An end-of-summer celebration that puts the whole company in one room is a different order from the team lunches you place the rest of the year. As the person planning it, you're ordering for everyone at once rather than for one team, and the food has to work for the whole room without you polling each person on what they eat.
This post covers what to order for that room from Metro's Summer BBQ menu, which runs through Friday, September 11. You'll know how to price the food against your headcount, how to make sure everyone leaves with a full plate, and what to put out when people start heading for the door.
Metro prices most of the Summer BBQ menu per guest, against a minimum. Build Your Own Burger is $29.95 per guest with a ten-guest minimum, which works well for a single team but gets unwieldy once the invite goes company-wide.
The other option is a large shared platter, set out for the room and priced as one unit no matter how many people take from it. Metro calls these displays. Americana is $349.95 per display and includes Metro Cheeseburger Slider, Mac & Cheese Bites, Buttermilk Fried Chicken Skewers, BBQ Short Rib Cornbread Bites, and Metro Sauce. Chicken Wings are $80.00 per 20 pieces, bone-in or boneless, 20 pieces per variety.
Both let you add units as the headcount firms up. When forty RSVPs become sixty-five the week of, you add a platter and another order of Chicken Wings rather than repricing the entire order.
At a team lunch you can ask the few people who don't eat meat what they'd like. When the invite goes to everyone, build the coverage into the order instead of chasing it down person by person.
Veggie Americana is $329.95 per display and mirrors the Americana item for item: Baked Falafel Sliders with Cucumber and Lemon Tahini, Mac & Cheese Bites, BBQ BEEF-LESS Short Rib Cornbread Bites, Buttermilk Fried Cauliflower Bite, and Honey Mustard. Every item on it is vegetarian, and the Baked Falafel Sliders are the vegan option in the set.
Put both displays on the same table. Someone who doesn't eat meat fills a plate from the same spread as everyone else, without flagging anything down or asking you what's in it.
A five o'clock party in the office competes with trains and dinner plans. Dessert someone can take in one hand keeps the last half hour of the event from thinning out.
Mousse Shooters are $6.95 each, twelve minimum, in Chocolate, Vanilla, Raspberry, Passion Fruit, and Dulce de Leche. The minimum runs a dozen per flavor, so pick two or three flavors unless the headcount justifies all five.
Set them out when the food tables start to empty. People who are leaving take one on the way past, and the ones staying have a reason to come back to the table.
Metro's Summer BBQ menu runs through Friday, September 11, which leaves five weeks to hold the celebration inside the window. Pick the date this week and the rest of the order follows from it.
Send Metro's catering specialists your date and a rough headcount, and they'll tell you how many displays the room needs. The Summer BBQ display menu is on the order portal if you want to price it out first.
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.
