Stories from real orders
Every question below is one an office asked us before ordering. Every answer is an order we handled this year.
Can everyone on my team eat it? Vegan, gluten-free, allergies?
Someone on the lunch thread just wrote "vegan, gluten-free, no nuts." Now what?
You don't need a second caterer for the three people with a dietary line. You need labels, and a kitchen that already cooks that way.
Is Korean food too spicy for a mixed office?
"Isn't Korean food spicy?" What a hospital team ordered four times in a row.
The worry usually comes from one bad bite of a dish nobody labeled. On our menu, heat is the exception, and it's marked.
Do you do individual boxes, or only trays?
Trays or boxes? The 36-person order that used both.
Trays feed the room. Boxes are for the six people who need something specific. Most offices order both.
Do you set up, or just drop it off?
"Can you set it up?" What we actually do when the answer is yes.
If you ordered lunch, you shouldn't also be unpacking it while people walk in. Setup is one line on the order. It does cost extra.
How big can the order be, and what if the headcount changes?
Ordering for a big group when the headcount keeps moving.
The number on the order is rarely the number in the room, and that's normal. This is how we run large orders, and what to do when the count changes.
How far ahead do I need to order, and when and where do you deliver?
"Can we get lunch tomorrow?" Yes. Here's the cutoff, and what else we can do.
About a third of our office orders come in the day before. Next day, evenings, Saturdays, most of LA: what we can do, and the one thing we can't.