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Individual orders work well for teams of five or fewer, but if you’re ordering for more people, switch to a group option with three to four curated choices. The one exception is when dietary needs are complex enough that a shared menu cannot cover the team. In this case, individual labeled orders are worth the extra coordination, regardless of group size. Follow along to find out more. 

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The Number That Changes Everything

When it comes to catering, five people is the consistent cutoff that surfaces in EA and office manager communities online.

In a Reddit thread on r/ExecutiveAssistants where the question of group ordering came up, an experienced EA said, “I wouldn’t do individual orders over 3-5 people.”

The reason comes down to coordination overhead. For more than five people, collecting individual preferences, tracking who ordered what, managing dietary requests, and making sure everything arrives correctly start to take more time and mental energy than it’s worth. 

The same insight appeared in the thread titled “Lunch Ordering for Large Group” on r/ExecutiveAssistants, where an EA was asked to coordinate 80 individual orders for an all-day training. The thread’s response was immediate and unanimous: “80 individual orders sounds like a nightmare.” Another commenter said, “80 individual meals will be so difficult to manage.”

Professionals agree that personalization for more than five people is not the best course of action.

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The Key to Group Ordering

Group ordering does not mean one person picks for everyone. What works best is a curated short list—three to four options that cover the range of the team’s preferences and dietary needs—that allows people to choose within it. The coordination is minimal, the variety is real, and the admin is not solely responsible for whether the food lands well.

One EA in the r/ExecutiveAssistants thread on how offices decide what to order described her system: “I gave them 3-4 options and sent an email with voting buttons. People had to respond by Monday. Outlook compiled the votes, and I placed the order with a few extra meals. People will always complain, but at least they had a say.”

The ideal approach is a short menu sent early in the week, a deadline for responses, and a single order placed. 

Another EA in the same community described a rotation system that removes even the weekly decision: “We do each catering with a different theme each week, such as Mexican, Italian, etc., and just order a variety and always include vegetarian. Makes life so much easier.”

The theme rotation is the most efficient group ordering method because it removes the menu selection step entirely. The decision is already made, and the only question is quantity.

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When Individual Orders Still Make Sense at Scale

There are two situations in which individual orders are worth the extra work, regardless of group size.

The first is complex dietary needs that a shared menu cannot cover. If your team has a concentration of restrictions, such as multiple food allergies or a combination of halal, vegan, and gluten-free requirements, a curated group menu may not cover everyone without a separate order. In this case, individually labeled meals remove the risk of something arriving that someone cannot eat, and the coordination cost is justified.

The other is high-stakes, client-facing events. When the meal is meant to signal intentionality, like an executive lunch, a client meeting, or a presentation where the food is part of the impression, individual orders communicate care and personalization in a way that a shared buffet does not.

For the 80-person training scenario that came up in the r/ExecutiveAssistants thread, one commenter pointed to a solution: “EZcater has a separate platform called Relish as well, where all meals come individually marked with the employee’s name, which will make this much easier for you.” 

Forkable was mentioned as another solution in a separate EA thread. Employees choose from four to five restaurant options, the company sets a coverage amount, and meals arrive individually labeled. This model lets you order individually without coordination overhead, since the platform handles logistics.

Waiter.com’s Custom Cafe operates on the same principle: Every team member orders directly from their own inbox, the restaurant provides individually labeled meals, and the admin does not have to oversee the order collection process. For teams where individual choice is genuinely important, this is how to get it without the nightmare of manual management.

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Catering Options by Group Size

Now, what is the best catering option based on your group size? 

Under 15 people, casual gathering: Shared platters or a buffet. The social format works here as people serve themselves, allowing conversation to flow naturally around the food. The setup is minimal, and build-your-own options (taco bars, grain bowl setups) work especially well because they handle dietary variety without requiring separate orders.

15 to 50 people, working lunch or meeting: Individually boxed meals. Faster distribution, less cleanup, and dietary needs are addressed at the individual level when people select their meal from a short curated list. The EA who described wanting boxed lunches as her default had it right, saying, “More than anything, I want boxed lunches available, with chips, a side, and a cookie. If I can do them for as few as six people, that’s incredible.”

15 to 50 people, team event or celebration: Build-your-own buffet option. Taco bars, Mediterranean spreads, and grain bowl bars all generate consistently positive reactions because the interactive element suits a more social occasion. These options also solve dietary restrictions—when everyone builds their own plate, almost no one goes without.

50 or more people: Buffet with clearly labeled stations or individually labeled orders through a dedicated platform. At this scale, manually managing individual selections is not practical. The caterer who posted in r/catering described their rule for large group orders: “Minimum of 12 servings of any item ordered. Instead of every person choosing from our full menu, the whole office is eating 2-3 different meals max.” A buffet offers higher quantities and less coordination.

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If your team eats together on a regular schedule, neither ad hoc individual orders nor per-event group catering is a long-term solution. Instead, turn to a recurring meal program that handles the decisions for you. 

Waiter.com’s group food-ordering programs are built for exactly this. You set a schedule and a budget, and your employees order from a rotating selection of restaurants. Everything arrives together without weekly coordination. See how it works at waiter.com/group-food-ordering.

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A Checklist for Your Next Group Order

Before placing a group order, run through this checklist: 

Headcount. For five or fewer people, individual orders are manageable, but for six or more, select a group option with three to four choices.

Dietary complexity. Can three to four menu items cover the entire team’s needs? If yes, select a group option with a curated menu. If not, order individually labeled meals through a platform or choose a build-your-own option that offers variety.

Event type. For a casual team lunch, choose a buffet or build-your-own option, but for a working meeting or training, go with individually boxed meals. As for a client-facing or high-stakes event, select individual orders with intentional presentation.

Frequency. For a one-off event, place the order using this framework, but for recurring weekly or monthly orders, set up a meal program and stop making decisions every time.

Group ordering doesn’t have to be a pain every time you place an order. Simply follow this advice, and the only things that change are the headcount and the occasion. Those two inputs tell you everything you need to know.

The most practical way to address dietary restrictions is to collect the information once, store it in a readily accessible place, and stop asking about it before every order. A Google Form sent at onboarding, with responses stored in a shared spreadsheet and refreshed once a year, covers the vast majority of what you need to know. Pair that with build-your-own options, such as taco bars, Mediterranean spreads, and grain bowl setups, and most dietary needs are handled without a separate order for anyone.

That is the system, and here is how to create it.

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Why You Keep Having This Problem

The issue is rarely that your team has unusually complex dietary needs. Instead, it’s that most admins approach dietary needs from scratch for each order, asking people what they can eat, getting partial responses, making guesses, and still ending up with someone having nothing to eat when the food arrives.

In r/ExecutiveAssistants and r/AdminAssistant on Reddit, this topic comes up constantly. One thread on r/ExecutiveAssistants asked, “When ordering food for the office, how do you deal with people with food allergies, dietary restrictions, or just plain picky eaters?” 

The top answer, with 11 upvotes, explained, “You ask them, ‘Do you have any allergies or preferences?’ And you add that to their contact information. Pretty standard.”

The second-most upvoted response said, “I have a spreadsheet and a form that I have all new hires fill out when they start, so I can easily cover all the bases.”

Simply ask once, store the information, and reference it forever.

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Step 1: Collect Restrictions One Time 

Create a short Google Form and send it to every new hire during onboarding. Ask these four questions:

1. Do you have any food allergies? If yes, please list them. (It’s important to flag the severity, such as a mild sensitivity or one that requires an EpiPen, so you know which restrictions are preferences and which are medical requirements.)
2. Do you follow any dietary practices we should know about? (Vegetarian, vegan, halal, kosher, gluten-free, etc.)
3. Are there any cuisines or ingredients you strongly prefer to avoid?
4. Is there anything else you want us to know when ordering food for team events?

Make the form optional, and note that responses are used only for catering purposes. Some people are not comfortable disclosing religious dietary requirements or medical conditions in a group setting. An optional, confidential form with a clear, limited purpose helps remove hesitation.

For existing team members who never filled one out, send it to them as well. Frame it as a quick two-minute form to help with future team lunches. Most people will fill it out immediately because it is in their interest to do so.

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Step 2: Store It Where You Can Actually Find It

The form responses are automatically entered into a Google Sheet. Keep that sheet somewhere you will actually reference when placing an order, such as linked in your catering Slack channel, bookmarked in your browser, or saved in whatever folder or tool you use to manage recurring office logistics.

The format that works best is one row per person, with columns for name, restrictions, severity level, and any notes. You do not need anything elaborate. The goal is to open it and quickly scan it before you start looking at menus.

We recommend sending the form out once a year to capture changes. After all, people develop new allergies, start new dietary practices, or their situations may evolve. An annual refresh keeps the list current without any ongoing effort.

Another suggestion from the Reddit EA community was that, even with a complete list, always include at least one solid vegetarian option and one gluten-free option when ordering. People do not always disclose these preferences, and newcomers may not have filled out the form yet.

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Step 3: Review It Before You Open Any Ordering Platform

The list is only useful if you look at it before you start browsing menus. The mistake most admins make is choosing a restaurant first, then checking whether it works for their team. That puts you in a position where you are trying to retrofit accommodations onto a menu that was not designed for them.

Before you open your delivery platform or call a restaurant, reference the spreadsheet. Check how many people need gluten-free options. Determine whether you have anyone with halal or kosher restrictions. And look into whether the vegans on your team have been well served by the last few orders. Then choose a restaurant that meets those needs from the start, rather than scrambling to make substitutions after the fact.

This single change removes most of the last-minute chaos that can make it challenging to accommodate dietary restrictions.

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The Option That Solves Everything

The Reddit EA community has a strong consensus on the food option that removes dietary restriction-related stress: build-your-own setups.

Taco bars, Mediterranean spreads, grain bowl bars, and BBQ buffets all share the same advantage: They do not require anyone to make a special request or eat a modified version of what everyone else is having. The proteins, bases, and toppings are separate, everyone builds their own plate, and carnivores, vegetarians, vegans, and gluten-free eaters can all find something that works without a dedicated side order.

From r/AdminAssistant on Reddit, one EA described her standard approach: “If it’s a larger meeting I do ‘build your own’ lunches, like Mexican or Mediterranean bowls, or order a mix of boxed lunch options. Smaller groups I have saved emails with ordering options.” This was the most upvoted practical advice in the entire thread.

The comment that stuck with us from a Fooda community thread said, “Whatever it is, make sure to provide twice the amount of stuff that doesn’t have meat and cheese because 100% of the people who do eat meat and cheese will eat ALL the stuff without it, leaving the people who can’t with nothing.”

Build-your-own options solve that problem by default. The topping bar is not an afterthought—it is the meal.

If you want to make rotating through these options even easier, Waiter.com’s office lunch delivery lets you filter restaurants by dietary accommodation at the search stage, so you are only looking at options that already work for your team rather than hoping the menu has something for everyone once the food arrives.

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The Four Main Restrictions to Address 

The good news is that you do not need to anticipate every possible dietary situation before every order. These four categories cover the vast majority of any office team:

Vegetarian: No meat or fish, but dairy and eggs are fine. A vegetarian option should be a real entree, not a side salad. Build-your-own setups are ideal for vegetarians. 

Vegan: No animal products at all, including dairy and eggs. This is stricter than vegetarian and easy to miss when ordering. Hummus, grain bowls, roasted vegetables, and legume-based dishes cover this well.

Gluten-free: No wheat, barley, or rye. Treat every case as a medical requirement, not a preference. The difference between celiac disease and a casual preference is invisible at the ordering stage, and the consequences of getting it wrong are serious. Ask the restaurant about cross-contamination protocols before ordering for anyone on your list with a gluten restriction.

Halal: No pork, and meat must be prepared according to halal standards. This is a religious requirement, not a preference. Many Middle Eastern, some Mediterranean, and dedicated halal restaurants can reliably accommodate this.

Include these four accommodations in every order, and you will cover the overwhelming majority of your team without needing to investigate every specific case. 

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Label Everything at the Table

When the food arrives, clear labeling at the serving area is crucial. A small card that says “contains dairy” or “gluten-free” allows people with restrictions to serve themselves confidently without having to ask. This also prevents situations where someone accidentally eats something they cannot have because the container resembles another dish.

Ask your vendor to label by allergen and dietary category before delivery. Most catering restaurants will do this if you ask when placing the order. For boxed lunches, individual labeling is usually included by default.

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The Short Version

Collect dietary preferences and restrictions once via Google Form at onboarding. Store it in a shared spreadsheet, refresh it annually, and check it before you open any ordering platform. Default to build-your-own options when you can, and label everything at the table.

When you know what you’re doing, it’s easy to handle dietary restrictions when catering. It takes very little time to set up and monitor, and it saves you from having to re-solve the same problem before every order.

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Waiter.com works with over 1,300 restaurants nationwide, and its ordering platform includes dietary filters so you can narrow down restaurants that already accommodate your team’s needs before you browse a single menu. See how office lunch delivery works at waiter.com, or contact us to set up a recurring meal program for your team.

Ordering lunch for your team is supposed to be a simple administrative task. But if you’re an executive assistant (EA) or office manager who does it regularly, you know it rarely feels that way. Between chasing headcounts, fielding complaints about the food, managing dietary restrictions nobody told you about, and praying the delivery shows up on time, it has a way of taking over your entire day.

And you’re not the only one who feels that way. We reviewed hundreds of Reddit threads by executive assistants and office managers who openly discussed this exact problem. 

However, we found that the admins who stopped dreading this task were the ones who stopped treating it as a new decision each time. They built a system and let it do the heavy lifting. 

Follow along to learn how to create your own system. 

The Real Problem is Decision Fatigue

In a thread on r/ExecutiveAssistants with over 80 upvotes, one EA put it plainly, “My executive tends to have a lot of meetings with food. I usually get catering but am getting sick of having to plan this so many times a month.”

The replies flooded in from people who felt the same way. Not because catering is particularly challenging, but because doing it from scratch every single time is a time suck.

Another EA in a separate thread that pulled nearly 500 upvotes wrote, “I am so tired of catering. The specialty meals, the random dietary needs, the complaints. Bosses completely underestimate how much time this takes.”

In a thread titled, “I HATE the food aspects of this job,” the most upvoted comment (737 upvotes) said, “Someone always has a complaint if you’re catering for a group.”

If any of this sounds familiar, you are not alone. And more importantly, there is a fix with actionable steps that will actually make a difference in the way you order for your office. 

Step 1: Build a Vendor Rotation and Stop Choosing Every Week

Rather than recommending platforms or offering cuisine tips, the most common piece of advice from experienced EAs was to stop ordering from scratch each time.

One EA described her system, saying she gives each week a specific catering theme: “Mexican, Italian, and so on—just order a variety and always include vegetarian. Makes life so much easier.”

Another said, “I used to use a caterer who sent out their menu quarterly, and I could just email them what I wanted and when. They would show up and handle everything.”

The pattern is the same in both cases: Pick three to five vendors you trust, rotate them, and add them to a calendar. Deciding “what should we order this week” is no longer a decision because it’s already been decided: it’s Italian week. This creates a completely different cognitive load when you don’t have to make a choice each time. 

As for the cuisine itself, the Reddit community has a strong consensus here, too. Build-your-own options, like taco bars, Mediterranean bowls, and BBQ buffets, repeatedly came up as the crowd-pleasing default because they solve both variety and dietary-restriction problems at once. When everyone builds their own plate, no one goes hungry and almost no one complains.

Step 2: Collect Dietary Restrictions Once and Keep a List

This advice came up in thread after thread. The admins who have figured this out all landed on the same answer: Provide a Google Form during onboarding and update it annually.

From r/ExecutiveAssistants, one commented, “I have a spreadsheet and a form that I have all new hires fill out when they start, so I can easily cover all the bases.”

From r/AdminAssistant, another said, “Keep a list of people’s dietary restrictions. Maybe a Google Form or something of that nature, and send it out once a year to be updated.”

The key here is “once.” You are not asking people before every order. You collect the information, store it somewhere accessible, and reference it when you need it. The form takes minutes to build, but it will save you hours over the course of a year.

As a general rule when ordering, always include a vegetarian option and something that is gluten-aware, even if nobody on your current list needs it. People do not always disclose restrictions until the food is already there.

Step 3: Use the Headcount Formula

The most-upvoted thread we found on the logistics of food ordering was from an EA who was mortified when she ran out of food at an all-hands meeting after 20 years of always having leftovers.

The advice that came up most often was to confirm your headcount 24 hours out, then add 10 percent. One EA explained it this way: “I always add five people to my count because my boss had a bad habit of inviting extra people on the fly, and I didn’t want to run out of food.”

For specific quantities, let the restaurant guide you. One commenter noted, “I save myself the hassle and take the restaurant’s recommendations. If they cater, they’ll tell you how much to order for your group size.”

For hybrid offices, specifically, use RSVPs rather than total headcount. Send a quick form or Slack message asking who expects to be in the office and would like to be counted. It takes 90 seconds and removes the guesswork entirely.

The Goal: Turn Ordering Into a Process

If ordering office lunch feels like a drag, it is probably because it lives entirely in your head, from the vendor choices and dietary needs to the quantities and individual preferences. Every time you place an order, you’re going back to the drawing board. 

The admins who stop dreading it have made it a documented, repeatable process. They set vendor rotation on their calendars, place dietary restriction lists on a shared drive, and use a headcount formula. They only make these decisions once. 

If you want to make the process even easier, it’s time to turn to a meal program for recurring office deliveries, which removes almost all of the coordination work. Waiter.com’s corporate meal programs let you set a schedule, manage dietary needs across your team, and order from a rotating set of restaurants, without starting from scratch every week. The only decision you make is how often you want lunch delivered.

That is what “set it and forget it” actually looks like for office catering.

One More Thing: It Is Okay to Lower the Bar Slightly

One of the most honest comments we came across was from an experienced EA who said she used to drive herself crazy trying to make everyone happy. Her solution: “I let the caterer or restaurant choose. They are the experts. They know their bestsellers. My only requirement is that there is a vegetarian option.”

You are not a chef, a nutritionist, or a professional event planner. You are an EA or office manager who has a hundred other things on your to-do list. A lunch that arrives on time and has something for everyone is a success. It does not have to be remarkable every time.

Simply build the system, establish rotations, and maintain the list of dietary restrictions. And most importantly, allow yourself to stop treating this like it requires your full creative energy every single week.

Ready to take the coordination off your plate? Waiter.com has been handling corporate meal delivery since 1995. We offer full menus, full-time drivers, and flexible programs built for teams that order regularly. See how it works at waiter.com.

When catering, how much food should you order? For most office catering orders, select one main dish and two sides per person, based on confirmed RSVPs, and add a 10% buffer for last-minute additions. From there, adjust up for longer events and social gatherings and down for short working meetings. If you are unsure about quantities for a specific cuisine, call the restaurant. If they cater regularly, they know their portions better than any formula.

That is the short answer, but let’s take a closer look. 

Start Here: The Two Numbers That Matter Most

Before you pick a restaurant or even think about cuisine, you need two numbers.

1. Confirmed headcount, not invited headcount.
Base your order on the number of people you have confirmed, not the number of people on the calendar invite. This sounds obvious until you have ordered for the 60 people you invited, only for 42 to show up. In hybrid offices, especially, the gap between “invited” and “confirmed in-office” can be 20-30%, and for most office events, actual attendance runs closer to 75-85% of the invite list. 

2. That confirmed number, plus 10%.
Once you have your confirmed count, add 10% to cover last-minute additions, larger-than-expected appetites, and the boss who always shows up with two extra people. If 45 people confirm, order for 50. 

On Reddit’s r/ExecutiveAssistants thread, an EA with 20 years of experience posted about the one time she ran out of food at an all-hands meeting. She had always over-ordered before and had leftovers, and the one time she tried to cut it close, the hybrid headcount tripped her up. The comment got 611 upvotes because every admin reading it clearly felt the same dread. A 10% buffer exists specifically to avoid that problem.

Quick-Reference Guide by Types of Food

The following section is the one to bookmark, as we recommend how much of each type of meal to order: 

Boxed lunches. Select one per person. This option is the easiest to portion because it is already done for you. Order your confirmed headcount plus the 10% buffer—no math needed beyond that.

Sandwich platters or trays. Plan for 1.5 sandwiches per person, or use the standard industry ratio of 12 sandwiches per 10 people. If sandwiches are the only food (no sides), round up to two per person for a hungry lunch crowd.

Taco bars. Order two to three tacos per person as a main dish and chips and salsa for 100% of the headcount because chips disappear faster than any other item at a taco bar. If you are doing burritos instead of tacos, drop to one per person as they are significantly more filling.

Pizza. Plan for two to three slices per person for a standard lunch order. Round up to three to four slices per person for longer meetings or especially hungry teams. A standard large pizza yields eight slices, so divide headcount by eight and multiply by your per-person slice count.

Bagels and coffee (breakfast meetings). Order one to 1.25 bagels per person. Keep in mind, a Panera or Starbucks coffee traveler serves 10 to 12—not 15—despite what the label implies. One EA on Reddit asked specifically about ordering for 125 people and got this answer in the thread: “Order 140 bagels and 13 to 14 coffee travelers.” That is the +10% formula applied directly.

Buffet-style (BBQ, Mediterranean, grain bowls). Plan for 6-8 oz of protein per person for plated or individually served buffets. For self-serve trays, where people portion their own plates, move to the higher end (8 oz) because self-serve portions tend to run larger. Add 4 oz of each side dish per person. A typical full catering tray feeds 15 to 20 people as a side, or 10 to 12 as a main.

Adjust Based on the Type of Meeting

The type of food gives you the baseline, while the event type adjusts it.

Short working meetings (under an hour): Order standard portions or slightly under. People eat less when they are focused on an agenda, and no one is going back for seconds between slides.

Lunch-and-learns and training sessions (1-3 hours): Add 10-15% to your total order. People linger and graze during presentations, while someone always goes back for another taco when the speaker transitions to Q&A.

All-day events: Plan for two meal equivalents spread throughout the day. For example, select a morning bagel spread and an afternoon boxed lunch, rather than trying to make one catering order that covers six hours.

Celebrations and team events: Round up on sides and desserts. At social events, people tend to graze more than they eat a full plate. They will likely skip the entree but demolish the chips, cookies, and anything bite-sized. One EA in a Food-focused Reddit thread put it this way: “Charcuterie boards and dessert items disappear first, every time.”

The Hybrid Office Problem (And How to Solve It in 90 Seconds)

This is where most admins go wrong. The old math—order for everyone in the office—no longer works when no one is sure how many people are actually coming in on a given day.

A confirmed RSVP list is the solution. 

A quick Slack message or calendar note asking people to confirm if they expect to be in the office and want to be counted for lunch takes 90 seconds to send and removes most of the guesswork. Do it 24 hours before the order is due, and base your number on the responses you get, not on the invite list or the total office headcount.

For recurring weekly or monthly lunches, keep a simple running spreadsheet—even just a column in a Google Sheet—tracking how many people actually showed up versus how much food was ordered. After three to four orders, you will have a reliable attendance rate for your specific team, making the math much easier.

If managing this every week still feels like a headache, turn to Waiter.com’s corporate meal programs. They handle headcount and portion coordination as part of the service. Simply confirm the count, and they’ll manage the rest. This is how offices that order regularly get out of the estimation business entirely.

When to Ask the Restaurant

Want to know the most underused move in office catering? Call the restaurant and tell them your headcount.

If a restaurant offers catering, it has done so countless times. They know how much chicken tikka masala their tray serves, how many tacos a typical lunch crowd eats, and whether their sandwich tray feeds closer to 10 or 15 people. 

One highly upvoted comment in an EA Reddit thread said, “I save myself the hassle and take the restaurant’s recommendations. If a restaurant caters, they’ll list how much to order for your group size, and the people who work there will tell you exactly.”

This one move eliminates most of the math anxiety and shifts the responsibility to the people who actually know their product. Use it every time you order from a new vendor or select a new menu option. 

The One Rule That Covers Most Situations

Let’s simplify all of this:

• Use the confirmed headcount plus 10%
• Order one main plus two sides per person
• Let the restaurant provide specific quantities

The admins who get this right consistently are not doing complicated math. They are simply using a reliable process and adjusting from there.

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Waiter.com has been handling corporate meal delivery since 1995 with full-time drivers and menus from over 1,300 restaurants nationwide. If you regularly order for your team, our corporate meal programs handle the logistics, including portioning, so you spend less time on the math and more time on everything else. See how it works at waiter.com.

Before You Choose the Food, Know Your Group Size

The most common mistake when ordering for a large group is treating all large groups the same. Ordering lunch for 20 people and organizing food for 200 people are genuinely different problems — different vendor types, different formats, different lead times, and different levels of coordination required.

We spent time in office manager and EA communities on Reddit reading how admins actually handle this, and the scale signal was consistent. When one admin posted about organizing a work lunch for 200 employees in r/FoodNYC, the top response had 67 upvotes: “You need a catering company. They volunteered you for this?” For 20 people, a taco bar from a local restaurant works beautifully. For 200 people, you are in a different category entirely.

Here is a quick framework before you start choosing food:

20 to 30 people: Standard catering delivery works well. One restaurant, buffet or boxed, ordered 24 to 48 hours in advance. Most of the food options below fit this range perfectly.

30 to 75 people: Still manageable with a single catering order, but format matters more. Build-your-own setups (taco bars, grain bowl bars, Mediterranean spreads) handle dietary variety better than fixed menus at this scale. Order at least 48 hours out.

75 to 150 people: You need a dedicated catering company or a platform built for corporate volume. Self-ordering from a restaurant website gets complicated fast. Lead time should be 3 to 5 business days minimum.

150 or more: This is a catering company conversation, full stop. Building access, setup and teardown logistics, hot-holding equipment, staffing — these are not things a restaurant delivery handles. Start planning at least a week out, ideally two.

At Waiter, we’re all about food — and we love feeding large groups of people. That’s why we’ve put together this list of food for large groups. All of the options listed can be scaled up to feed whatever size group you end up hosting.

Speaking of hosting…you aren’t planning on doing any of the below alone, right? The planning and cooking hours behind the choices below are…intense. You can go right ahead, if that’s your jam, or arrange for an office potluck…or…you could let someone else do the catering work while you just kick back and eat.

With that in mind, here are the food formats that work best for large groups, organized by what scales well and why.

Now, on with the meal!

1. Taco Bar

Taco bars are pretty much universally popular, so they deserve the #1 spot. Bring in the tortillas, the protein (chicken, beef, carne asada, and more), the veggies, the salsa…and of course the cheese.

Alternates: Got some dietary restrictions to work with? Cue up some vegan meat and cheese options!

2. Pastapalooza

Take the beloved concept behind the taco bar and swap in pasta. You can go with tried-and-true familiars like spaghetti, macaroni, and fettuccine, or branch out with gnocchi, tortellini, and orzo. You’ll also want plenty of sauces (marinara and Alfredo are only the beginning; have you thought about pesto?). And let’s not forget the add-ons like various meats and cheeses, or herbs like rosemary and basil.

Alternates: Most, if not all, of the food described has gluten-free and vegan versions available.

3. Baked Potato Extravaganza

This is still technically a bar, but we’re aiming for festiveness. Set out large potatoes with all the fixings: cheese, bacon, broccoli, chili, salsa, and any herbs and spices. Oh, let’s not forget butter.

Alternates: Vegan-friendly and dairy-free varieties of cheeses (and yes, even vegan bacon) are available.

4. Breakfast-for-Lunch (or Dinner) Buffet

While breakfast food is usually consumed in the earlier hours of the day, there’s no law stating you can’t have it for lunch or dinner or any other time of day. So go big! Bring in scrambled eggs and sourdough to make toast. Set up a pastry plate loaded with croissants and bear claws. Yogurt parfaits and fruit are always winners, as are pancake- and waffle-making stations.

Alternates: If you’ve got vegans, gluten-free folks, or other dietary needs, you can find all sorts of breakfast alternatives available.

5. Pizza Party

Pizzas are pretty much the go-to meal for big groups. Some pies have 12 or more slices to go around, and there are so many varieties to choose from! There’s vegan pizza, vegetarian pizza, meat-lover’s pizza…and that’s just scratching the surface. Bring in Chicago and New York-style pizzas and judge the crusts. Throw in Greek-style pizza, too. And don’t get us started on the toppings, which are endless.

Alternates: None needed. There’s a type of pizza for everyone.

6. Salad Station

Salads are sometimes viewed as side dishes, but a good salad can be a fine meal on its own. Bring in an assortment of greens to serve as the base (spinach, lettuce, kale, arugula, and more) and then go nuts with the toppings or proteins like chicken, shrimp, nuts, and vegetables. Don’t forget about dressing, which is, for some, the most important part; ranch, Italian, and more are out there.

Alternates: Set up a fruit station so folks can have a sweet alternative!

7. Sushi Soiree

Nigiri and sashimi and maki, oh my! There’s a sushi roll that fits pretty much every set of taste buds. Most sushi contains a base of rice and seaweed, accompanied by other fillings (or toppings, depending on the roll). Salmon and tuna are popular, as are the beloved California rolls, but that’s just scratching the sushi surface. Crab and tofu, along with other types of seafood and vegetables, may also make appearances.

But…sushi can be hard to serve buffet-style, and you may have to accommodate colleagues who are just not into seafood. This might be a good time to turn to Waiter’s Meals on Demand, which lets you choose a restaurant (like a Japanese place that has sushi and non-seafood options) and place a customized order. The folks who want sushi can get it; those who don’t can choose something else. Everyone eats!

8. Dessert Decadence

Sometimes you just want something sweet. Dessert-for-Lunch (or Dinner) can cover a lot of bases. Ice cream sundae bars are often a hit; just bring in several flavors of ice cream and enough toppings to give people a sugar buzz that will last into the next century. But you can also look into cupcakes, brownies, cookies, or cakes and pies.

Alternate: Once again, the fruit platter can save the day. There are also dairy-free, vegan ice creams out there, as well as sugar-free sweets!

How to Serve Big Meals for Groups Without Losing Your Mind

Getting the whole office together for a meal can be stressful. But look, you don’t have to do all of the above on your own. Waiter.com’s Catering Delivery gives you a direct line to restaurants that make exactly the kind of meals you’re looking for, and in the quantities you need when you’re ordering office food for many people. All you really need to do is tell us where to put the food and herd everyone over when it arrives (although to be fair, most people follow their noses and don’t need the help).

So go ahead: dream big. Let us bring you the perfect pies from a local pizza parlor, or the region’s best baked potato. Japanese, Mediterranean, Thai, Indian, Mexican, and other cuisines are all on offer, and we even deliver the food in recyclable containers. Who isn’t doing dishes after the party? You!

Seriously, though, check out our group food ordering. We’d love to keep your entire team fed.

The business case for subsidized meals is well established. But there is a parallel conversation happening at the employee level that the ROI frameworks tend to miss, and it is more emotionally charged than any statistic.

On Reddit’s r/bayarea, a thread asking simply “Does your company give you free food at the office?” drew 93 upvotes and responses from employees across dozens of companies. The most upvoted answer (76 upvotes) was not about the food at all: “Companies aren’t doing this for no reason. Free food, drinks, and snacks increase productivity. A team of people not having to leave campus for 2+ hours for lunch means they are overall working more. Now multiply that by a few thousand people every day.”

Employees understand the arrangement. They are not naive about why companies provide meals. What they are paying attention to is whether the company follows through consistently and what happens when it does not.

In r/managers, a transportation company manager posted about whether employees working during company events should get meals even if they could not attend. The thread got 77 upvotes. The highest-voted comment, with 55 upvotes: “The hit on morale from cutting food benefits will dwarf anything you do with food.” A separate commenter: “Taking it away after it’s become an established thing is a different and much worse thing than never offering it in the first place.”

That is the most important insight from the employee side of this conversation: food programs are not just a perk. Once established, they are a signal. Providing them says the company invests in its people.

This guide covers the mechanics of building a subsidized meal program that actually delivers on that signal.

For many organizations, subsidized office meals aren’t so much a perk as they are part of a broader effort to strengthen retention and productivity. 

• Subsidized office meals are eaten in the workplace and are partially or fully funded by employers.
• The ROI of subsidized meals often includes higher retention and productivity, which can lead to significant financial benefits: a 50-person company that partially subsidizes a daily lunch for 25 of its employees can expect a yearly $138,430 net benefit. 
• The best program structures are often the fully funded or partial subsidy models applied to recurring catering. 
• Hybrid teams and high-growth companies — particularly those in competitive talent markets — will benefit the most. 

When implemented properly, these programs can deliver for companies and employees. Ready to learn more? Let’s get into it.

What Are Subsidized Meals?

In a subsidized meal program, the employer covers all or part of the cost of employee meals during the day. 

Fully Subsidized Meals

A business offering fully subsidized meals pays 100% of the meal cost. Employees and administrators tend to like it because they don’t need to worry about reimbursement or coordination. 

Partially Subsidized Meals

An employer offering a partial subsidy is basically covering a fixed dollar amount or percentage, with employees paying the balance. A partially subsidized meal still offers value to employees, but spreads the cost of food around — this can be particularly useful to smaller or growing companies that want to offer subsidies as a perk but can’t cover everyone all the time.

How Do Employers Subsidize Meals?

How a business actually covers meals varies. Common options include:

• Recurring corporate catering that is delivered directly to the office.
• Reimbursing individual receipts.
• Providing gift cards or a company charge card to cover lunches.

How Do Meal Subsidies Work?

How a meal subsidy works will depend on the program a company has set up, but in general:

• An employer pays a vendor (or vendors) directly.
• There are no payroll adjustments or deductions on pay stubs.

If a subsidy is structured as a reimbursement program, or a meal allowance is added to wages, then it might show up on a pay stub. But again, in general, a meal subsidized by a company doesn’t impact employees financially. All they need to do is eat. 

Why Should Employers Subsidize Meals?

We’re big fans of employers subsidizing office meal programs, and not just because we specialize in office meal delivery. It impacts several areas of business, which we’ll get into below. 

Talent Attraction and Retention

Hiring and training a new employee can get expensive, particularly when you factor in recruiting and the productivity lost while a role is empty. Subsidizing in-office meals doesn’t guarantee someone will stick around long-term, but they do bring some perks:

• They set your company apart. Meal subsidies indicate that an employer is interested in employee well-being, and can have a positive impact on retaining current employees. This has an added financial benefit to the company, as replacing a departing employee is often extremely expensive.
• They help employees save money. Food costs are growing, particularly in high cost of living areas. A company covering any portion of meal costs is going to be at least dulling the hits on employees’ wallets. 
• It makes in-office days appealing. With more companies leaning toward hybrid and flex scheduling, paid-for meals become a particularly tempting reason to show up to the office. 
• It’s great for morale. Knowing that your place of employment is picking up the check for at least some meals feels great. 
• It promotes equity and inclusion by reducing cost burdens on lower-paid employees, along with sparing commuting employees the need to go back out into traffic to track down food. 

Stronger Collaboration and Productivity 

If you choose to subsidize recurring catering, or otherwise provide a subsidy for employees who want to have food delivered, you can see the following benefits:

• Eating together helps people get along in general, and can specifically improve how employees work together. 
• When meals are delivered, employees don’t have to leave campus to track down and find their food. They’ll also save a lot of time that would be otherwise spent in traffic or standing in line. That can add up to a lot of time that can be re-focused on work.

Less Strain on Admin and HR

Subsidized in-office meals aren’t just great for employees. HR and office managers see a reduced administrative burden when working with delivery services like Waiter. They see:

• Less time spent chasing receipts or fiddling with numbers to properly reimburse employees.
• Predictable budgeting means less time spent in spreadsheets. 

What Kind of ROI Can I Expect From Subsidized Meals?

As the old saying goes, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. So it’s fair for leaders to ask what a subsidized meal program would actually cost,  and what kind of return it can deliver.

To understand the potential impact — financial and otherwise — of subsidized office meals, consider a mid-sized company with 50 employees. 

• The average salary is $85.000.
• 65% of employees leave the office for lunch, and spend about 50 minutes away from the office.
• The company has a 15% annual turnover rate, and it costs 50% of a role’s salary to replace them (admittedly this is on the low end). 

Now let’s deliver meals directly to this company through a service like Waiter. First off, time spent outside the office drops sharply — often to about 15 minutes. Over the course of a year, that reclaimed time can translate into pretty impressive productivity gains. If our example company provides a daily $8 lunch subsidy, and 25 employees take them up on it, they’ll save 35 minutes per workday. The total cost to the company is $49,000 per year, but they’re looking at an estimated $146,009 in productivity gains. 

The estimated net annual benefit for this company is $138,430. We acknowledge it’s an impressive number, but it’s just the start; companies we work with report improvements in morale, as well as stronger team cultures stemming from shared meals. 

Taxes and Compliance

Benjamin Franklin once said, “Nothing is certain except delicious meals delivered by Waiter…and taxes.” Okay, so he didn’t quite say it that way. But alas, he has a point: you need to look into the tax situation around subsidized meals before going any further. 

Are Subsidized Meals Deductible?

Historically, certain expenses associated with business meals have at least been partially deductible. Federal and state laws may change that, though, so before implementing a program, look into:

• Current deductibility limits — does your situation meet the de minimis guidelines?
• Whether catered office meals qualify at all.
• How recurring meal programs should be categorized. 

For most organizations, the best route will be:

• Define your structure clearly.
• Confirm the tax situation with a financial advisor.
• Document the program you end up creating.
• Keep clean and thorough records. 

Address tax considerations early in the process so you aren’t surprised by anything down the line. 

What Employees Actually Say About Company Food

The business case documents and HR surveys tell one side of the story. The employee communities on Reddit tell another, and it is worth reading both.

The most striking data point from our research: the highest-upvoted thread we found on company-sponsored lunch had 899 upvotes and was not about gratitude for the benefit. It was from an employee whose team was being taken out to lunch to celebrate a colleague’s promotion — but everyone was expected to pay for themselves. “My team lead has a corporate Amex card that he can use for things like this. I just feel awkward asking him to cover my meal.” The top reply, from a retired senior vice president: “Your team lead is not using his morale budget appropriately. This is clearly a team activity and it is inappropriate to require employees to pay.”

That thread captures something the ROI frameworks miss: the way a meal program is managed sends a signal that employees read immediately. A company that provides lunch but makes people punch out before getting it (a real complaint from r/WorkReform, 19 upvotes) has not created a morale benefit — it has created a morale liability. A company that offers a daily $15 food stipend but builds a policy conflict around one employee going $1.03 over (289 upvotes on r/smallbusiness) is spending money on a benefit and losing the goodwill it was supposed to generate.

The practical takeaway for companies building or evaluating a meal program: the execution matters as much as the existence. Here is what employees in these communities consistently respond positively to:

Consistency over extravagance. A reliable Tuesday lunch that always shows up on time generates more goodwill than an elaborate quarterly catering event with spotty follow-through.

Inclusion over uniformity. Employees who cannot eat the food that was ordered — because of dietary restrictions that were not considered — feel more excluded than if no food had been provided at all. Getting this right signals genuine consideration rather than a checkbox.

Fairness across the team. The r/managers thread about employees working during company events was instructive: 77 upvotes worth of people agreeing that if some employees get fed, the ones working during the event should too. The cost of feeding the working shift is almost always trivial. The morale cost of not doing it is not.

Autonomy where possible. The r/bayarea thread showed that employees who can choose what they eat — even within a structured program — value the benefit more than those who receive a uniform order. Individual ordering, rotating menus, and build-your-own formats all score higher in employee satisfaction than a fixed meal that does not change.

How to Launch a Subsidized Office Meal Program

So you want to bring in food for your people. Amazing! We wholeheartedly approve, and not just because we hope you’ll choose us to deliver it. But a successful subsidized office meal program requires more than just a food budget. It’s going to look different for every business, but below is a general framework you can follow:

Define Your Company Goals

First, decide what results you want to see from bringing in meals.

• Increase in-office attendance?
• Improve retention?
• Strengthen cross-team collaboration?
• Support employees during intense workloads?

Without defined goals, you risk your program becoming a cost center instead of a tool that can help. At this time, you’ll also want to determine who is eligible for this perk — is it for full-time employees only, or do part-timers get to participate, too?

Select the Right Subsidy Structure

For office-based meal programs, you can choose one of three models:

• Fully subsidized meals. The company covers the full cost of catered lunches on designated days.
• Partial subsidy model. The employer covers a fixed amount per employee, with the employee picking up the rest.
• In-office meal days. In this case, meals are fully subsidized, but only offered on specific days to encourage attendance. 

The structure you choose will depend on:

• Your budget.
• In-office headcount.
• Hybrid attendance patterns.
• Any cultural goals.

Model the Budget Before You Launch

To estimate your monthly cost, you need three numbers:

• Number of participating employees.
• Employer subsidy amount per meal.
• Number of meal days per month. 

Once you have those, plug them into this formula: 

Employees x Subsidy Amount x In-Office Days = Estimated monthly cost

For example, if you have 40 participating employees and provide a $12 subsidy, four times per month, your estimated monthly investment will be $1,920 per month. Annually, that works out to $23,040. 

You can adjust for variables like participation rate and frequency. Keep in mind, too, that food prices may fluctuate throughout the year. That’s why we suggest starting with a pilot program that lasts 30 to 60 days to test engagement and financial sustainability before committing to anything long term.

Choose the Right Meal Partner

You shouldn’t trust just anyone with this endeavor. Look for a partner that provides:

• Broad restaurant selection.
• Accommodation for various dietary requirements..
• Predictable delivery windows.
• Consolidated billing.

Measure Your Results

Too often, companies implement a process and aren’t sure if it’s successful because they haven’t followed up. Once your meal subsidy program launches, track:

• Participation rates: Are numbers fairly steady?
• Employee feedback: Do people seem to enjoy it, or are you seeing complaints?
• In-office attendance: Has it changed? If you’re a hybrid office, are you seeing more people coming in on lunch days?
• Budget variance: Are you going way over budget, or staying under?

You can make adjustments as you go, including:

• Adjusting subsidy levels.
• Changing the frequency of delivery.
• Rotating cuisine choices.
• Aligning meal days with big events like deadlines and client visits. 

Ready for Lunch? 

Recurring office meal solutions aren’t just a tasty perk to lure employees into the office. They’re also a tool for improving retention, encouraging in-office engagement, and boosting daily productivity in a way even coffee can’t quite manage. And we probably don’t need to point out how much easier life is for HR and admins when they don’t need to coordinate ad hoc orders or chase down receipts. Seriously, they have other things to do!

Whether you choose to fully cover meals or want to provide a partial subsidy, a recurring catering program through Waiter makes it easy to control costs and increase in-office participation, all while accommodating dietary preferences. And did we mention we’re partnered with some of the best restaurants in the area? Because we are.
Do you want to learn more about recurring lunches, or just talk to us about how great food is? Get in touch with us today. We’d love to help you feed your people.

Why Admins Go Looking for This

There is a specific moment that leads most admins to start researching employee meal programs. It is not strategic. It is not a company initiative. It is burnout.

In r/ExecutiveAssistants, one of the most upvoted threads we found on the topic of office catering had 81 upvotes and opened with this: “My executive tends to have a lot of meetings with food. I usually get catering but am getting sick of having to plan this so many times a month. I want to know what is normal.”

The replies flooded in from EAs describing the same experience — ordering once or twice a month for 15 to 30 people, hating every minute of it, and wondering if there was a better way. One said plainly: “I. HATE. IT.” Another: “I’m over it too, this type of position all together if I’m being honest.”

The recurring meal program is the structural answer to that frustration. Instead of making a new decision every time an executive schedules a working lunch, you make the decision once — vendor, schedule, budget, dietary preferences — and the program runs. The only thing you manage after setup is headcount and the occasional update.

That is what this post is about. Not the theory of why meal programs are good for culture and retention (though they are). The actual mechanics of building one that removes the coordination burden from your plate permanently.

The short answer: Setting up a successful employee meal program that your team will appreciate involves defining your goals, choosing the right subsidy structure, budgeting, selecting the appropriate delivery partner, communicating it to your employees, and tracking metrics. 

Our guide covers:

1. What an employee meal program is and the most common program types
2. How to choose a subsidy structure that fits your budget
3. How to estimate costs before you commit
4. What to look for in a meal delivery partner
5. How to measure whether the program is working

More companies are adding employee meal programs to their workplace offerings, and for good reason. After all, scheduled office meals reduce time lost to off-site lunch runs, give hybrid employees a reason to come into the workplace, and send a clear signal that the company actually cares about its people. 

Employers understand why subsidized meals work, but many don’t know how to implement their own programs. That’s where our guide can help. 

If you already have buy-in and want to know how to build your own employee meal program, you are in the right place.

What Is an Employee Meal Program?

An employee meal program is an employer-funded work benefit that covers all (or part of) the cost of meals for employees during the workday. 

Several different employee meal programs exist: 

Fully Subsidized Meals

The employer provides the meal and covers 100% of the costs. Employees simply show up and eat. This is the simplest experience for everyone involved and tends to drive the highest participation rates.

Partial Subsidy

The employer covers a fixed dollar amount per meal, with employees paying the difference. This spreads the cost across the organization and works well for companies that want to offer the benefit while staying within their budgets. For instance, the employer may offer a $10 or $15 per-meal subsidy for each employee. 

Designated Meal Days

The company provides fully subsidized meals on specific days of the week, such as Tuesdays and Thursdays. This model is particularly effective for hybrid teams: If lunch is covered on certain days, attendance tends to follow. This is a great way to introduce your employees to a meal program and gauge their interest. 

Meal Stipend or Allowance

Rather than ordering on behalf of employees, the employer provides a weekly or monthly food allowance that each employee can spend as they see fit. This structure is more flexible, but harder to manage, and it does not create the shared lunch experience that drives team connection. 

For in-office recurring programs, a catered delivery model almost always outperforms a stipend in terms of participation and impact.

How to Build an Employee Meal Program: Step by Step

Follow these six steps to implement a successful employee meal program of your own. 

Step 1: Define Your Goals

First, decide what you’d like your meal program to accomplish. Some common goals include: 

• Increase in-office attendance on specific days
• Improve employee retention and satisfaction scores
• Strengthen team culture through shared meals
• Reduce time lost to off-site lunch runs
• Support employees during high-demand work periods

Defining your goals is important because it will influence how you run your program. For example, a program designed to drive attendance will look different than one designed purely as a retention perk.

Step 2: Choose a Subsidy Structure

Match the structure to your budget and team setup. As a starting point, consider the following:

• Fully in-office teams with a flexible budget: fully subsidized recurring catering on most or all weekdays.
• Hybrid teams: designated meal days (two to three times per week) tied to expected in-office days
• Budget-constrained companies: partial subsidy with a per-meal cap
• Remote teams: a monthly stipend or meal credit through a delivery platform

If you’re new to meal programs, start with a 30- to 60-day pilot program at a lower subsidy level and expand it if it’s successful with your employees. 

Step 3: Model the Budget

It is much easier to scale up a program than to walk back one that is too expensive, so budget accordingly. To calculate how much to budget for your program each month, crunch these numbers: 

• Number of participating employees
• Employer subsidy amount per meal
• Number of meal days per month

Plug them into this formula: 

Employees x Subsidy Amount x Meal Days = Estimated Monthly Cost

For example, 30 employees, a $12 subsidy, and 8 meal days per month would cost $2,880 per month, or about $34,560 per year. 

When calculating costs, it helps to add a 10% buffer to account for fluctuations in participation and menu pricing changes.

Step 4: Choose a Delivery Partner

Now, it’s time to select the ideal delivery partner that will oversee your meals. 

A good meal delivery partner for an office program is not just a restaurant aggregator—they should also help you schedule and manage your orders. 

When exploring delivery partners, prioritize ones that offer: 

• Scheduled, recurring delivery with consistent timing
• A wide enough restaurant network for variety 
• Accommodation for dietary needs: vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, halal
• Consolidated billing so your finance team is not drowning in receipts
• A platform that lets you manage headcount and preferences without manual coordination

Waiter’s recurring catering program makes it easier than ever to coordinate your office meals. You set the schedule; we handle the logistics, including the restaurant selection, delivery timing, dietary accommodations, and a single invoice at the end of the billing period. 

Step 5: Communicate It Clearly

A meal program nobody knows about is pointless. Before launch, share the following details with your employees:

• Who is eligible
• How and when to order
• What the company is covering
• Any guidelines around dietary requests or schedule changes

Send an email or an announcement over your messaging platform to communicate all the details to your employees. You could even print out a flyer and post it in the kitchen. 

Keep it simple—there’s no need to overcomplicate the rollout.

Step 6: Measure and Adjust

Once the program is up and running, collect feedback and track these metrics to help determine the program’s success:

• Participation rate: Are the numbers staying steady, growing, or dropping?
• Employee feedback: Do people like what is being ordered?
• In-office attendance: Has it shifted on meal days?
• Budget variance: Are you consistently over or under?

Review these numbers monthly for the first quarter, then quarterly thereafter. 

Keep in mind, the best programs evolve based on what employees actually respond to.

A Note on Taxes and Deductibility

Are employee meal plans tax-deductible? The short answer: It depends on how the program is structured. 

Catered meals provided at the convenience of the employer on employer premises have historically qualified for at least a partial deduction, but federal rules have shifted in recent years. Before you launch a meal program, discuss it with a tax advisor or accountant. The key points to discuss are: 

• Does the program meet de minimis guidelines? 
• Are meals provided on-site? 
• How are recurring catering costs categorized? 

Check out our guide on subsidized office meals to learn more about the tax and compliance landscape.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best meal benefit for employees?

For in-office teams, recurring catered lunches tend to yield the strongest outcomes because they create a shared experience for your employees. Stipends are more flexible, but they do not drive the same company culture participation. That said, the best option depends on your team’s setup, your company’s goals, and your budget. 

How do you start a corporate lunch program?

Start by defining your goal and budget, then pick a subsidy structure. Next, choose a delivery partner that can handle recurring, scheduled orders with consolidated billing. Announce the program to your employees, run a pilot for 30 to 60 days before committing to a full rollout, and then collect feedback and adjust accordingly. 

Are employee meals 100% deductible?

Sometimes. Deductibility rules for employer-provided meals have changed in recent years and depend on the program’s structure. Consult a tax advisor to determine whether your program qualifies for tax deductions. 

How much does an employee meal program cost?

Costs vary significantly by city, cuisine, and subsidy level. A rough starting point is to budget $10 to $18 per meal per employee, multiplied by the number of meal days per month. A 30-person team eating together twice a week at a $15 subsidy would run approximately $3,600 per month. Most companies find that the ROI in productivity and retention more than justifies the investment.

Ready to Build Your Program?

An employee meal program does not have to be complicated. Pick a structure, model the budget, find a reliable delivery partner, and give it 60 days. The companies that do it well are the ones that start simple, stay consistent, and actually listen to what their teams want to eat.If you are looking for a delivery partner that handles the operational side so you can focus on everything else, Waiter.com’s recurring catering program is the way to go. It offers scheduled deliveries, broad restaurant selection, dietary accommodations, and one clean invoice. Contact us today to learn more about setting up your own employee meal program.

If your team groans every time you announce pizza or sandwiches again, you are not alone. In office manager and EA communities on Reddit, variety fatigue is one of the most common complaints — and the fix is almost never a different cuisine. It is a different format. The admins who consistently get positive reactions from their teams have figured out that build-your-own setups, rotating themes, and interactive food bars create excitement that no specific food ever quite manages on its own. This guide is organized around that insight: format first, then cuisine. Use it as a rotation starter, a reference when inspiration runs dry, or proof for the team that there are genuinely great options beyond the usual suspects.

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Why Format Matters More Than Food

Before getting into the ideas, it is worth understanding why certain options generate consistent enthusiasm while others fall flat even when the food itself is good.

The top-voted answers in thread after thread on r/ExecutiveAssistants, r/AskReddit, and r/Fooda consistently named the same formats: taco bars, Mediterranean spreads, BBQ buffets, and build-your-own bowls. Not because those cuisines are inherently better than pizza, but because they share a structural feature: everyone gets to build their own plate.

One EA in a thread about office lunch ideas put it plainly: “Thai food. They will LOVE you for it.” But the follow-up comments made the reason clearer — it was not Thai food specifically, it was that Thai spreads naturally accommodate everyone’s preferences, dietary needs, and spice tolerance without requiring a separate order. The format does the work.

A commenter on a Fooda thread captured the universal rule: “Whatever it is, make sure to provide twice the amount of stuff that doesn’t have meat and cheese — because 100% of the people who do eat meat and cheese will eat ALL the stuff without it, leaving the people who can’t with nothing.” That is a format insight, not a cuisine insight. Build-your-own setups solve this structurally.

Keep that in mind as you read through the options below. The best office lunch is almost never the most interesting cuisine — it is the format that makes the most people feel included and gives everyone something to look forward to.

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The Best Office Lunch Formats, Ranked by Crowd-Pleasing Consistency

1. Build-Your-Own Taco or Fajita Bar

The single most recommended format across every Reddit thread we found on this topic. Taco bars work for almost every office because they are casual, interactive, and structurally inclusive — carnivores, vegetarians, and gluten-free eaters can all build a plate without anyone feeling like an afterthought.

What makes it work: protein variety (seasoned beef, grilled chicken, black beans, sauteed peppers), a full topping spread (salsa, guacamole, cheese, sour cream, pickled onions), and warm tortillas — both flour and corn to cover the gluten-free crowd. Chips and salsa disappear faster than any other item. Order more than you think you need.

Best for: any group size, any occasion, any budget tier. This is the go-to reset button when you are out of ideas.

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2. Mediterranean Spread

The format that came up most often as a “safe but impressive” choice — and one that consistently earns positive comments specifically because it does not feel like a compromise.

A solid Mediterranean spread includes pita or flatbread, hummus, falafel, grilled chicken or lamb, tabbouleh, cucumber-tomato salad, and tzatziki. It holds well at room temperature, which matters for teams that eat in shifts. It is lighter than most options, which means no one feels sluggish through the afternoon. And it covers vegetarian, dairy-free, and gluten-aware needs without requiring a separate order.

One EA on r/AdminAssistant described it as her most consistent winner: “Mediterranean fast food — pitas, hummus, meat and veggie kabobs, salad, quinoa, and sliced cucumbers with all the sauces. Checks all the boxes for carnivores, veggies, and GF. Healthy and light but filling for long meetings.”

Best for: lunch-and-learns, longer meetings, teams with diverse dietary needs.

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3. BBQ

BBQ is the format that generates the most genuine enthusiasm for teams that do not always love catered food. It is hearty, familiar, and festive in a way that sandwiches and salads simply are not.

A drop-off BBQ spread — pulled pork, smoked chicken, brisket, coleslaw, mac and cheese, cornbread — works well for groups of 20 or more where you want the meal to feel like an event. Vegan meats and smoked vegetables can round out the spread for non-meat eaters without requiring a separate caterer.

One caveat: BBQ is messy and informal, which makes it a great choice for a team celebration or a casual Friday, and a poor choice for a client visit or a meeting where people will be presenting immediately after lunch.

Best for: team celebrations, casual Fridays, morale events. Not ideal for formal occasions.

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4. Build-Your-Own Bowl Bar

Grain bowls, rice bowls, and poke-style setups have become one of the most popular recurring lunch formats precisely because they are endlessly flexible. A base of rice or greens, a selection of proteins, and a range of toppings covers more dietary preferences in a single setup than almost any other format.

The key to making a bowl bar work is offering enough base variety — not just one type of rice or greens — and making the topping section generous enough that the bowl feels customized, not sparse. A bowl bar that is stingy on toppings reads as a salad bar, which generates a different reaction entirely.

Best for: health-conscious teams, recurring weekly or monthly lunches, teams where dietary variety is genuinely complex.

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5. Thai Food

Thai food earns its own entry because it came up independently across multiple Reddit threads as the specific cuisine most likely to surprise and delight a team that expects something generic.

Pad thai, green curry, spring rolls, and larb work well for groups because they are flavorful without being intimidating, accommodate a natural protein rotation (tofu, chicken, shrimp), and hold better than most cuisines when delivered. The spice is also adjustable in ways that make it easy to accommodate a range of tolerance levels.

Practically: order mild and medium versions of any curry-based dish. Do not assume your whole team wants it spicy.

Best for: teams stuck in a rut, a rotation refresh, offices near a good Thai restaurant.

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6. Indian Food

Indian cuisine is underutilized in office catering relative to how well it actually works. A selection of curries, rice, naan, and sides accommodates vegetarians, meat eaters, and dairy-free eaters simultaneously — and the flavors are distinctive enough to feel genuinely special compared to the usual rotation.

The practical upside: Indian food holds temperature exceptionally well, which makes it ideal for offices where people eat at different times. It is also one of the more budget-friendly options at scale, since the base ingredients stretch further than most cuisines.

One commenter on Reddit’s r/Big4 noted that their office’s best-received lunch had been Indian food from a local restaurant — specifically because it was the first time many people had tried it and the novelty generated genuine excitement.

Best for: teams that want to try something genuinely different, lunch-and-learns, offices with a vegetarian-heavy team.

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7. Charcuterie and Grazing Boards

This one surprised us in the Reddit data. A commenter on a Fooda thread described a charcuterie board as “a huuuuge hit — better than your typical fruit and veggie tray, and better for you than cookies and cupcakes.” Multiple other threads echoed it.

What makes it work for offices specifically: it is low-maintenance to serve, it photographs well for anyone who wants to post it to company Slack, it accommodates nibbling rather than a full plate, and it works as either a standalone lunch or a supplement to another main dish.

It is not the right choice if you are feeding a group that is genuinely hungry — a charcuterie spread works best as an addition to, not a replacement for, a more substantial option. But as a supplement to a grain bowl bar or a Mediterranean spread, it can elevate the whole experience significantly.

Best for: smaller groups, afternoon events, supplementing another format rather than standing alone.

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8. Korean BBQ or Bao

If you want to introduce a cuisine most teams have not tried in an office setting, Korean food is a strong choice. Bibimbap, japchae, bulgogi, or a bao spread all translate well to group catering without requiring specialized equipment.

The format advantage of bao specifically: it is a handheld, individually portioned item, which means no serving spoons, no shared dishes, and no one waiting in a buffet line. It works well for time-crunched lunches where people need to eat quickly.

Best for: teams that want something genuinely new, smaller groups (15 to 30 people), time-constrained lunches.

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A Rotation That Actually Works

The admins who get the most consistent positive feedback from their teams are not making a new decision every time — they are running a rotation. Here is a practical four-week rotation based on what the EA community uses most consistently:

Week 1: Taco bar Week 2: Mediterranean spread Week 3: Thai or Indian food from a local restaurant Week 4: BBQ or grain bowl bar

Repeat with variation. Once a quarter, use one slot for something genuinely new — Korean food, a food truck, a charcuterie-and-grain-bowl hybrid — to keep the rotation feeling fresh.

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The One Thing That Makes Any Format Better

Whatever format you choose, apply this rule from the Reddit comments: make sure there is at least one solid option for vegetarians and one option for anyone who is gluten-aware before you finalize the order. Do not add these as afterthoughts — build them into the primary spread.

Build-your-own formats do this naturally. Cuisine-specific formats require a deliberate check before ordering.

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Ready to Stop Repeating the Same Rotation?

Waiter.com works with over 1,300 restaurants nationwide, which means your team can actually rotate through formats like these week over week without you having to manage a new vendor relationship every time. Corporate meal programs handle the rotation, the dietary accommodations, and the delivery logistics — so the decision becomes which format this week, not who to call and whether they deliver to your building.

See how office lunch delivery works at waiter.com, or contact us to talk through a recurring meal program for your team.

The short answer

The most affordable office catering options are taco and fajita bars, sandwich and wrap platters, pasta buffets, and pizza, all of which cost between $8 and $18 per person. Other ways to keep costs low include confirming your headcount, reducing coordination overhead, and avoiding add-on costs the day of delivery.

This guide covers:

1. The most cost-effective options for office catering
2. A per-person cost breakdown to help you budget 
3. How to reduce total cost beyond the menu price
4. How recurring delivery programs reduce per-order cost for teams that eat together regularly

Catering meals for your team can exceed your budget if you don’t know what to order and how to order it. Certain cuisine is pricey and won’t stretch to feed a lot of mouths, while setup fees and last-minute order changes can quickly add up. 

That said, it is possible to order catering for the office, without breaking the break. Our guide provides the best tips and tricks for ordering affordable catering that stays within your budget. 

What Are the Cheapest Catering Options for an Office?

The good news is that there is a variety of cheap catering options that can feed your entire team. 

The most affordable catering options for offices:

• Use inexpensive base ingredients in volume.
• Work well as buffets, which generally cost less per person than individually packaged meals.
• Accommodate a wide range of dietary needs, without requiring separate premium options.

Here is a breakdown of the most affordable office catering options by estimated per-person cost:

Cuisine	Est. cost per person*	Best group size	Notes
Breakfast spread (continental)	$8-13	Any size	Cheapest per-person option: bagels, fruit, pastries, coffee
Pizza	$8-14	Any size	Easy to scale up or down
Pasta buffet	$10-15	15+ people	Filling, low waste, vegetarian-friendly by default
Sandwich and wrap platters	$12-16	Any size	Versatile, convenient, ideal for mixed diets
Taco and fajita bar	$12-18	20+ people	High value, customizable
Rice and grain bowls	$13-18	15+ people	Good for health-conscious teams; holds well for late arrivals
Individually boxed meals	$15-25	Any size	Higher cost per person, but better for mixed dietary needs; less waste when headcount is confirmed

  *Costs may vary based on the market 

The Most Affordable Office Catering Ideas, Explained

Let’s take a closer look at some of the most budget-friendly catering options. 

Breakfast spreads

A continental breakfast spread—bagels, pastries, fruit, yogurt, and coffee—is the least expensive catering option per person for most group sizes. It works any time of day, not just mornings. Teams serving brunch instead of a traditional lunch often find they spend 30 to 40 percent less per person without reducing satisfaction.

Taco and fajita bars

Mexican cuisine is consistently one of the most cost-effective options for office catering because the base ingredients—rice, beans, and tortillas—are inexpensive and filling, and smaller amounts of protein go further when served alongside them. A taco bar for 30 people will typically cost less per person than most other hot catering options at the same quality level. The build-your-own element also accommodates vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free eaters, without requiring a separate premium order.

Pizza

Pizza remains one of the best ways to feed a large group affordably. The per-person cost scales well, it requires almost no setup, and it’s simple—people won’t be confused about how to serve themselves. Pizza is casual though, so it may not work well for formal meetings or client-facing events. Also, it gets stale quickly if the group eats in shifts.

Sandwich and wrap platters

Sandwich and wrap platters are the most flexible option that won’t cost a fortune. They work for any group size, accommodate most dietary needs without extra cost, and travel well. For recurring office lunch catering, sandwich platters tend to hold higher participation rates than pizza because the menu rotates more easily.

Pasta buffets

Pasta is reliably filling at a low per-person cost, and it is one of the easiest options for quickly serving a large group. A buffet with two or three pasta options covers meat-eaters, vegetarians, and most dietary preferences without complicated ordering. The main trade-off is that pasta is not always the most exciting option—it’s fine for a working lunch, but less appropriate for a client visit or a celebration.

What Different Budget Tiers Actually Buy And When to Push Back

One of the most common problems EAs and office managers run into is not choosing the wrong food — it is working with a budget that does not match market reality. We spent time in office manager and EA communities on Reddit listening to how admins actually talk about catering budgets, and the pattern was consistent: admins are frequently handed per-person budgets set by leadership without any grounding in what catering actually costs.

“$400 for 45 people is crazy,” wrote one EA in r/ExecutiveAssistants after being handed that exact budget for a monthly catered lunch. Multiple colleagues agreed. Another EA who handles catering for a 60-person NYC office noted she typically spends $1,500 to $1,800 per week — roughly $25 to $30 per person — for a proper buffet-style lunch. A third noted that $700 to $1,000 is more realistic for 40 people once you factor in delivery fees and tip.

Here is what different per-person budgets actually buy, and what they cannot.

Under $10 per person

This tier covers pizza, a basic continental breakfast spread, or a simple pasta buffet — and not much else. If you are trying to feed a team a proper lunch at under $10 per person, you are looking at one or two items with no variety, no sides, and probably no dietary flexibility. This is a fine budget for a quick morning bagel meeting, but it is not a realistic lunch budget for most groups.

If you have been handed a budget in this range for a team lunch, this is where you push back. Run the numbers and show the cost table above. $8 per person is pizza or nothing.

$10 to $15 per person

This is where you get real options for a team lunch. Taco bars, sandwich platters, and pasta buffets all live here. You can feed a group of 20 to 50 people a decent buffet-style meal with some dietary variety at this tier. It is not glamorous, but it works for a working lunch or a regular team meal.

This is also the tier where the Reddit EA community lands most of their recurring lunch programs. It is achievable, it is repeatable, and it does not require fighting for a budget increase.

$15 to $25 per person

At this tier, you can do individually boxed lunches, higher-quality buffets, grain bowl setups, or rotating cuisine from better local restaurants. Dietary accommodations become easier because you have budget room for separate options. This is the sweet spot for a meal program that teams will actually look forward to.

If your company is positioning food as a morale benefit or a return-to-office incentive, this is the tier that delivers on that promise. Under $15 per person tends to read as “we had to feed you” rather than “we wanted to feed you.”

$25 and above per person

Above $25 per person, you are getting into individually curated orders, premium restaurant options, client-facing meals, or events where setup, presentation, and service matter. For a daily or weekly lunch program, this tier is generous. For a quarterly team event, client visit, or leadership off-site, it is appropriate.

The hidden cost that blows every budget

The per-food cost is not your total cost. Delivery fees, service charges, tax, and tip regularly add 20 to 30 percent on top of the base menu price. A $15 per person menu for 40 people is $600 in food — but with delivery, tip, and tax, the real number is likely $720 to $780.

Before presenting any budget to leadership or placing any order, use this formula:

Real budget needed = (headcount x per-person food cost) x 1.25

That multiplier covers the extras. If the approved budget does not reach that number, you either need a smaller headcount, a cheaper format, or a budget conversation.

If you need help making the case for a realistic catering budget, Waiter.com’s corporate meal programs offer transparent per-person pricing with delivery, tip, and service included — no math required after the fact. See how recurring office lunch catering works.

Important Decisions That Reduce Total Cost

Choosing affordable cuisine is just one way to help lower costs. Here are some other ways to help stay within your budget when ordering catered food for your team. 

Confirm headcount before ordering, not after

Over-ordering is the most common way office catering budgets get stretched. A 10 to 15 percent buffer above expected attendance is reasonable, but ordering for the maximum possible attendance on the off-chance everyone shows up is not. If you are consistently over-ordering, a simple RSVP or calendar event with attendance confirmation the day before gets you to a much more accurate number.

Avoid last-minute add-ons

Most catering orders come with a base cost that looks manageable—and then a set of add-ons that quickly inflate the total. Serving ware, setup fees, delivery minimums, and same-day changes all add up. 

Before placing any order, look at the fine print. Confirm what is included (utensils, napkins, serving spoons, chafing dishes) and determine whether setup is part of the service or a separate line item. Be mindful of any additional charges and either avoid them or bake them into your budget. 

Order recurring rather than one-off when possible

Teams that commit to a recurring schedule typically see lower per-order costs because the logistics are predictable and the relationship with the vendor is established. A group food ordering program also removes the need to collect individual preferences every time, which creates real-time administrative costs, even if it does not show up on the catering invoice.

Know when to choose a buffet over individually packaged meals

Individually packaged meals cost more per person than buffet-style service, but they offer better waste control when headcount is confirmed. 

For groups of 15 or more where headcount is approximate, a buffet is almost always cheaper because you can portion more accurately to actual attendance rather than paying for confirmed-but-absent individuals. 

For smaller groups with specific dietary needs, individually packaged meals may be worth the premium because they eliminate the risk of someone with an allergy eating something they should not.

Feeding your team more than once a month?A recurring catering program is one of the most effective ways to reduce per-order costs and eliminate the coordination overhead that accumulates over time. Waiter lets you set the schedule, the budget parameters, and the dietary requirements once, and it handles the rest. See how office lunch catering works.

How Offices Accidentally Overspend on Catering

Offices accidentally overspend on catering all the time. These are the most common mistakes to avoid when ordering food for your team: 

• Ordering for the maximum possible headcount rather than the expected headcount. If 40 people are invited and 28 typically show up, only order for 32 people, not 40.
• Choosing individual boxed meals for large groups when headcount is not confirmed. The per-person cost adds up quickly, and those unclaimed meals may go to waste. 
• Not confirming what is included in the base price. Setup fees, serving ware, and delivery minimums are the most common hidden costs.
• Re-ordering from scratch every time rather than setting up a recurring program. The cost of coordination is real. 
• Choosing options that are not conducive to the situation. For example, a taco bar for a working lunch may be too time-consuming, while pizza for an executive meeting may not be elevated enough for the occasion. 

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the cheapest thing to have catered?

A continental breakfast spread is typically the cheapest catering option per person, ranging between $8 to $13 per person, depending on location and vendor. For lunch, pizza and pasta buffets offer the lowest per-person cost for groups of 15 or more, typically between $8 and $15. The cheapest catering option overall is almost always a buffet-style setup rather than individually boxed meals.

How do you cater for 40 people on a budget?

For 40 people, a taco bar, sandwich platter, or pasta buffet will give you the best value. Expect to spend between $10 and $16 per person for a solid buffet option at that group size. Order with a 10 to 15 percent buffer above your confirmed headcount, confirm what is included in the base price before finalizing the order, and avoid same-day changes, which typically carry add-on costs.

What is a realistic per-person budget for office lunch catering?

$15 to $25 per person covers most solid office lunch options including buffets, taco bars, grain bowl setups, and rotating restaurant delivery. Below $10 per person limits you to pizza or a basic breakfast spread with little dietary variety. Above $25 per person is appropriate for client-facing meals, premium events, or individually curated orders. Whatever food cost you budget, add 20 to 25 percent on top for delivery, service charges, tax, and tip — those costs are real and consistent.

What is the cheapest way to feed a large group?

Pizza is the best option for very large groups. Pizza goes a long way, requires minimal setup, and costs between $8 and $14 per person. If you want something more substantial for groups over 30, a taco bar or pasta buffet are comparable in price but offer more dietary flexibility. Continental breakfast is another affordable way to feed a crowd if you’re hosting a morning meal. 

How do I make catering more affordable?

There are several ways to reduce catering costs without reducing quality. Choose a buffet option over individually boxed meals for groups of 15 or more, confirm headcount before ordering, verify what is included in the base price so there are no add-on surprises, and set up a recurring ordering program if your team eats together regularly. Recurring programs eliminate per-order coordination costs and often come with more predictable pricing than one-off orders.

The Bottom Line

The most affordable office catering doesn’t have to involve choosing the cheapest item on a menu. You can save money by selecting options that eliminate waste, confirming headcount, understanding what you are actually paying for, and planning your ordering so that coordination costs do not add up on top of the food cost.

Taco bars, sandwich platters, pasta buffets, and breakfast spreads are all cost-effective for office teams. The difference between staying within your budget and exceeding it is usually not the cuisine—it is the decisions you make around how you place the order. If your team eats together on a regular schedule, Waiter’s office lunch catering is built around recurring deliveries. It includes predictable pricing, dietary accommodations, and no per-order coordination overhead. What’s more, for teams that want each person to order individually from a shared budget, our group food ordering keeps the cost per person visible and under control, without anyone having to manually manage a complicated group order. Contact us today to get started!