When was the last time you held a team lunch together? Do employees regularly eat lunch together at the office, or does everyone spend their break at their desk? Are there small groups that go on break together, or does everyone sometimes eat together in the conference room or at a restaurant?

The lunch break can be a necessary evil, just there for eating and a break from stressful work, or it can be a real highlight everyone looks forward to. If you want to support your team in spending their break together and eating something nourishing, a team lunch is a great idea. In this article, you'll find varied ideas for corporate lunch and more variety at lunchtime.

1. 7 ideas for a varied corporate lunch at the office

Even though many of us appreciate our habits and enjoy eating our favorite food, variety has plenty of benefits. New experiences can boost satisfaction and productivity, and stick in our memory. So why not make the team lunch more varied too, changing up what and where you eat? Here are a few suggestions that are easy to implement:

1.1 Street food from a food truck

When a food truck pulls up in your courtyard and serves authentic American fast food, fresh waffles, or international street food, your team will be wide-eyed and talking about it for a long time. Everything tastes better outdoors in good weather anyway!

1.2 Discover a new cuisine

Why not give your team lunch a specific theme, discovering a lesser-known cuisine together, or enjoying a popular one? Spanish tapas, Indian delicacies, or a Mexican buffet, paired with matching music, a welcome change from the daily routine!

1.3 Restaurant visit

Did you hit a milestone, or is there something else to celebrate? Leaving the office during lunch has several benefits: variety, a change of scenery, a few steps to balance out all that sitting at work. New combinations of colleagues can form too, giving people a chance to connect. Planning matters here, since a restaurant should offer a fairly wide range of food options to meet the diverse needs of a team. Vegan and vegetarian dishes are becoming increasingly important.

1.4 Team cooking

Cooking together doesn't have to mean pizza. What if a different group from the team regularly prepared lunch for everyone else? As a weekly or monthly event, this small cooking session boosts team spirit, and there's always a surprise waiting to see what the small team came up with. In smaller teams, everyone can of course cook and eat together, while in larger companies a different team cooks for everyone each time. A warming stew in fall, for example, or a freshly prepared cold potato or quinoa salad in summer. Different add-ins, from meat sausages to vegan sausage, let everyone customize their salad however they like.

1.5 Meat-free Friday

Is climate protection and environmental awareness part of your company values? To underline these values, a veggie or vegan day with a plant-based lunch can show your team just how delicious meat-free cuisine can be, and give them ideas for their own meals at home. With a vegan or vegetarian menu from an experienced caterer, values can be communicated without a lecturing tone. Of course, allergies and intolerances still need to be considered here too.

1.6 BBQ as a summer lunch

A corporate barbecue doesn't have to be a full-day summer party, it can also be an extended lunch break for a summery feeling. So no one on your team has to stand at the grill, and to save yourselves the setup and cleanup, you can order a grill catering that delivers everything directly to your company courtyard, sides, desserts, and meat-free options included.

1.7 Virtual team lunch

Is part of your team working remotely? Employees working from home don't have to be left out, since lunch can also work as a virtual meeting. To do this, all teammates receive a cooking box or a lunch menu delivered to their home, and everyone eats together over a video call.

You'll find more catering ideas for team meals in this article.

2. Organizing a team lunch in 4 steps

Organizing a regular team lunch as a benefit and team building measure doesn't have to be complicated.

1. Gather ideas and feedback: If this is your first time planning a team lunch and you don't yet know everyone's eating habits, allergies, intolerances, and preferences, put together a short survey for the team or bring up the idea in a meeting. What kind of food is wanted, and what needs to be considered? Which weekdays and times work for everyone, and are there recurring appointments that would get in the way of a shared lunch?
2. Invite the team: Once you have an overview of what the team lunch should look like, set up a one-off or, ideally, a recurring appointment that everyone gets invited to. Ask the team to confirm or decline attendance reliably based on office presence, so you know how many teammates you're catering for.
3. Find a caterer: If you don't want to cook yourselves, or have everyone bring something, a caterer is a great choice. Local lunch caterers deliver freshly prepared lunch to your office, whether one-off or regularly. Do you already have a caterer you trust? If not, a search can help, or you can make this step easier and ask heycater! We'll find the right caterer for you and send you a no-obligation offer for your team lunch.
4. Bring variety to lunch: A recurring appointment where delicious food gets delivered to the office is always a highlight. Trying something new adds the cherry on top, so vary the types of menu and food. Whether through different caterers or different places and formats for your team lunch.

3. Why are company lunches so important?

Beyond the fact that we all need or should eat something during the workday, sharing a lunch brings plenty of benefits, both for employees and for the company.

3.1 Eating lunch together strengthens the team

Do teammates know each other personally? Is the exchange within the team purely formal and work-related, or do personal conversations happen too? During lunch, the atmosphere tends to be more relaxed, and personal topics come up too. This fosters togetherness and helps employees get to know each other better. That, in turn, strengthens a sense of belonging, and especially in companies with high turnover (combined with other employee satisfaction measures), it can lead to better identification with the team and company.

3.2 Team lunches improve collaboration

Teammates who know each other better generally work more productively and successfully together. When there's a good relationship among employees, there's more exchange about clients and tasks, and it's easier to ask for help or feedback when problems or questions come up. Even though the lunch break isn't counted as work time, work topics often still come up during lunch, and information gets exchanged.

3.3 Better communication, including across disciplines

How often do employees from different teams actually see each other? In the hallways, maybe in an open-plan office, but is there regular exchange? Especially at larger companies, different teams often only know each other by sight, or when there's a specific reason to interact. Cross-disciplinary exchange in particular can be so valuable for developing new ideas or solving problems faster. A team lunch that includes all teams, and maybe even actively encourages mixing between teams, helps employees get to know each other better and fosters exchange.

3.4 A healthy lunch during the break boosts productivity

How important healthy food during the lunch break is has long been known. How nourishing and filling the food is can affect the entire rest of the workday. Eating healthily on stressful workdays can be a real challenge, though. You can support your team by ordering a varied, healthy lunch straight to the office. As a special event, a cooking class inspires people to cook more often themselves and provides ideas for quick, healthy dishes.

3.5 Showing appreciation through lunch for the team

Employees aren't only motivated by financial incentives. Appreciation can also mean providing high-quality coffee, offering a fruit basket, or regularly organizing a team lunch.

3.6 Team lunch as a benefit

Employee perks are an important factor in recruiting, and regular team lunches count among them. Especially in competitive industries, these benefits can make a real difference when choosing an employer. By the way, employee meals can also bring tax advantages. Up to a certain limit (you'll find the specific figures in this article about current non-cash benefit values), this counts as a "non-cash benefit" free of tax and social security contributions.

3.7 The team lunch as part of company culture

What are your company's values, and what defines your company culture? The offers available to employees, the appreciation shown, and how people treat each other are all important parts of company culture. A team lunch can play its part in creating a pleasant working atmosphere and showing that employees and their wellbeing matter to the company.

4. heycater! - Lunch for companies

With heycater!, you can regularly order healthy, delicious lunch for your team straight to the office. Just let us know how many people need to be catered for, where your office is located, and when or how often you'd like to order team lunch. Do you have vegan or vegetarian teammates, or do you need gluten-free options? We'll find the right caterer for you and your team, whether for a one-off event or a regular team lunch. Simply fill out our no-obligation form, or reach out to our support team, we're happy to help!