How to choose the right caterer: Top tips from Grazing Catering

Let’s face it; lunch is the best part of the working day. Not only does it signal that you are (thankfully) half-way through the day, but after a busy morning of meetings, conversations and telephone calls it also means you can spend some time entertaining your other senses and catch up with your office friends.

Better still, if you are responsible for ordering food at your business, it’s a real opportunity to impress your colleagues and give them the fuel to create a better work environment. With a multitude of companies to choose from, what should you be looking for in a food company?

Sam Hurst, MD and Chief Grazer at Grazing Catering, gives us some of his top tips on what to consider when ordering your food for the office.

Find a genuine foodie
Ever been past a dodgy-looking trailer parked up on an A-road layby, with a sign proudly boasting “freshly prepared food”? Words like ‘fresh’, ‘quality’, ‘local’ and ‘tasty’ are easily banded about on signs and websites but not always delivered on. Find a caterer who delivers on their promises and genuinely provides food that your office will love, prepared using fresh ingredients.

Know your budget
Most caterers will have a range of menus to suit a wide variety of price points. There’s always budget in life so be upfront and honest with your prospective suppliers about your catering budget so they can work with you to provide the best menus and options to fit.

Leave the hassle at the door
Food for your office should be a pleasurable thing, and ordering it shouldn’t be a headache or admin nightmare either. Find a catering company who ‘gets it’ and can provide a simple ordering process and an account manager who understands how you work and works around you, not vice-versa. Speak to companies in advance, build a rapport and find someone you enjoy working with and will make your workload easier and your colleagues eternally grateful for having kept them well fed!

Think local
Food is always at its best when just cooked and has travelled the shortest distance possible from kitchen to table. The closer your chosen caterer is to your office, the shorter the distance it will have travelled and the better it will be for it.

It’s ok to be commitment shy (at first, anyway)
None of us want to jump feet first into a full-on relationship until we’ve done a bit of courting and tested the water for a while first. So why wouldn’t you apply the same sensible approach to building supplier relationships at work? Find a flexible supplier who won’t tie you in to a fixed length contract from day one or bog you down in longwinded Ts&Cs to keep running past your legal team or MD. Keep it simple and take it slowly.

To find out more about Grazing Catering, visit grazingcatering.com.