A caterer has contracted with a client to provide a buffet for 200 people at a corporate event. The client wants to spare no expense on the food, so the menu includes crab cakes, filet mignon, lamb rib chops, and more. However, the client asks to cut any unnecessary expenditures from the event. The caterer, wishing to accommodate the client, agrees to keep the buffet to a single table, drop the number of servers to five, hold the number of bartenders to two, and reduce the on-site kitchen staff to two cooks. The event is a disaster. Guests express frustration at waiting in line for so long to get their food. The line at the bar doesn't help. Even worse, by the time the last thirty people get to the buffet, the meat and seafood are completely gone. The caterer tries to appease the guests by cutting up some wheels of cheese that had been on display at table garnish, but the client is furious. The client believes he paid highly for the food and cannot understand why the caterer ran out. The client doesn't complain at all about the guests waiting in line. The caterer, too, is baffled. He is sure he counted 200 three-ounce crab cakes, and 200 lamb rib chops. Because the food cost was so high, the caterer and the client had agreed in advance of an exact guarantee. The actual attendance was only 190, so the caterer cannot blame the client in this case. By the end of the night, the caterer had agreed to reimburse the client a significant amount of money for the debacle.

1. Where did the caterer go wrong in this situation?

2. If the client wanted to keep the same budget, what could the caterer have done with the food to make it upscale but not run out?