Office Catering
for Large Groups

Ordering office catering for ten people is easy. Ordering for fifty is not. The math gets harder. The dietary needs multiply. The timing matters more. And if it goes wrong, the meeting suffers.

After fifteen years of corporate catering across Vancouver, feeding hundreds of office teams from Yaletown towers to Mount Pleasant studios, here's what we've learned about getting large-group office catering right.

Start With the Numbers

Most teams under-order or over-order. Both are problems. Under-ordering means hungry people, awkward conversations, last-minute pizza runs. Over-ordering means waste, expense, and a lingering question about who's responsible.

Our rule of thumb: count confirmed RSVPs, add 10%, and assume one full plate per person if it's a buffet. For individually-packed meals, count exactly. For long meetings (4+ hours), plan for snacks too.

Account for Dietary Needs

A Vancouver office of 50 people will almost certainly include vegetarians, vegans, gluten-free guests, halal preferences, and at least one allergy. Don't ask people to opt-in to dietary needs at the last minute, assume the mix and order accordingly.

For our corporate clients, we typically build menus that are 60 to 70% accessible to most diets by default. Butter chicken alongside paneer butter masala. Lamb biryani alongside vegetable biryani. Naan that's gluten-containing, paired with a rice option that isn't. Read more on halal certification for mixed offices.

The Best Indian Dishes for Large Office Lunches

Some dishes scale beautifully. Others don't. Our complete list of best dishes for corporate lunches goes deeper, but here's the short version:

Dishes That Scale Well

• Butter chicken, universal appeal, holds heat well
• Paneer butter masala, vegetarian crowd-pleaser
• Dal makhani, slow-cooked, rich, comforting
• Vegetable biryani, feeds many, dietary-flexible
• Chicken biryani or lamb biryani, premium options
• Channa masala, vegan-friendly, gluten-free

Delivery Timing

This is where most office catering goes sideways. The food was great, but it arrived 30 minutes late and the meeting fell apart.

For lunch meetings starting at 12, we recommend 11:30 delivery. That gives 30 minutes for setup, plate distribution, dietary labelling, and a bit of buffer. For multi-course or buffet service, allow 45 minutes setup time.

Our team handles temperature-controlled delivery across Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, and Surrey, but the closer your office is to one of our Vancouver kitchens, the more flexibility we have on timing.

Buffet vs Individually Packed

The pandemic shifted office catering toward individually-packed meals. Many companies now prefer them year-round, they're cleaner, faster to distribute, and reduce shared-utensil concerns. The downside: less variety per person and slightly higher cost.

Buffets give variety and feel more generous. They take longer to set up and require more space. They're better for office socials, holiday parties, and team lunches where the meal IS the meeting.

The Coffee & Chai Question

For all-day events, conferences, retreats, training days, beverage service matters as much as the food. We pair corporate catering with our live masala chai bar from Sula Café for events that run past 2pm. The energy lift around 3pm is real.

How Far in Advance?

Standard office catering needs 48 hours notice. Same-day or last-minute office catering may be available, but options narrow quickly. For weekly recurring orders (Friday team lunches, monthly all-hands), book the schedule a month out and lock in your menu rotation.

The Final Tip

Tell your caterer about the meeting, not just the menu. A board lunch is different from a team social. A client lunch is different from an internal training. The food should match the energy of the room.

Our coordinators ask. We adjust portions, presentation, and timing accordingly. Office catering done right doesn't just feed the team, it makes the meeting better.