smoked half chicken, brisket burnt ends, rib tips. Dry-rubbed meat with sauce on the side is the ideal takeaway format — nothing goes soggy in transit because nothing is wet when it leaves.
• Travels badly: anything fried. Onion Straws ($9.49), Southern Fried Okra ($7.49), Fried Green Tomatoes ($8.49) and Southern Fried Dill Pickles ($6.99) are excellent at the table and disappointing twenty minutes later.
• Do not travel at all: the biscuits. They are made from scratch and served hot, and they are the first thing to suffer.
• Surprisingly durable: the desserts. Peach cobbler and banana pudding at $4.99 to $5.99 hold up fine and are far better than any supermarket alternative at that price.

How far ahead to order

Feasts are cooked, not assembled from a warmer, and Lucille's runs about 25 restaurants — most of them busy, full-service rooms with a bar. Call the specific location rather than assuming a chain-wide lead time, and expect to be asked for at least a day's notice on the Super Feast. Weekend evenings are the pinch point: kitchens are at capacity from around 17:00 to 19:00, so a pickup timed for 16:00 or after 20:00 will be faster and more accurate.

One structural limitation worth knowing before you plan a party: Lucille's has no by-the-pound counter. If your event needs five pounds of loose brisket and a stack of buns, this is the wrong chain — Dickey's and City BBQ both sell that way and cost less per pound. What Lucille's does that they cannot is feed a mixed group: a 14 oz Angus New York Steak ($29.99), blackened catfish ($21.99), jambalaya ($20.99) and a Garden Burger ($10.99) can all come out of one kitchen for the same table.

Budget by group size

• 4 people, casual: 1 × BBQ Half Chicken & Two Meats ($23.99) + 1 × rib tips ($13.99) + a Lucille's Appetizer Platter ($21.99) — around $60.
• 6 people: the shared-platter route above, about $76.
• 12 people: Super Feast at $244.99, or two Backyard Family Feasts at $249.98 for more of everything.

For portion math that applies to any barbecue order, the BBQ catering guide covers pounds per head; for the full price list, see the Lucille's menu.