Lunch Catering for LA Offices

Lunch Catering for LA Offices

Planning a lunch event for your staff? Catering is the way to go, although settling on a good one can feel a little daunting. However, finding and hiring the best lunch catering in LA doesn’t have to be stressful. While there are always a ton of options to choose from in this day and age, especially in a large city like LA, there are some things to consider to help you narrow down the choices and find the best fit for your event.

Since there are a myriad of considerations to think of, such as how much food to provide, what kind of food to provide for guests, as well as serving particular dietary restrictions, catering your lunch just makes sense, both in the efficiency of time and in lowering your blood pressure levels. So here are a few helpful tips to consider on hiring lunch catering in LA.

Choose Your Budget

The first consideration before searching for the best Los Angeles catering you can find should be what kind of budget are you working with? If your budget is too small, that will limit how fancy and upscale you can go. It will limit your menu options as well. If you have a nice-sized budget, you can find a great caterer that will be willing to work within those constraints and will strive to provide you with the best experience possible.

When planning your budget, make sure you get an accurate headcount to provide to your caterer, because their pricing will largely be based around how many people you need to feed, and whether or not your headcount is mostly male or a mix of men and women. Men tend to eat more than women, so you’ll need extra portions of food if your lunch is mostly male-attended.

You also need to decide what your goal is when feeding everyone. Do you want them to leave stuffed, with plenty of food leftover? Do you only want to feed them enough to feel satisfied, but not go overboard? Maybe you only want to offer them finger foods and desserts. These are all things to consider when estimating your budget. While you can always send leftovers home with your employees, the worst thing you can do is plan for too little food. You will not have a great business lunch experience if there isn’t enough food for everyone!

Choose a Caterer with Pizazz

While office lunches may occur on a regular basis, you don’t always have to serve up sandwich platters and a box of cookies. If lunch is the focus of your gathering and it’s not just a “work lunch,” then you should choose a caterer that is both creative and can work within your budget. Presentation is everything in pleasing your team.

Try providing a buffet-style hot lunch for your crew, or go with an ethnic-themed lunch like Oriental or Mexican food stations (tacos anyone?). If you’re hosting a “work lunch,” then you may be better off providing a creative selection of finger foods that your employees can grab and go as they work. Whatever you envision, you need a caterer that can help you pull it off and bring some new and creative ideas to the table beyond just lunch boxes and sandwich platters.

Choose a Caterer with Experience

Obviously, you want to hire a professional to cater the professionals. But some caterers may have more experience in catering a business lunch than others. Some caterers may specialize more in weddings and birthday galas versus corporate catering and business luncheons. Ask your potential caterer about their experience and don’t be afraid to ask for referrals and references. Then actually check them out and see what other businesses are saying about them and their catering services.

Choose Your Location

The venue will play a large role in your potential choices for lunch catering in LA. Some caterers may not be able to accommodate certain venues, or may require that you rent extra equipment to accommodate a particular venue, such as an outdoor lunch.

If you plan on hosting your lunch at the office, make sure your office can accommodate the number of people you expect and that your caterer has plenty of room to set up so that everything flows along in a timely manner and service isn’t hindered.

Choose Your Menu

The type of food you want to serve will play a role in choosing the best caterer for the job. If you want to serve specialty foods or ethnic foods, it might behoove you to look for a caterer that focuses on that type of cuisine. If you just want to serve tasty offerings that everyone will know and love, you can expand your list of choices somewhat. Decide whether or not you want to serve hot food, cold food, or both. And make sure you offer a few selections for those who have dietary restrictions like gluten-sensitivities.

Offer a few vegetarian options as well, so that everyone on your staff can have something to suit their tastes. If you know your entire team is particularly health conscious, you can honor them with selecting a menu that serves fresh food that is both healthy and enjoyable to eat. Whatever caterer you choose should be able to offer you a selection of catering menu options to choose from.

Choose Well in Advance of Your Event

The last thing you want to do is be scrambling to find lunch catering in LA at the last minute. Not only will last minute orders increase your costs, but it will also make it difficult to find the best fit – because the best caterers are often booked well in advance. They may not be able to fit your lunch into the schedule, which means you’ll have to go with a second choice. So plan ahead and choose and book your caterer well-ahead of time. Companies that provide the best lunch catering LA will help you rest easy, knowing that everything food-related is in their more than capable hands. And you can get on with the business of, well, doing business.

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