Tell us if this sounds familiar: the quarter is ending and your team’s calendar is packed wall to wall with meetings. Thankfully, you’ve already booked the conference room so at least Jerry can’t swoop in with a reservation and ruin your day (take that, Jerry). But now the client for your 12pm wants to cancel because they don’t like working through lunch. The solution is obvious: order catering for the meeting and meet through lunch. Even that has some pitfalls but CaterCow is here to help you out with some tips to get you through it.
This is especially important in situations where guests might be joining the meeting from outside your company. You want to make sure that you have an even spread of vegan and vegetarian options as well as gluten-free dishes.
Certain cuisine is a bit messier than others and that can be disruptive to a meeting. It is beneficial to lean away from any cuisine that requires eating with one’s hands rather than a fork. BBQ is delicious but it might not be the best fit.
We recommend opting for an individual-style meal because a buffet line can be tedious, especially if people start getting up for seconds in the middle of a presentation. Each individual meal will come labeled with its contents (and if you decide to do a group order poll, it will even have each person’s name on it!). Plus individually-packaged meals eliminate the need for plates. And that brings us to our next point…
If your office doesn’t have non-disposable plates or simply doesn’t have enough of them, make sure that you have extra plates and disposable utensils on hand. Nothing stops a lunch meeting dead in its tracks more than the inability to actually serve and eat the food you ordered. Most restaurants can provide these items but it’s best to have a backup stock just in case!
If the entrance to your building is complicated or time-consuming (needing to sign in, go through security, navigate to a freight elevator, limited elevator availability, etc.), it’s best not to schedule your food to arrive at 12pm for your 12pm meeting. It might be best to schedule for 11:45am to give the delivery driver the extra time they need.
This one can be tough because it’s likely that you don’t want more people involved than really need to be, but in the event of an emergency or illness, it’s important to have a backup contact or two who knows what to expect and can facilitate the delivery in your stead.
