Tamale Day: how to start a monthly office lunch your team loves

Tamale Day is a recurring lunch, usually once a month, where a set number of tamales arrive at your office at the same time every cycle and nobody has to plan anything new. The office manager sets the routine once, checks the headcount a few days before each delivery, places the order in our online store, and the kitchen does the rest. One of my office customers wrote in a review that everyone there looks forward to tamale day, and that is the whole point: a lunch people notice, on a schedule that runs itself.

The short answer: an office Tamale Day is a recurring order, usually monthly, for two big tamales per person, delivered at the same time each cycle. You settle the headcount and the split once, check the number a few days before each delivery, and order the dozens in our online store. Ten people is two dozen; forty is eight. That is the whole workload.

I have watched a lot of offices try to build a lunch tradition. Pizza Friday lasts until someone points out that it is always pizza. Potlucks work twice and then the same three people end up cooking. What makes a tamale lunch different is that it feels like an event without anyone doing the work of an event. The husks come off at the desk, the office smells like a real kitchen for an hour, and the people who grew up with tamales start telling stories to the people who did not.

Here is how to set one up, what to decide, and what I have learned from the offices that keep theirs running.

Start with one lunch, not a program

Do not announce a monthly Tamale Day on day one. Order once. Watch what happens. If people come back for a second tamal, if someone asks where the salsa verde went, if the last plate disappears before 1 PM, you have your answer. Then you tell the team it is coming back next month, and now it is a thing.

The first order is also where you learn about your office. You find out whether your group leans pork or chicken, whether the warehouse crew claims the pork first, and how many people actually show up on a Wednesday versus a Friday. That first delivery tells you more than any planning meeting, and it makes every later order more accurate.

The page for office catering and Tamale Day delivery explains how offices order, but honestly the easiest way to begin is one order in our online store with your date and a rough headcount: chicken or pork, a half dozen or a dozen, delivery or pickup, paid online. If you want a few one-off lunches before you commit to a rhythm, my list of corporate catering ideas for Plano and Richardson offices covers seven that work.

Pick the rhythm your office can keep

Monthly is the sweet spot for most teams. It is often enough to become a tradition and rare enough to stay special. A few of my customers run it every other week, and one warehouse team does it every Friday because they have shift workers who cannot come to evening events and this is their team meal. All of those work. What does not work is “whenever someone remembers.”

• First Wednesday of the month. My most common request. Mid-week attendance is the most predictable, and the delivery lands before the mid-month crunch.
• Payday Friday. Popular with retail and logistics teams. People are already in a good mood.
• The day of the monthly all-hands. Lunch right after the meeting keeps people in the room for the conversation that actually matters.

Whichever you choose, put it on the shared calendar as a recurring event with the delivery time on it. Remote staff plan office days around it. I am not exaggerating; I have been told this by three different office managers.

How many tamales to order for an office Tamale Day

My tamales are big. Reviewers use the word “huge,” and they are not wrong. One tamal is a full lunch for many people, and I have never had an office run out when they planned on two per person and added a small buffer. Here is the sizing I use when someone gives me a headcount.

Two things move that number. If the office adds its own sides, like a salad or chips, the tamale count can come down a little. And if your office has a few big eaters who are famous for it, the buffer earns its keep. I wrote a longer piece on how many tamales to order per person for parties and offices if you want the full math, including what to do about leftovers.

The split I recommend to a new office is about half pork in red salsa and half chicken in green salsa. After the first delivery you will know your ratio. One accounting firm in Plano is now 70 percent chicken. A construction office near Richardson is almost all pork. Neither surprised me once I met them.

What arrives and how to serve it

Tamales come in their husks: pork in red salsa and chicken in green tomatillo salsa. If your office likes extra salsa on the table, set out a bowl of red and a bowl of green, and people will mix them anyway, which is correct.

You do not need a serving line. I have seen it done in a kitchenette the size of a closet. What helps:

1. Clear one counter and set the tamale trays at one end, salsas and plates at the other.
2. Put a small sign or a sticky note on each tray: “pork, red salsa” and “chicken, green salsa.” It stops the peeling-to-check problem.
3. Keep the lids on until the first people arrive. The husks hold heat surprisingly well if you do not let the steam out early.
4. Tell newcomers the husk is a wrapper, not food. Every office has one person who does not know, and they will thank you for the quiet warning.

Leftovers, if there are any, reheat beautifully the next day. Wrap them in a damp paper towel and microwave, or steam them if your break room has a way to do that. I have a full guide on reheating tamales so they taste fresh that you can pin next to the microwave.

Gluten-free and other dietary questions

Every tamal I make uses gluten-free masa. That is not a special order; it is the only masa in my kitchen. So the person on your team who usually eats a sad salad on catered days can eat with everyone else. I get asked about this more than any other question from office managers, and it is a real relief to be able to say yes without a caveat.

The chicken tamales are made with chicken breast. The pork is slow-cooked and shredded into the red salsa. Both fillings have what one reviewer called “a little kick,” which I would describe as warm rather than hot; the red is the warmer of the two, and a bowl of extra salsa on the table lets people set their own level. If someone on your team has a serious allergy, call or text me at (469) 888-8398 before you order.

Why it sticks when other lunches do not

I have thought about this a lot, because I want my office customers to keep coming back, and the ones who keep Tamale Day going for a long time share a few habits.

Someone owns it, lightly

There is one person, usually the office manager or an executive assistant, who checks the headcount, places the order and puts the calendar hold up. That takes them about five minutes a month. It is not a committee and it does not need a budget meeting every time. The menu prices are fixed, $30 a half dozen and $60 a dozen, so the cost is known in advance and the approval was done once.

It is tied to something people already do

Lunch after the monthly meeting. Lunch on the first day of the sales cycle. Lunch on the Friday the interns present. When the food is attached to a moment, the moment gets better and the food gets remembered.

It is not the same as every other vendor

A sandwich tray is fine. But nobody walks to the break room early for a sandwich tray. Tamales are a little bit of theater: the husk, the steam, the choice of salsa. New hires get told about it during onboarding. That is the kind of small culture thing that costs a few hundred dollars a month and quietly does a lot of work.

The kitchen is reliable

I can only speak for mine. Every tamal is made from scratch, and the rule for next-day orders is simple: Next day orders must be received and confirmed by us before noon the previous day. Only confirmed orders will be delivered as requested. If your headcount changes after you order, call or text me at (469) 888-8398 as soon as you know. That predictability is what turns a one-time order into a routine.

Setting up the monthly order

Here is the whole process, so you can see how little there is to it.

1. Pick a day and a delivery time. Most offices want food on the counter between 11:30 AM and noon. My kitchen is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 9 AM–2 PM; I am closed Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays, so plan the recurring day around that.
2. Settle the first headcount and a pork-to-chicken guess. If you have no idea, split it evenly.
3. Decide on delivery or pickup. Most offices choose delivery. If someone passes our Plano kitchen on the way in, pickup works too, and the address and pickup time come with the order confirmation.
4. Approve the budget once. At $60 a dozen, the price per delivery stays the same until your headcount changes; the delivery fee is shown at checkout.
5. Order each month. A few days ahead, check the number and place the order in our online store, before noon the day before at the latest. That is the entire ongoing workload.

Small one-off orders, like a half dozen for a birthday at your desk, go through the same online store; the how to order page explains how it works. Put your suite number and loading dock with the delivery address the same way every month, so the driver finds your building.

If your office is in Richardson, we are a few minutes away in Plano. We deliver to Plano, Frisco, Allen, McKinney, and Dallas as well, and the Richardson catering page has the details for offices closest to the kitchen.

Frequently asked questions

How much does an office Tamale Day cost per person?

At two big tamales per person, the food runs about $10 a head at the one-dozen price of $60. Most offices land a little above that once they add a buffer for a hungry crew. The delivery fee is shown at checkout in our online store, and the price stays the same each month until your headcount changes.

How far ahead do I need to order a recurring office lunch?

Give the first order a little more notice, so you have time to learn your office’s numbers. After that, check the headcount a few days before each delivery and order in our online store. Next day orders must be received and confirmed by us before noon the previous day. Only confirmed orders will be delivered as requested. The more notice the better, especially around the holidays, when the kitchen fills up with Christmas and Thanksgiving orders.

Can Tamale Day work for a small office of eight or ten people?

Yes. Two dozen tamales feeds ten people comfortably with a couple left over, and it is the same fresh cook whether I am making two dozen or twelve. Small offices are some of my most loyal regulars because a hot lunch for ten is easy to organize and everyone actually sits down together.

Are the tamales gluten-free for staff with celiac disease or a gluten sensitivity?

All of my tamales are made with gluten-free masa, and that is the only masa I use. The pork in red salsa and the chicken in green salsa are both made from scratch in my kitchen with natural ingredients. If someone on your team has a serious allergy, call or text (469) 888-8398 before you order and I will walk you through exactly what is in each tamal.

Do we need to reheat the tamales?

Not if the timing is right. Choose a delivery time close to lunch, serve straight from the trays, and keep the lids on until people start lining up. If lunch gets pushed by a meeting, tamales in husks hold heat well for a while, and anything left over reheats the next day in a microwave with a damp paper towel or in a steamer.

What if our headcount changes month to month?

That is normal and easy. Each month you check the number and order that many dozens, so the order and the price follow the real headcount. Offices with remote staff often swing by a third between deliveries. I would rather you order for the real number than over-order out of caution, though a small buffer for big eaters is always a good idea.