Catering multiple office locations with the same lunch on one day

Catering multiple locations on the same day sounds like three separate headaches, but from my side of the kitchen it is one menu cooked once and sent to three addresses. A company with an office in Richardson, a warehouse in Plano and a sales team in Frisco wants everyone to eat the same lunch on the same day and feel like one team. That is very doable, and this is how to plan it.

The short answer: Treat a multi-location lunch as one plan with one menu and one contact, then give each site its own headcount, address, on-site contact and eating time. Place one order per site in our online store, for the same date, with delivery to that site’s address; each order shows its own delivery fee at checkout. Plan two tamales per person at each site and keep the pork-and-chicken split the same everywhere.

Below is the planning sheet I suggest, how to lay out the day, and the small habits that keep the third office from feeling like an afterthought.

Why one kitchen beats three lunch spots

Office managers sometimes place three orders with three different lunch spots, one per site, because it feels simpler. It is not. You end up with three menus, three delivery calls, three receipts to reconcile, and a Richardson team eating tamales while the Frisco team eats sandwiches and wonders why. One kitchen fixes all of that:

• Same menu, same quality. Every site gets the same pork tamales in red salsa and chicken tamales in green salsa, made from scratch in the same kitchen.
• One store. The same online store for every site: pick the dozens, the date and the address, and pay online.
• One price. $60 a dozen at every site, so the cost per location is simple arithmetic. If accounting needs paperwork, my note on office catering receipts and invoices covers what to ask for.
• Volume that makes sense. Three sites of twenty people is a lunch for sixty, which is ten dozen tamales at $60 a dozen, ordered for the same day from the same kitchen.

Our corporate office catering page describes ordering for an office, and a multi-site lunch is simply the same order delivered to more than one door.

The planning sheet for catering multiple locations

Before you open the online store, gather the same five things for each location. Put them in a short list or a little table; it saves you a round of questions with every site.

1. Address with suite, floor and door. A business park in Plano can have six identical buildings. Know which one and which entrance before you enter it at checkout.
2. Headcount at that site. Not the company total; the number of people eating in that building.
3. On-site contact and phone. Someone who will be at the door, not the manager who is driving between sites.
4. Eating time. When lunch actually starts at that site. Shift teams and warehouse crews often eat earlier or later than the front office.
5. Setup notes. Break room with a counter, or a conference table that needs spoons, plates and salsas laid out.

With those five lines per site, placing the orders takes a few minutes: one order per site, the same date, the dozens for that headcount, and delivery to that address, paid online. Everything else, from the chicken-to-pork split to the sides, can be the same across all locations unless one site has different tastes.

Planning the day so every site eats hot

The kitchen is in Plano, and every site gets its own delivery to its own address. The sites will not all receive their food at the same minute, so plan each site’s lunch around its own eating time and keep the tamales lidded in their pans until the line opens. A site close to the kitchen can also choose pickup instead of delivery.

Notice two things. Thirteen dozen feed seventy-eight people at three sites for $780 before the delivery fees, and each site eats at the time that suits its own building, not the org chart. Each order shows its delivery fee at checkout, and next day orders must be received and confirmed by us before noon the previous day. My article on scheduling a catering delivery window explains how to choose a window that fits your building.

Our city pages for Plano and Frisco describe delivery in each area, and the full list of cities is on the service areas page.

Labeling and packing so nothing gets swapped

The quiet risk in a multi-site day is that the Plano count ends up in Frisco. Separate orders prevent it the boring way: each site’s order carries its own dozens and its own address. Give each on-site contact a copy of their order confirmation, and have them set out their own salsas, crema, serving spoons and utensils, so the first site never depends on the third site’s supplies.

Two habits on your end help. First, have the on-site contact count the dozens against the order confirmation; it takes thirty seconds. Second, have each contact put a note on every pan for the filling, so the spice-shy know where the chicken is. Our tamales are made with gluten-free corn masa, though the kitchen is not a certified gluten-free facility, so a site with a celiac guest should know that.

Keeping the menu identical without making it boring

The whole point of a company-wide lunch is that everyone eats the same thing. Keep the core the same at every site: two tamales per person, roughly half chicken and half pork, with rice, beans, chips and both salsas from each office. Then allow one small local difference if a site asks for it. The warehouse crew might want a third tamal each because they eat standing up and work hard; the sales office might lean toward chicken because two people are spice-shy. Those are easy tweaks that do not break the shared menu.

What I would avoid is ordering fancier food for headquarters and plainer food for the branches. People talk between offices, and the whole warmth of a shared lunch evaporates the moment a photo of the “good” spread shows up in the group chat.

Making it a recurring program

Many companies try a multi-site lunch once and then repeat it monthly. That is Tamale Day: a count per site, a fixed day each month, and the same orders placed in our online store each time. You change the counts when they change and otherwise keep the routine. One office reviewer wrote that everyone looks forward to tamale day, and that is the effect across three buildings at once.

Keeping it running takes the same five-line sheet per site, updated each month. My guide to setting up a corporate catering account covers the billing side, and the catering FAQ answers the everyday questions about reheating, storage and delivery hours.

Ready to feed every office on the same day?

Whether it is two sites in Richardson and Plano or four across north Dallas, Maggie’s makes one tamale lunch, the same pork and chicken for every office. Fill in the five-line sheet for each site, place one order per site in our online store for the same date, with delivery to each address, and pay online. Order online, and if you have a question about the day, call or text (469) 888-8398.

Frequently asked questions

How does catering multiple locations on the same day work?

You plan one menu with one contact, then give each site its own address, headcount, on-site contact and eating time. With our online store you place one order per site for the same date, each with delivery to that site’s address and its own delivery fee shown at checkout, and pay online. Each on-site contact checks the dozens against their order confirmation.

Will every office get its food at the same time?

Not to the minute. Each site is its own delivery to its own address, so plan each site’s lunch around its own eating time and keep the tamales lidded in their pans until the line opens. A site close to our Plano kitchen can choose pickup instead. Next day orders must be received and confirmed by us before noon the previous day.

Can each office have a different headcount and menu?

Different headcounts, yes, always; that is why a count per site beats a company total. Small differences are fine too, such as a third tamal per person at a warehouse or more chicken tamales at a spice-shy office. I recommend keeping the core menu the same everywhere so the lunch feels shared, and adjusting only the mix and the portions per location.

How do we pay for several locations?

Each site’s order is paid online in our online store when you place it, so every location has its own order and its own total, which makes it easy to charge each site or department its share internally. For any paperwork your accounting team needs, call or text (469) 888-8398 or email [email protected].

How much food should I order per location?

Plan two tamales per person for lunch at each site and round up to whole dozens, so twenty-four people is four dozen and thirty-six people is six dozen. Add rice, beans, chips and salsas in proportion. If one site has shift workers who eat heartily, plan three tamales per person there instead. Leftover tamales freeze well, so a small buffer per site is inexpensive insurance.