Sharing meals with friends or family members can create a stronger bond and make people feel safe and loved. A recent study of family mealtime revealed that 71% of teenagers enjoyed spending time with family at dinner more than any other part of the meal. If you want to create a bond between coworkers, catering lunch is a great way to do it. If you’re wondering how to cater, the following tips can help you have a successful work lunch. Keep reading to find out how to keep your employees happy with catered food. 

1. Find the Perfect Space

Catering the perfect work lunch starts with choosing the perfect space. Whether you’re having an office party or a budget meeting, when you cater lunch, you have to choose a comfortable space that leads to a successful meal and meeting.  You want to make sure the lunch is in a room that fits everyone at the event. You don’t want to run out of chairs. People won’t be able to focus on the presentation or discussion if they’re trying to eat standing up. You won’t have a productive meeting if people don’t have enough room to take notes and set their plates down. Make sure you coordinate how much space you need to set up and fit everyone comfortably. 

2. Find a Caterer That Won’t Let You Down

One of the most important catering tips is to choose a caterer that will help you execute a successful lunch. Your focus should be on having a successful event. A great caterer will get to the event early to set up and bring the right food.  You don’t want to go through the embarrassment of a meeting with no lunch. A lack of food will lead to less energy and will prevent your team from getting every task done to the best of their ability. One way to make sure you’re choosing the right caterer is to check out their reviews and ask previous customers to tell you about their experience with the catering service.

3. Make the Lunch Meeting Exciting

If you’re catering work lunch for your company, you’re on your way to increasing productivity. Employees feel happier and therefore more productive when their company shows them they care about them. What better way to do this than with free lunch?  If your catered lunch is to get your employees together for a meeting, you can try to make things more exciting by making lunch a creative challenge. Have your employees break into groups to eat and come up with new ideas for team projects.  You can invite guest speakers to talk about their experience in the field. Make lunch into an inspirational presentation. You can also make catered lunches an opportunity to get to know one another. Create fun ice breaker games for everyone to get involved in after eating. 

4. Choose Food Options for Everyone 

When you cater for your company, it’s important to include food options that will satisfy every employee. The last thing you want to do is cater for work lunch where someone can’t eat and feels excluded.  Some people have dietary restrictions and you should accommodate their preferences. Whether someone is on a vegetarian or vegan diet, adhering to the keto diet, or just trying to eat less red meat, make a note of all these restrictions and make sure to order food everyone can eat.  It’s crucial that you make a list of any allergies, you don’t want to bring harm to anyone in the office by accidentally giving an employee a dessert with nuts when they have an allergy. You can create a list of the types of meals everyone prefers in order to know what to get your coworkers who might not be present when you put in your catering order. 

5. What Style Works Best?

When deciding to cater lunch for your office, you’ll want to consider which catering style works best for your meeting or event in order to have a successful lunch. If you’re having a quick lunch meeting and need the entire team’s attention, you might opt for packaged boxes of different types of lunches for your employees to choose from.  If your event is more laid back, you can choose a buffet-style set up where everyone serves themselves a few different foods. This works great for meals where you’ll have a speaker or when you want to have lunch to help your employees bond. 

6. Plan in Advanced

Catering lunch for your work team is a big responsibility, especially if it’s for an important event. Planning everything in advance is key to succeeding.  You’ll first want to make sure that you know your budget before starting your search for a catering company. Ask all of your coworkers ahead of time about preferences and restrictions. Keep the list handy when looking at different catering company options.  A good catering company will help you plan out how much food is needed depending on the number of guests and know exactly how much time they need to set up and clean up. Figure out these details together before the day of the event to make sure everything runs smoothly. 

How to Cater: What You Need to Know

If you’re wondering how to cater a successful work lunch, the tips above should help you put on the perfect event. Planning and making sure there are food options for everyone are crucial steps you should follow.  Make sure you check out some of our other blogs to make your life easier.

twitter facebook linkedin whatsapp

This subscription won’t wake you up in middle of the night, we are not your sweetheart! Register today for free and get notified on trending updates. I will never give away, trade or sell your email address. You can unsubscribe at any time.