Eight pounds of ground beef are needed to prepare sloppy joe sandwiches for 50 people. The amounts of chopped onions, chopped green peppers, tomato sauce, chili powder, Worcestershire sauce and other spices must also be increased to make sloppy joes for a large group.
The first sloppy joe recipe appeared in print in 1935. The sloppy joe may be a variation of the loose meat sandwich made popular Ye Olde Tavern Inn in Sioux City, Iowa in the 1930s. It is also believed that the sloppy joe is not actually named for anyone, but for the mess that it makes and the fact that "Joe" is such a generic name.
