The mid-year all-hands puts the whole company in one room at the same time. Leadership walks through the first half of the year and lays out the second, and every employee is watching — from the room or on the screen. As the person responsible for catering it, you're feeding the largest group you'll feed all year while a live program runs a few feet from the food. This post covers what to order, when it should arrive, and how to set it up. By the end you'll have a short list of options that work in a full room, a delivery window matched to the agenda, and a setup people can move through in minutes.
Individual portions are the right call when everyone eats during the meeting. Pre-packed meals get handed out or picked up in a minute or two, while a buffet puts the whole office in a line during someone's presentation. Three options from Metro's menu cover almost any all-hands:
Delivery timing follows the agenda, not the calendar invite. If people eat while leadership presents, the food has to be unpacked and ready before the first speaker is up — handing out boxes during opening remarks splits everyone's attention. If the agenda has a built-in lunch break, schedule delivery at least thirty minutes ahead, which leaves time to unpack, set out labels, and fix anything that's off before the room stands up at once. Metro asks for 24 to 48 hours of notice on most orders, so place the order the week before, once the headcount settles.
Put the food at the back of the room or just outside the doors, where people can pick up a box without crossing in front of the screen. Use two or three pickup points instead of one — a single table for a few hundred people causes the same buffet-style lines we're trying to avoid. Label everything clearly so nobody opens three boxes to find the vegetarian one, and keep a small stack of extras near the door for anyone who steps in late. These are decisions you can make on the order itself or hand to whoever's working the door; either way they take five minutes and keep lunch from interrupting the meeting.
If your all-hands is on the calendar for late June, the order window is now. Metro's kitchen has fed Midtown's workplace dining programs since 1981, and everything above is on the menu year-round — nothing expires before your meeting date. Pick the menu, confirm the headcount, and place the order at orders.metrocateringnyc.com. Lunch will be the easiest part of the 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.
