Staff lunch: what to order and from where
Ordering lunch for the office shows your employees that you appreciate them. Studies have shown that 81% of business leaders believe that offering free food is the best way to incentivize employee attendance and participation.
However, ordering and catering lunch for the office can be difficult when you have employees with specific food allergies and diet preferences. But don’t worry because we have compiled our favorite tips and tricks to make ordering lunch for the whole team easy and painless.
Lunch ideas for office staff
Fajita Fiesta
Let’s kick it off with my personal favorite, Mexican food. Mexican food is a great lunch idea for your office staff because this cuisine is hearty, comforting, satisfying, never short on flavor, and has a variety of options.
I recommend going the fajita or build-your-own taco bar route. When catering fajitas, the tacos usually come disassembled, meaning the tortillas, meat, veggies, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, and pico all come in separate containers. This is great for people who have food allergies or diet preferences because they can pick exactly what goes onto their fajitas. Make sure to order both flour and corn tortillas, that way both the gluten lovers and the gluten avoiders can partake in the fiesta.
Sandwiches and Wraps
Reliable, well-liked, and made for travel… sandwiches and wraps are great items to have catered for the office. Not only are sandwiches and wraps delicious, but they are also generally on the cheaper side of catering options. Plus, many restaurants offer allergen accommodations like gluten-free bread and soy-free dressings.
Sandwiches and wraps often come individually wrapped and some restaurants even pack each order in separate boxes. This reduces the risk of cross-contamination and it helps make the process of distributing the food more sanitary.
Seasonal Soups and Salad
Soups and salads are a great option for the whole team, especially if you have vegetarians and vegans working in the office. Many soups and salads are inherently vegetarian or have meatless protein options. Additionally, soup and salad are familiar foods that will appeal to a wide variety of people.
Eating seasonally naturally adds variety to your diet as crops cycle throughout the year. Fresh, in-season produce is also often higher in valuable vitamins and minerals and of better quality than produce that is out-of-season. Therefore, seasonal soups and salads make for a light, nutritious lunch that will satisfy your employees’ appetites without weighing them down. That way your office will leave lunch with plenty of energy to tackle the busy afternoon.
Explore New Cultures and Cuisines
Exploring new cultures and cuisines with your team to encourage diversity and inclusion within your office space. Trying new foods is “in style,” so we know your team will have a ball. So, if you’re an office full of people who are down for an adventure, you all should try catering poké bowls, ordering a variety of authentic Indian curries, or getting takeout from a local Chinese restaurant.
Turn the cultural experience into a team-building activity by incorporating your employees into the process of picking a restaurant. For example, you could have everyone vote on what kind of cuisine should be catered like Italian, Asian, or Mediterranean. Or you can assign a different person to pick the restaurant each time. Making your employees a part of the decision process will make them feel important and included in the company culture.
Where to order employee lunch from?
Going off of the lunch ideas listed above, I have selected an example of a restaurant that you could order from for each of the four categories: fajita fiesta, sandwiches and wraps, seasonal soups, and salads, and exploring new cultures and cuisines. These restaurants are hand selected based on their ability to please a crowd with a variety of tastes and preferences. Let’s get into it!
On The Border
If you’re throwing a fajita fiesta, then catering On The Border is a great option. They have a special menu just for catering that features fajita buffets, nacho bars, and even burrito bowls that can be customized to feed as little or as many people as you need.
If you’re an office that has some employees with food allergies or specific diet preferences, you might want to go the individually packaged meal route. On The Border has an entire section of their catering menu just for that. They offer burrito bowls, fajitas, tacos, wraps, and salads as individually packaged meal options. But wait, it gets even better… all boxed meals come with complimentary chips and salsa!
Freshii
If you’re looking to order some light and delicious wraps for the office, Freshii has just what you’re looking for. Freshii offers an aesthetic wrap platter that features four different kinds of wraps: cobb, fiesta, market, and kale caesar. You have the option of choosing what kind of protein you would like to include. The options are chicken, tofu, and falafel. This is an optimal choice for an office that has vegetarians because Freshii allows its customers to have a variety of protein options on a single platter.
If you have some gluten-free friends in the office that can’t enjoy the wraps, don’t worry because Freshii has a variety of gluten-free options as well. Freshii features a variety of salads on its catering menu, which can be enjoyed by those who are gluten-free. If you have a lot of dietary accommodations to make, consider ordering a wrap plater and a group salad so that there are a variety of options for everyone.
La Madeleine
Known for its french flair, delicate café atmosphere, and rotating seasonal items. You can expect to find seasonal soups on La Madeleine’s menu like autumn squash soup in the fall and a light vegetable soup in the summer. Additionally, their pastries often follow along with seasonal holidays. They feature chocolate-covered strawberries for Valentine’s Day and Mardi Gras-themed danishes for, yep you guessed it, Mardi Gras.
They offer a soup and salad bundle on their catering menu that comes with freshly baked bread. You have the option to choose from their available soups and signature salads. La Madeleine also offers boxed lunch options like a bistro salad box that comes with your choice of salad, side, freshly baked baguette, and a decadent cookie for dessert.
Luna Grill
Explore a new cuisine and try new foods by choosing from the variety of options available on Luna Grill’s Mediterranean menu. Luna Grill is known for their signature plates that include items like gyros, kabobs, tzatziki sauce, basmati rice, greek cabbage, and hummus. They have an extensive catering menu that includes options that people of all diet preferences, tastes, and allergies can enjoy.
Luna Grill takes pride in providing its customers with quality food that embraces traditional Mediterranean cuisine. They serve clean ingredients that are guaranteed to be non-GMO, fresh, responsibly raised, and with minimal amounts of additives or preservatives. This is feel-good food that you can trust. Also, there's no better way to show your appreciation to your most valued and hard-working employees than with a warm gyro and fresh baklava.
How to arrange office lunch delivery on a daily basis?
As we enter the busy season, it’s not uncommon for offices to offer lunch on a daily basis. Taking care of lunch for your busy team is a tangible way to boost employee morale. But what about employees that are working their butts off from home? Many employee benefits, such as catered lunches, miss team members who are working from home. Luckily, we have an easy and sustainable office lunch solution that includes delivery for both your in-office and remote workers.
bitewell
If you are looking for an employee food benefits platform that provides both flexible and healthful food delivery, then you came to the right place. bitewell provides both in-office and at-home employees the autonomy to order whatever food they want, with a strong emphasis on healthy food recommendations.
This is how it works. 1) You drop a food stipend in your team members’ accounts daily, weekly, monthly, or on specific occasions. 2) We recommend the healthiest restaurant meals near your team, personalized to each employee’s health. 3) Employees use their stipend to order food directly to them, earning extra points for healthier choices. bitewell is a great way to offer office lunch delivery on a daily basis for companies that work remotely, hybrid, or entirely in the office.
Additionally, bitewell is the perfect tool for traveling employees. One of the top complaints from employees who travel is how hard it is to eat healthily while on the road. bitewell’s personalized food recommendations make ordering healthy easy no matter where you are. The bitewell platform makes it easy to prioritize your health while still being a rockstar road warrior.
bitewell isn’t for everyone, but we are a great fit for the employer that wants to optimize their yearly food spend. Put daily lunch delivery in the hands of your employees for a happier and healthier team. Check out bitewell to see if we are a good fit for you.
Are team lunches taxable?
Not only will providing your employees with lunch make them more productive workers, but it also earns your company a tax write-off. Yep you heard me right, any business meals used for business purposes are 100% tax deductible and that includes providing your staff with an in-office lunch.
However, there are a few rules that you must follow in order for your employee lunch to qualify as tax deductible. Note that these rules are vague and allow for a good amount of flexibility. It’s best to check with a tax professional before marking lunches as tax write-offs.
The taxpayer or the employee of the taxpayer is present when the items are consumed. So, basically, you or your employees for whom the food is for must be physically present to partake in the meal.
The expenses are not lavish or extravagant under the circumstances. This rule is actually pretty vague. There is no dollar amount that your receipt must stay under or a limit on the money that you are allowed to spend. You are just supposed to use common sense to determine if the meal is appropriate for the situation.
Any guests that you share the meal with must be business associates. That means non-company family members of you or your employees cannot partake in tax-deductible meals unless the family members are required to be there.
In conclusion, fueling your work team with a hearty, nutritious lunch will prove to be beneficial not only for them but for you as well. Providing your staff with meals makes them feel appreciated and motivates them to work hard in the office. Plus, business meals are tax deductible. So what are you waiting for? Plan that fajita fiesta and give your valued co-workers the fuel they need to finish the workday strong.