Corporate catering: a practical guide

Match the format to the meeting

• Working lunch or training day: boxed lunches or individually packaged meals keep things moving and make dietary orders easy to track.
• Team lunch or all-hands: a drop-off buffet is usually simplest. See drop-off catering.
• Morning meetings: breakfast and brunch caterers, with coffee if the office cannot supply it.
• Client events and receptions: staffed service, often a cocktail reception, with bar service if needed.

What the caterer needs from you

• Headcount. Use the confirmed number, not the invite list.
• Delivery window. Ask for delivery before the meeting starts, not at the start time.
• Access. Building address, loading dock or entrance, security check-in, elevator, and an on-site contact with a phone number.
• Space. Where the food goes, and whether there is power for warmers and a sink nearby.
• Dietary counts. Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, allergies, religious requirements. Ask for each special meal to be labelled with a name.

Paperwork

Sort this out before the first order: who receives the invoice, whether you need a purchase order number on it, payment terms, whether your organisation is tax-exempt and needs to send a certificate, and how cancellations and late changes are charged.

Recurring orders

If you order every week, agree a menu rotation so people do not get the same lunch every Tuesday, a deadline for changing the headcount, and one named contact on each side. Review it periodically; what works for twenty people may not work for forty.

Finding a caterer

Browse corporate caterers by city, or send one quote request with your headcount, date and delivery time to reach several that serve your area.