Lunch for a client meeting, where the food isn’t the story.
Clients arrive at 12:30, the boardroom seats ten, and everyone will be talking while they eat. The food needs to look considered, be easy to eat in a suit, and be set out before anyone walks in. Here is how to get that right.
Three ways to set the table
All three are easy to eat while the conversation carries on, which is the test that matters here.
Triangle sandwiches
Quartered sandwiches with a much bigger range of fillings, meat and vegetarian. $13.00 a person at a standard serve, or choose finger sandwiches.
Individual deli boxes
A tidy box per guest, so nobody reaches across the table. $11.70 each.
- Mixed finger sandwiches
- Healthy vegetarian
- Australian cheese
- Antipasto (includes ham and salami)
Grazing platters
For a longer meeting where people help themselves between agenda items.
- Cheese platter, suits 10 to 15
- Crudités platter with dips
- Seasonal fruit platter, suits up to 15
Better for the team lunch than the client lunch
- !Full-size wraps and baguettes, which need two hands and a pause in the conversation.
- !Anything with a sauce that can drip onto a shirt or a contract.
- !Food that needs a knife and fork when the table is covered in papers.
- Triangle or finger sandwiches and small savouries, a few bites each.
- Individual boxes, so everyone has their own and nothing is passed around.
- Cheese, fruit and crudités that people can pick at between points.
Set out before the first guest arrives
Choose an early window
Pick a delivery window that finishes well before your guests arrive. Put the food straight in the fridge and set it out about 15 minutes before they walk in.
Tell us how to get in
Put the level and room in the delivery address, and any loading dock or security details under Delivery instructions.
Add the small things
Plates, serviettes and cutlery arrive with the food, so nobody raids the kitchen cupboard mid-meeting.
Sort the drinks
Spring water and juice, or freshly brewed coffee and tea in air-pots (minimum 20 serves).
Ask about dietary requirements when you send the meeting invite, not at the table. DietSync collects them for you, and an individually packed item for each guest with a requirement means nobody has to ask what is in something in front of a client.
Work back from when your guests arrive
Enter the arrival time and the helper sets out when the food should land, come out and go back.
Client lunch timing helper
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Before the clients walk in
Tick them off as you go. Your ticks are saved in this browser, and you can print the list.
- Guest numbers and dietary requirements confirmed.
- Delivery window finishes at least 30 minutes before guests arrive.
- Level and room in the delivery address; access details under Delivery instructions.
- A shelf cleared in the fridge.
- Plates, serviettes and cutlery ordered.
- Water and glasses in the room.
- Food out 15 minutes before guests arrive, lids off.
- P.O. number or meeting name added at checkout.
Three small things that make it look considered
Serve from a side table
Keep the meeting table for papers and laptops, and let people help themselves at a break in the conversation.
Lids off, labels on
Take the lids off just before guests arrive, and keep dietary items clearly labelled so nobody has to ask.
A serviette at every seat
A small thing, and the one people notice when it is missing.
Client lunch questions
How many individual boxes should I order?
Can the invoice show the client or meeting name?
Can I order for today?
What should I do with the leftovers?
Sort the lunch, then get back to the agenda.
Choose the food, pick the delivery window, and add a P.O. number or the meeting name so it is easy to match on the invoice.
About the prices. Prices on this page are read from our menu and include GST. Delivery is extra and depends on your date and address.