How often do you order catering?

[susan silva]

How often do you order some type of catering?  What is the most common type of menus and what are they for?

[gee4]

It varies Susan, depending on the meeting/host/attendees.

Could be anything from no requests in a quiet week or several in a busy week.  We have various options ranging from tea/coffee scones, sandwiches or hot/cold buffet lunch.

For info, catering is provided in-house by our canteen staff and brought to the meeting room.  However as an alternative, tables can be reserved for dining in the canteen at lunchtime.

[Chatham Lady]

Sometimes never in a week, other times may be one or two sandwich lunches.  It depends what's going on in the office and whether we have visitors and what type of meetings are being held.  It also depends on the type of visitor and how long they are here for.  Quite often the managers like to take people out rather than stay in each day, especially if the visitor(s) are from overseas.  If I do have to order catering it's normally a standard sandwich lunch plus fruit.  Sometimes we add muffins/cakes.  We use a local catering firm.  Tea, coffee, chilled water etc are provided in-house.

[rose.winter1980]

I don't usually order catering, but ask our meeting room organizer to order food for me - generally at least once a month.  The food tends to be sandwiches and fruit and, very occasionally, small cakes.  If we have an all-day meeting, I will also order late breakfast pastries, which always go down very well. 

We order food from a couple of companies that deliver and always, if we look for someone new, we will try out the sorts of things we intend to order.

I arrange some formal dinners and lunches throughout the year and I put together menus for those in discussion with the chefs at the venue we are using.  I usually visit the venue and, if it is a place we are not sure of, eat there unannounced so that I can see the quality of the food on offer and the service. 

The worst thing for us is that we have a lot of people with special diets to cater for.  You would be surprised how much difficulty requests for gluten-free dishes can cause! And don't start me on nuts or shellfish, or religious dietary restrictions.

[Atlanta Z3]

This time of year our office does a lot of catering.  I order 2-3 times a month, but with all the department meetings we have left over catering probably 3-4 times a week.  It works out great when I forget my lunch!  We order everything from soup and sandwhich to full on catered Italian.  We have a seafood place that delivers Cajun - their fried shrimp and grill zucchini is to die for - just watch the hot sauce.  We also have the ones who are trying to order healthy salads, wraps and smoothies.

[Bellisima]

We cater ALL the time, sandwiches for meetings, offsites get better lunches, bagels and fruit for breakfasts, and once a month a department snack.  My boss goes to many dinner meetings so set those up as well.  I am surprised we are all not fat!

[Katie G]

We've really had to cut down with budget sqeezes.  "Expanded" continental breakfasts are now just coffee/tea service.  Hot, plated luncheons with china and linen are now cold buffet with plasticware.  Fortunately, our catering folks are very good at making even the simplest thing look nice. 

Of course, as a nonprofit, it's not appropriate for us to be spending lavishly on catering when things are so rough.  Most meetings are now rescheduled so that a meal doesn't enter into it at all.

[peaches2160]

We have cut down considerably.  I have ordered 6 - 10 lunches, (sandwich platters and fruits or pasta salad) with soda and water, this year.  Have none planned between now and the end of the year.

[Josephine Clarke]

Never ... we have had to cut right back so do not provide any catering at meetings now.  If the meeting runs over the lunch period we all bring something with us to eat.