When you plan food for your office, you choose the format by how many people are coming, where they will eat, and which diets are in the group. At Metro, we cater team meals, department lunches, and client receptions from one Midtown kitchen, with corporate event catering options for individual preferences across the group. Here is how to match the order to your group, your room, and your guests.
Start with how your guests will eat. A small meeting suits individually packed meals, and a department lunch or a larger gathering works well with food set out to share.
For meetings where individual portions make sense, Metro offers Sandwich Boxes, Breakfast Boxes, Individual Entrées, and Individual Grain Bowls. Each guest gets a meal of their own, which works in a conference room, during a working session, or when people won't all eat at once.
For groups eating together, you can switch to shared formats. A Metro package is an entrée plus two sides and a Garden Salad, ordered per guest. Buffets and themed buffets work when you want guests to choose from a shared spread.
At a build-your-own bar, guests decide what goes on their plates. Depending on the meal, you can choose a Taco Bar, Pasta Bar, Grain Bowl Bar, Salad Bar, Omelet Bar, or Slider Bar. Metro also offers hors d'oeuvres and large shared platters, which we call displays.
Breakfast follows the same pattern, with Breakfast Packages, the Breakfast Buffet, Hot Breakfast, and Breakfast Boxes, so you can choose individual meals or a shared spread for a morning meeting.
If you are planning an event for a few hundred guests, our post on what changes when you cater an event for 30 vs. 100 vs. 300 covers staffing, stations, and bar planning at that size.
You can match the catering to the way people gather. An everyday office lunch and an after-work event involve many of the same planning decisions, with a different presentation and level of service for each.
Every Metro order comes with disposable plates, napkins, cups, and utensils. Hot food arrives in aluminum pans on wire racks with gel-flame heat. If your building does not permit open flames, Metro also offers a flameless set-up.
For a client meeting or an executive lunch, you can add Executive Presentation. Metro sets out porcelain platters, handcrafted wood trays, and stainless steel chafing dishes on black linen, then picks up the equipment afterward.
For receptions and happy hours, Metro offers Special Events & Happy Hours Prix Fixe Menus. You can also add cocktail, wine, and beer service, along with seasonal mocktails and zero-proof cocktails. A Metro catering specialist quotes servers and bartenders separately.
In one season, you can keep a working lunch simple, upgrade the presentation for an executive meeting, and build the food and bar plan around a reception, all with Metro.
When your group includes vegans, vegetarians, and guests who avoid gluten, start with the labels on the order portal. It marks dishes as vegetarian, vegan, or gluten-free and flags dishes with nuts, so you can check each choice as you build the order.
On the fall menu, those labels include:
With the labels, you can plan for every guest from the start. If a guest has an allergy, mention it when you order so our team has that information.
The Fall Seasonal menu is available October 5 through December 30, so you can use it for office meals and events into the early holiday season.
We have catered corporate events in New York since 1981, from our kitchen at 21 W 38th St in Midtown. When you are ready, review the menu and choose the format that fits your group on our order portal.
For a larger event, a reception, bar service, Executive Presentation, or help coordinating the details, request a quote. A catering specialist will build the plan around your headcount, your space, and your guests.
Author
Chris Zamfotis
Managing Partner, Metro Catering
Chris Zamfotis is the Managing Partner at Metro Catering, a New York City catering company serving corporate offices, private events, and businesses across Manhattan. With a focus on reliable service, thoughtful menu planning, and polished presentation, Chris helps lead Metro Catering’s approach to modern corporate catering, from daily office lunches to executive meetings, happy hours, and large-scale events.
Metro Catering has been NYC’s trusted corporate catering provider since 1981, offering fresh, high-quality meals for office lunches, corporate events, and workplace dining—delivered on time, every time.
