Office catering has long been the default choice for feeding large groups, but with DoorDash for Business, you now have an alternative — one that helps you easily feed your team without any of the hassles of traditional catering.
What is office catering?
Catering in a work setting often refers to the process of feeding a large number of your employees, whether it be for a standard lunch or for a special event, like a holiday party.
Naturally, this process includes chasing down and placing food orders. But there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes to ensure your catering efforts are successful. For one, you need to work out a budget for everything you expect to spend on catering. You also need to consider everyone's dietary restrictions and preferences. Sadly, this list can go on and on, as there are many factors that go into accounting for a large, diverse group of employees.
For your company, office catering probably serves multiple purposes. Maybe you cater a company lunch every day. Or perhaps you bring in food for team or client meetings. Or maybe catering is reserved for special occasions, like company milestones or work anniversaries.
What are the different types of catering?
Depending on the event, your catering order can vary. For a routine team meeting, you probably wouldn't set up catering trays or buffet stations. Instead, you may place an order for platters of sandwiches and salads.
Platters are great for smaller, more intimate events that still require catering. A platter of sandwiches, for example, often includes the sandwiches themselves, some side salads, bags of chips, and a handful of desserts. Usually, this gives your team some variety, but sometimes more is needed.
By contrast, a larger, more elaborate event like a company milestone may call for catering trays and buffet stations. That is, caterers deliver large trays of food so your team can choose what food and the amount they want to eat.
But buffets have room for improvement. The past few years have made many of us hyper-aware of the potential pool of germs in the office. And unfortunately, eating at a buffet by nature requires you to stand and hover over food while in close proximity to colleagues.
What else should you consider when catering corporate events?
On the surface, corporate catering seems like a simple process: You pick several dishes from a nearby caterer, give them a delivery time, and wait for your order to arrive.
Sadly, it's never that easy. Some caterers ask that you meet specific dollar requirements or order items different from the regular menu. That's a problem, especially when you don't always know who's attending — especially for large team events when people often RSVP "maybe."
And when it comes time to eat, your job isn't over. Make sure you set the table, put out the utensils, and clean up everything. After all, no one wants to eat at a dirty table with their hands.
Besides arranging the order, some administrative cleanup comes after the event. For one, you have to submit an expense report, assigning the correct dollar amounts to each department.
So why do companies still get office catering?
So far, office catering sounds like a headache. But there are good reasons why companies haven't abandoned ordering food at work.
First off, employees enjoy a meal benefit. A recent DoorDash for Business survey found that 85% of working Americans said regular food delivery would increase their job satisfaction. And happy employees aren't a one-sided benefit. When employees are well-fed and happy, most will work harder and produce more for your company.
Food is just one aspect: the other is camaraderie. Employees who eat together foster deeper relationships with coworkers, and employees who trust each other are less likely to look for new jobs.
Catering made easy with DoorDash for Business
The benefits of corporate catering are clear, but that doesn't address the complicated nature of catering food. Fortunately, there is a solution.
DoorDash for Business makes it easy to feed your team, whether you're rewarding employees with individual meals or catering your next office holiday party.
With Group Orders, you can easily place, manage, and expense large orders. Here's how you can use it to cater your next meal.
Start by giving your team an Expensed Meal budget — that is basically a stipend your team can use to order food. And don’t worry about headcount. Any unused budget gets returned to your corporate account.
From here, you can go in two directions: you can arrange the group order, or your team can organize one on their own.
If you take the first route, you'll want to find the Group Order button on a restaurant page in the DoorDash app. Click the button; you'll get a shareable link to send to your team. Employees will then add what food they want to your cart, up to the budget you set earlier. In other words, no one is stuck eating a sandwich they never really wanted.
The other avenue for placing Group Orders is self-organized pods. Instead of sharing a Group Order link, your team does everything themselves.
Regardless of which path you choose, the next steps are the same: place your order and go back to work. There's no need to set up the conference room for catering trays or buffet stations. Each meal comes individually wrapped in one delivery, meaning previous issues like hygiene no longer come up.
The last part is administrative. DoorDash for Business provides itemized receipts, and a seamless SAP Concur integration, so filing expenses for your catered meal becomes a breeze. It's just one click after placing an order.
Catering can be a great way to feed your team, and now with DoorDash for Business, you have a better way to cater food at work.
Contact us to learn more about Group Orders.
