The office catering checklist: what to sort before you order

Catering rarely goes wrong because of the food. It goes wrong because the delivery driver couldn't get past a security desk, or the order arrived at noon for an 11:30 meeting, or nobody mentioned the two coeliacs until the boxes were open. All of that is preventable in about ten minutes.

Before you order

• Confirm the final headcount — then decide whether to round up. Most people round up by two, and most people are right to.
• Check the room. Is there table space for platters, or are you balancing boxes on a credenza?
• Ask your team about dietaries in writing. Verbal answers in a meeting get forgotten.
• Know your budget per head before you start browsing, or you'll talk yourself into the charcuterie.
• Check the notice period. Most caterers, us included, need 48 hours.

Timing is the thing people get wrong

Book the delivery for 30 minutes before you actually need the food. Not because caterers are unreliable, but because a 12:00 delivery for a 12:00 meeting means people are unboxing while the first agenda item is being read out. That half hour absorbs traffic, lifts, and the time it takes to get food out of boxes and onto a table.

If the catering is for a session with a hard start — a training day, a CPD session, a client pitch — treat the delivery time as a deadline with buffer, not a target.

Access details that save a phone call

• Building name and street number, not just the street — towers are easy to mistake.
• Level and suite number, plus the name on reception's list.
• Whether there's a goods lift and whether it needs booking.
• A mobile number for whoever is meeting the delivery — not the main office line.
• Loading dock or side entrance details, if your front door isn't the right door.

Office towers in places like North Sydney and St Leonards often require sign-in and a goods lift, which can add fifteen minutes on its own. Telling your caterer up front is the difference between food arriving warm and food arriving late.

On the day

• Clear the table before the food arrives. Obvious, and routinely forgotten.
• Put the vegetarian and gluten-free items at a separate end, clearly labelled.
• Have a bin liner ready. Disposable catering is only convenient if there's somewhere for it to go.
• If people are eating at their desks, set the platters somewhere with flow around them, not in a corner.

Everything we deliver arrives in disposable boxes with napkins and serveware included — nothing to wash, nothing to return. Tell us your building quirks in the order notes and we'll work around them.