Choosing food for an office meeting sounds simple until you need to consider timings, dietary requirements, portion sizes and how people will actually eat during the working day.
The best office catering ideas are often the simplest: freshly prepared food that arrives ready to serve, is easy to share and suits the type of meeting you are organising.
Whether you're arranging breakfast for an early meeting, lunch for a small team, catering for an all-day training session or food for a larger business event, a little planning can make the day much easier.
In this guide, we look at practical office catering ideas for Birmingham businesses,
including breakfasts, sandwich and savoury platters, packed lunches, cold buffets, fruit and drinks, along with advice on quantities, dietary requirements and delivery.
Early meetings don't necessarily need a complicated breakfast.
Pastries, fresh fruit, juice and tea or coffee can work particularly well because everything can be set out before the meeting starts and people can help themselves as they arrive.
For a more substantial breakfast, you could combine:
Croissants and pastries
Fresh fruit
Fruit juice
Tea and coffee
Individual breakfast items
If you are organising an important morning meeting, arrange delivery with enough time to get everything set out before your guests arrive.
Nobody wants the catering turning up halfway through the first presentation.
Training days are slightly different from ordinary meetings because people may be in the same room for several hours.
If the session starts early, consider providing a simple breakfast on arrival and lunch later in the day.
Fruit and drinks can also be useful between sessions.
For example, an all-day training event could include pastries, fruit and drinks in the morning, followed by sandwich platters, savouries and something sweet at lunchtime.
The advantage of planning the whole day together is that you know refreshments have been taken care of before the training begins.
For smaller meetings,
sandwich platters are one of the easiest office catering options.
They're straightforward to serve, don't require cutlery and can offer several fillings on one platter.
Add a savoury platter, fruit or cakes if you want to make the lunch more substantial.
For a small Birmingham office meeting, a simple combination might be:
Mixed sandwich platter
Meat and vegetarian savouries
Fresh fruit
Cakes or sweet treats
Bottled water or juice
You don't need to overcomplicate a working lunch.
Food that can be put on the meeting table and eaten easily is often the best choice.
When you're catering for a larger team, variety becomes more important.
Combining sandwiches, rolls or wraps with savouries gives people more choice without turning lunch into a full buffet.
You can then add fruit, cakes, crisps or drinks depending on the occasion and budget.
It also makes it easier to include clearly identified vegetarian and other dietary options rather than expecting everyone to choose from the same platter.
A working lunch should allow people to eat without bringing the meeting to a halt.
This is where cold office catering really comes into its own.
Sandwiches, wraps, rolls, savouries and individual lunch boxes can all be eaten without needing a kitchen, complicated serving equipment or a long break.
Think about the room as well as the food.
If everyone is sitting around one conference table, platters can work extremely well.
If people are moving between rooms or attending different sessions, individual packed lunches may be more practical.
One of the easiest mistakes with an all-day event is concentrating on lunch and forgetting everything around it.
For a full training day, think about the entire schedule.
Will delegates arrive before 9am?
Is there a mid-morning break?
What time is lunch?
Will the afternoon session continue until 4pm or 5pm?
A simple catering plan could include:
On arrival: pastries, fruit, tea and coffee.
Lunchtime: sandwiches or rolls, savouries, fruit and something sweet.
Throughout the day: bottled water, juice and additional fruit or snacks.
This gives delegates something at sensible points during the day without creating long interruptions.
There are times when platters simply aren't the best option.
Individual packed lunches can be particularly useful for training events, conferences, site meetings and businesses where people need to take their lunch away with them.
They can also make dietary requirements easier to manage because an individual meal can be prepared and labelled for the person receiving it.
Packed lunches might include a sandwich or roll, savouries, fruit, a sweet item and a drink depending on the menu selected.
For larger business gatherings, a cold buffet gives you more flexibility.
Rather than relying entirely on sandwiches, you can combine different types of food to create a more substantial spread.
This can work well for staff events, presentations, company celebrations, client meetings and larger training sessions.
The key is matching the amount and style of food to the event.
A 30-minute working lunch needs something very different from an afternoon event where guests will be eating over a couple of hours.
Not every office lunch needs to revolve around pastry and cake.
If you're looking for a lighter option, consider combining sandwiches or wraps with fresh salads and fruit.
Fresh fruit is particularly easy to add to a meeting because it works equally well alongside breakfast or lunch.
Providing a mixture of lighter and more substantial choices also lets people decide what suits them rather than trying to create one menu for everyone.
Dietary requirements should be considered when you place your catering order rather than once the food arrives.
Find out beforehand whether anyone attending requires vegetarian, vegan, halal or gluten-free food, or has a food allergy or intolerance.
Give your caterer accurate information and make sure specialist meals can be identified easily when delivered.
For larger meetings, it can be helpful to have dietary food packed or presented separately.
This reduces confusion and helps make sure the correct food reaches the person it was prepared for.
If somebody has a serious food allergy, provide the caterer with as much information as possible when ordering rather than simply adding a vague note such as "allergy".
This depends on the type and length of the event.
A short lunchtime meeting may only require sandwiches and a small savoury selection, whereas an all-day training event will usually need more.
Also consider what people will have eaten beforehand.
A lunch served at 11:30am following a breakfast meeting may need less food than a buffet being served at 1:30pm to people who have been working since early morning.
The number of people attending matters too.
Catering for eight people is different from catering for 80, particularly when you're trying to provide enough variety without creating unnecessary waste.
If you're unsure, tell your caterer the number of people attending and what type of event you're organising rather than trying to calculate everything yourself.
For around 10 people, sandwich and savoury platters with fruit or cakes can provide a straightforward working lunch.
For around 20 people, consider increasing the variety with a combination of sandwiches, rolls or wraps, savouries, fruit and sweet items.
For 50 people or more, planning becomes more important.
Think about how the food will be laid out, how quickly everyone needs to eat and whether dietary meals should be separated and labelled.
Large numbers don't necessarily require a complicated menu.
Often, a simple menu that can be served quickly works better than lots of individual choices.
Delivery time is just as important as the food.
Ideally, your catering should arrive early enough for you to check the order and set everything out without leaving food sitting around unnecessarily.
When ordering, provide:
Your company name
Full delivery address
Building or reception details
A contact name
A contact telephone number
Number of people
Required delivery time
Dietary requirements
Any useful delivery instructions
If your office is in a large Birmingham business park or multi-occupancy building, providing the company name and clear reception instructions can make a big difference.
Birmingham's business areas are spread across a large geographical area, so it is worth checking that your caterer delivers to your particular location.
Trenchers provides office and corporate catering across Birmingham and surrounding business areas, including Birmingham city centre and many of the city's major commercial and business locations.
If you're unsure whether your office is within the delivery area, check before placing your order.
At Trenchers Catering, we provide freshly prepared office catering for Birmingham businesses, including meetings, training days, working lunches and corporate events.
Our range includes sandwich, roll and wrap platters, breakfast catering, savouries, packed lunches, cold buffets, fruit, cakes and drinks, with options available for a range of dietary requirements.
Whether you're ordering lunch for a small meeting or arranging catering for a much larger group, the aim is simple:
good food, prepared for your requirements and delivered ready for your working day.
If you're planning an upcoming meeting, training day or office event, take a look through our catering menus and choose the food that best suits your team.
For most business meetings, simple food that can be served and eaten easily works best. Sandwich and savoury platters, wraps, fruit, cakes and drinks can all work well. For morning meetings, pastries, fruit, juice, tea and coffee are popular options.
It depends on whether you're providing a light working lunch or a more substantial meal. Consider the time of day, length of the meeting and whether other refreshments are being provided. If you're unsure, give your caterer the number of attendees and details of the event so they can help you choose an appropriate amount.
Ordering in advance gives you the greatest choice and makes it easier to accommodate dietary requirements. Trenchers' standard ordering cut-off is 5pm on the previous working day, although it's worth ordering earlier for larger events or more complicated requirements.
Popular choices include breakfast pastries, fresh fruit, sandwiches, rolls, wraps, savouries, cakes, packed lunches, bottled drinks, tea and coffee. For an all-day training event, consider arranging both morning refreshments and lunch rather than treating them as separate last-minute orders.
For smaller groups, sandwich and savoury platters are usually straightforward. As numbers increase, adding rolls, wraps, fruit and sweet items provides more variety. For larger groups, consider how quickly the food needs to be served and how dietary requirements will be separated.
Trenchers can provide catering for a range of dietary requirements, including vegetarian, vegan, halal and gluten-free requirements. Tell us about dietary requirements when ordering so suitable food can be prepared and identified appropriately.
Trenchers delivers to businesses across Birmingham and a range of surrounding commercial and business areas. If you're unsure whether we deliver to your particular office or business park, contact us before ordering and we'll confirm availability.