I am wondering if something like this has happened to anyone else. I have a licensed residential bakery and made a cake to serve 130 for an event that I was also attending. Dessert is served and I see waiters with cake that is not mine but the venues defrosted Black Forest cake (yuck). I asked my waiter what was happening and he said (after going back and talking with the kitchen staff) they only got 100 pieces out of the cake. The cake was a three tiered all three layers huge cake that should have served at least 130. He said they cut the sides off. I think they actually cut it into a square to make their lives easier. The pieces that they cut were very small -1 inch by 2 inches-standard wedding size. My blood pressure is up just thinking about it! Is this standard practice? Has this happened to anyone else? Here is a picture of the cake. 

I can't add the picture right now but the cake was a 12" three layer, 10" three layer and 8" three layer. I just think of the waste involved and it makes me mad! How lazy. 

That's very frustrating but according to the below Wilton guide your tiers do fall a little shy of 130.  They should have come up with 118.

http://www.wilton.com/cakes/making-cakes/baking-serving-guide.cfm

Maybe moving forward you might want to include a cutting chart so they can see how they can get the correct number of servings.  Not everyone knows how to cut a wedding cake.  There are some "baking celebrities" who advocate cutting the round into a square to make serving easier.  This one woman even said the cut aways were for the kitchen staff to snack on!

Honestly, your cake was short on servings.  To get 130 servings, you would make a 6/10/14.  And always,always provide a cutting chart.

I even only get 88 pieces using the party servings

http://www.wilton.com/cakes/cake-cutting-guides/

Upsetting for you, but I'm sorry I only get 116 slices, what sizing charts are you using?

An 8-10-12 would give you about 118 servings if the pieces are cut a little on they small end of the standard serving. But for 130 guests that should have been enough because not everyone has the cake at weddings, but at an event where everyone just sits there until they're served the whole dinner + dessert you should have made a bigger cake.

If they only got 100 servings out of it them they did have some waste.

Look at it as a learning experience, and just add the questions about whether it will be a dinner where everyone is served at their tables or whether it's a situation where people will have been up and dancing and at the bar before the cake is cut. Each type of event asks for a different serving count for the cake. 

Thanks for the responses and advice. I was basing it off of the Wilton guide but made the mistake of thinking that the cake would go further since each tier was 6" high. 

Luckily this was a charitable donation and the venue didn't charge for the fill in pieces they supplied. 

It sounds like they were lucky to get as many as pieces as they did after cutting the sides off.

Thanks again!

A 6 inch tall cake should go further than a 4 inch tall cake. There's more cake! 

You made more than enough cake.

Every single cake that leaves my premises has instructions and a cutting chart.

cakes are cut by the footprint not by the height -- for a tall tier you can cut a little bit thinner slice as they must have to cut off the edges and still get 100 servings but it's still cut by the footprint from top to bottom -- i never give cutting charts/instructions because no one ever used them -- i instruct the client at the consult to be very aware of who cuts the cake and how in order to get their money's worth -- always works for me

the only way a six inch tall cake yields appreciably more servings than a four inch tall cake is if there's a board three inches up