You kept the office lunch program running through a summer of thin in-office days. The order got smaller, the rotation got shorter, and both worked because the room stayed quiet. As the person who manages workplace dining for your office, you can see what's coming: September return dates are set, the room fills, and an order sized for July runs out of food before everyone has eaten.
This post covers the three changes that get a recurring lunch order ready for a fuller office — resizing it before the first full week, rebuilding the rotation so it doesn't repeat every few days, and planning for dietary needs that haven't been part of the order since June. Metro confirms next-day orders by 3:00 p.m. the day before, so all three changes fit between today and the first full Monday.
Start with the number. Ask team leads how many people are coming in on each weekday in September, and order to that count.
Metro prices its everyday lunch menu per guest, so a bigger team means a bigger guest count on the same order. Sandwich Package #1, which puts out sandwiches, wraps, and pitas with a salad, runs $18.95 per guest with an 8-guest minimum, whether that count is 12 or 30. The $200 weekday order minimum works in your favor too: a thin summer order sometimes had to stretch to reach it, and a full-room order clears it easily.
The part that needs attention is timing. Some items need 24 hours' notice or more, and if the full team returns on a Monday, the resized order is Friday afternoon's job: placed by 3:00 p.m., settled before the weekend.
A loop of three or four lunches felt fine when the same small crew was eating it every week. In a full room it repeats fast.
Widen the loop by category rather than dish by dish. Cold sandwiches one week, a hot buffet the next, a build-your-own bar the week after — three different kinds of lunch give the rotation more variety than three new sandwiches would. Ask your caterer which lunches they can rotate at the same per-guest price and which ones need extra notice; once you know that, a four-week plan takes one conversation to set up.
Review the plan monthly instead of weekly. A rotation set four weeks out saves you the Thursday scramble of picking Friday's lunch, and it gives the kitchen time to prepare anything that needs lead time. If the order repeats weekly, ask whether it can run as a standing order you adjust, so the weekly work shrinks to confirming the count.
A fuller office widens the list of dietary needs the order has to work around — vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and individual allergies.
Ask once, in one message. A short note to the whole office asking who has a dietary restriction the lunch order should account for gives you a list you can reuse, and that list changes far less often than the headcount does.
From there, pick lunches where each person builds their own plate. Metro's Salad Bar sets out two greens, two proteins, two cheeses, six veggies, and three dressings; the Grain Bowl Bar does the same with two grains, three sauces, and a crunch topping. Both run $24.95 with a minimum of 10, and one order takes care of vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free plates at once.
Metro is direct about what the kitchen is: it welcomes vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free requests and flags them on the order, and the facility is not gluten-free or nut-free. For a severe allergy, that's a conversation to have with a catering professional before the first order.
September return dates are already on calendars, and Metro's Summer Seasonal menu runs through October 2 with the fall menus behind it, so a rotation set up now comes with its first refresh already scheduled. Set the new headcount, widen the loop, and send the dietary note this week — then place the order at orders.metrocateringnyc.com, or call (212) 268-2828 Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and a catering professional will set up the fall program with you.
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.
