Planning guides · Ordering math
How many hats and patches do you actually need?
The ordering math we run for every stop, shown with the working. Steal it even if you never book us.
Start with redemption, not headcount
Not every guest visits the bar. The share that does — call it redemption — depends on the event type more than anything else:
- Private parties & corporate nights: 70–85%. It’s free to them and the line is the entertainment.
- Taproom nights: 40–60% of the door, higher if the house covers the hat.
- Fairs & markets (guest-paid): think in transactions per hour instead — a busy press does forty an hour, so a six-hour day tops out near 250 per press regardless of crowd size.
The worked table
| Guests | Event type | Hats to order | Patches to stock |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | Company party | 85–95 | 150–170 |
| 250 | Taproom anniversary | 130–160 | 230–280 |
| 500 | Conference reception | 380–430 | 650–750 |
| 1,000 | Two-day festival booth | 450–500 (press-limited) | 800–900 |
The patch column runs about 1.7× the hat column because a third of guests take a second patch, and because patches are the cheap insurance — running out of a popular chenille letter at hour two is the avoidable tragedy of this business.
Splits that keep the wall balanced
Hats: 60% of volume in one workhorse style (the Richardson 112 earns its reputation), 40% across two accent styles. Colorways: never order even splits — do 40/30/20/10, because one color always wins and even splits guarantee leftovers in the loser. Letters, if you’re doing chenille initials: vowels and S, M, J, K run out first; order those at double weight.
The buffer rule
Add 10% to hats and 15% to patches over your redemption estimate. Leftover blanks become staff gifts or next-event stock; a picked-over wall at peak hour becomes the only thing anyone remembers. When in doubt, buffer the patches — they’re small, cheap, and they keep the menu looking abundant to the last guest.
Want us to run this math against your real headcount? Send the details and the quote comes back with quantities already worked out.