If you’ve ever typed “corporate catering near me” into your search engine, you’ve likely had this experience: immediately being flooded with a mass amount of search results — leaving you to sift through to find the perfect catering option for corporate event within your budget.
Your time is valuable. While finding the perfect catering menu is highly prioritized, you also don’t want to spend hours finding the perfect option that fits your catering needs.
This is why we’ve compiled all the information you’ll need to consider, here, when looking for a corporate caterer near you. Curious to find out more? Keep reading, below.
Were You About to Search Corporate Catering Near Me?
If you’re reading this, chances are you’re already familiar with what corporate catering is. And, you may have thought about making the search for the perfect caterer to serve your team. But if not, we’ll break corporate catering down for you. Corporate catering, much like other catering services, provides meals tailored to specific needs. However, within corporate catering, meals are served to teams of companies or organizations.
Corporate caterers can often accommodate various events, like these:
- Team Lunch Gatherings
- Business Meetings
- Event Catering
- Breakfast Catering
- Happy Hours
- Team Events
- Conferences
- Team Celebrations (Birthdays, Anniversaries, etc.)
If any of these sound relevant to what you’re in need of, you’ve come to the right place. The right catering company will be dynamic in their offerings, allowing you the flexibility to provide your team with the best meal options possible, all while sticking .
Things To Consider When Looking for Corporate Catering
When on the hunt for a caterer, make sure you consider a few very important things. Knowing the answer to these questions will help in determining what route you take.
What is your headcount?
How many people are you looking to serve? Is it a large or small event? Do you have an approximate headcount? These are all important questions to consider when searching for corporate catering. The caterer of your choice will need to know, in order to accommodate your needs best, and make it the best meal experience possible.
What is your team’s meal preference?
Most teams have varying meal preferences — some teams enjoy Mexican food, while others may prefer American fare or even Italian — so it is important to know what your team’s meal preferences might be and take them into consideration when ordering.
Are there any dietary restrictions or preferences within your team?
It’s amazing that you want to serve a meal to your team, but it is important to make sure that every team member can actually eat and enjoy the meal. Is anyone a vegetarian, gluten-free or vegan? What about food allergies? Make sure you’re aware of these so that everyone can have a seat at the table.
What is your ideal budget?
Before deciding on anything, you should have an idea of what your ideal budget is. Knowing this, upfront, will really move the process along.
Planning & Delivery
When ordering corporate catering, one of the main draws is that the caterer will accommodate your schedule (which may be tight) while also helping to plan throughout the process. Ideally, the caterer will completely handle the planning process for you. They should make sure to stay within your desired guidelines: budget, headcount, cuisine type, timeframe, etc. Along with this, the caterer should be able to deliver your meal to your office or event venue, in the timeframe you’ve set up.
Set-up and Clean-up
When you work with a corporate caterer — along with planning and delivery — your caterer should also provide set-up and clean-up. If you’re hiring someone to provide a meal for your team, they will typically set-up beforehand, as well as clean-up after your meeting or event. Have leftovers you don’t want? Sometimes, caterers will even take care of that by donating the extra food to those in need, like an organization called Replate. You’re also welcome to keep them — they should still handle set-up and clean-up in a timely manner.
Variety and Experience
When you order a great meal for your team, often, you’d like it to be a unique and fun experience. Likewise, the best catering businesses also like to use their skills to provide a memorable meal that leaves an overall positive catering experience. That is why it is important for corporate caterers to offer variety in the types of meals they serve. Many caterers often develop concepts for their meals — like special buffet-style cuisine, incorporating foods you may not have tried before, etc., — to make your catering order as delightful as possible.
24×7 Support and Feedback
Lastly, when you hire a corporate caterer to serve your team a delicious meal, you also want to work with a company that has your best interest at heart from your first time. As the client, you should have access to 24×7 support to answer your questions, assist you in last-minute orders or changes and help make your planned meal the best it can possibly be. They should also offer delivery services, custom menus, and you should be able to order online. Feedback is also important. At the end of your meal, you should be able to provide feedback on your experience so that the company can continually better their services.
How We Can Help
You’ve made it this far, and you’re ready to secure the perfect meal for your team. But now what? We are here to help. Cater2.me can provide customized corporate catering for your company or organization. Whether you need a one-time catering delivery, event planning, or recurring meals, we bring delicious food from the best local chefs and restaurants to your table.
And we serve office catering to 11 markets: New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Seattle, Denver, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Miami, and Austin.
From planning to on-site setup and feedback collection, we’ll manage every aspect of your catering program. We’ll help create a meal plan that fits your headcount, budget, dietary restrictions and preferences.
How Corporate Catering Can Benefit Your Team
Corporate catering can have so many amazing benefits to your team.
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