Running a standing lunch order for your office means managing more than most people give you credit for: the vendor relationship, the dietary list, the day everyone's counted on for months. Summer changes the math. People take PTO, teams go hybrid for a few weeks, and the room that usually needs lunch for thirty needs it for eighteen. This post covers what to change about the order when that happens, and what to leave alone, so the same program is still running in September without needing to be rebuilt from scratch.
If a dozen people are out on any given Tuesday, the temptation is to skip the order or push it to a lighter week. Don't. Orders canceled on the same day or after 4:00 PM on the previous business day will be charged in full, so skipping the order doesn't avoid the cost anyway. Instead, call Metro's account contact and update the guest count instead of skipping the week entirely. The day, the format, and the standing time can all stay exactly the way they've been running all year. Only the number changes. It's also the easiest week to update any standing dietary notes, since the group in the office that week often isn't the same group the order was built around back in the spring. Orders canceled on the same day or after 4:00 PM on the previous business day will be charged in full.
This matters more in summer than any other season. A thinning headcount is exactly when standing orders quietly get paused — and a program paused for six or eight weeks means renegotiating the headcount, the day, and the format from zero once fall comes around.
A recurring order that skips a slow month has to be re-explained in September: a new headcount to figure out, a schedule to reconfirm, maybe a new point of contact reviewing it for the first time. Keeping the same day, even for twelve people instead of thirty, means the order picks back up in the fall exactly where it left off. Nobody has to reintroduce the program to the team, and nobody has to justify bringing it back.
If your office splits into rotating in-person weeks over the summer, match the order to whichever cohort is in that day rather than the full-team number. The day stays fixed. The count moves with the room.
A thinner room is also a chance to test something a thirty-person buffet never allows. Boxed lunches, including Metro's Chickpea Salad Pita (Boxed Lunch) and Grilled Chicken Caprese (Boxed Lunch), come with just a five-person minimum, so a week of ten or twelve people doesn't mean overordering just to hit a buffet's minimum count. It's a low-stakes window to see whether a boxed format works better for smaller weeks, without committing the whole program to it.
If the team responds well, keep it as a standing option for slow weeks going forward.
If your office's in-person headcount is already thinning out for August, this is the week to call and adjust the order. Metro's Workplace Dining program can update the guest count and keep the same day running straight through Labor Day.
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.
