A cook making potato salad for a party of 20, but the recipe serves 8. What is the conversion factor for making the desired yield?

A cook making potato salad for a party of 20, but the recipe serves 8. What is the conversion factor for making the desired yield?

• A. 1.5
• B. 2.5
• C. 2.0
• D. 3.0

Answer: (B)

When you scale a recipe, you multiply every ingredient by the conversion factor: desired yield divided by the original yield. Here you need to go from 8 servings to 20 servings, so the factor is 20 ÷ 8 = 2.5. Multiply each ingredient by 2.5 to keep the same proportions. For example, 2 cups of mayo becomes 5 cups (2 × 2.5), and 1 pound of potatoes becomes 2.5 pounds (1 × 2.5). This maintains the intended balance of flavors and textures across the larger batch. If some ingredients are particularly sensitive to concentration (like salt or spices), you can adjust after mixing, but the fundamental scaling factor remains 2.5.

When you scale a recipe, you multiply every ingredient by the conversion factor: desired yield divided by the original yield. Here you need to go from 8 servings to 20 servings, so the factor is 20 ÷ 8 = 2.5. Multiply each ingredient by 2.5 to keep the same proportions. For example, 2 cups of mayo becomes 5 cups (2 × 2.5), and 1 pound of potatoes becomes 2.5 pounds (1 × 2.5). This maintains the intended balance of flavors and textures across the larger batch. If some ingredients are particularly sensitive to concentration (like salt or spices), you can adjust after mixing, but the fundamental scaling factor remains 2.5.