9 catering ideas for team meals

Regular team dinners promote cohesion and staff loyalty. In an informal atmosphere, employees get to know each other better, new ideas are generated and communication within or between teams is improved. There are many good reasons to organise regular joint meals in your company. If you want to do something good for your team or if there is something to celebrate, you can order different types of catering to the office or to the desired location. The ideas in this article show you the different possibilities.

9 ideas for varied team meal catering

If you want to order catering for your office, there are many different options, suitable for different seasons, for indoor or outdoor team meals, for lunch or dinner. A lunch menu where everyone can order the meal they want is just one possible option. These 9 other ideas should inspire you to see how versatile catering can be. We have also put together a few examples of dishes that are sure to make your mouth water.

BBQ - catering for summer events

Summer, sun and a nice grilled steak or a vegan bratwurst - what is popular in the private garden also works as a BBQ event in the team. Maybe someone from the team will make their own garden available, or maybe there is a nice company courtyard with enough space. If no one wants to stand at the barbecue or you want to save yourself the organisation from buying the barbecue food to preparing side dishes, order a BBQ catering service. From drinks to fresh salads and bread as a side dish, a BBQ catering service takes a lot of the work off your hands. By the way, this is also possible with a plant-based, international or barbecue truck menu.

Example dishes for BBQ catering:

• Grilled sausages with or without meat

• Entrecôte

• Rump steak or as vegan variant cauliflower steak

• spare ribs

• Halloumi grilled cheese

• Chicken skewers

• Cauliflower steaks

• Grilled vegetable skewers

• Köfte

• Jacket potatoes with sour cream

Food Truck - Street Food in the Company Yard

Another idea for an outdoor team meal, especially for larger teams, is a food truck that drives up to you and serves freshly prepared street food or other delicacies. From nostalgic to modern - many food trucks also look good and provide a special backdrop. Whether curry sausage, traditional or veggie burgers or even waffles - there are a wide variety of trucks that prepare savoury or sweet dishes on site, depending on your wishes.

Examples of street food dishes from the food truck:

• Currywurst, vegetarian, vegan or with meat

• Hot dogs, vegan, vegetarian or with meat

• Shashlik

• Burgers, with and without meat and of course with "fries

• Ribs

• Bowl

• Burritos, quesadillas or tacos

• Pizza

• Salad bar

• Waffles or ice cream

Mobile cocktail bar - the relaxed end to the team day

Strictly speaking, this idea does not belong to the team dinner, but it can be a good addition when it comes to a whole day in the team or when there is to be a conclusion to the joint cooking in a particularly relaxed atmosphere. Maybe one of you can mix good alcoholic drinks and non-alcoholic cocktails, or you order a mobile cocktail bar to the office or company courtyard and don't have to worry about anything - set-up and take-down, mixing and serving by trained staff included.

Examples of delicious drinks from the mobile bar:

• Gin Tonic

• Black Cosmopolitan

• Mojito, with and without alcohol

• Pina Colada

• Moscow Mule

• Aperol Spritz

• Hugo

• Cuba Libre

• Daiquiri

• Draft Beer

Breakfast buffet - the morning team meal in the office

Start the working day with a healthy and delicious team breakfast. Deviations from routine promote creativity and productivity. So why not take an hour and enjoy a hearty breakfast together? A healthy buffet with smoothies, bowls and porridge gives you energy for the day. Perhaps you would like to discover the delights of French baking together, with fresh croissants and, of course, café au lait to go with it? There are many different ways to have breakfast and start the working day together in a culinary way.

Examples of dishes from the breakfast buffet:

• Fruit salad in a glass

• Fresh croissants

• Sandwiches

• (Coconut) rice pudding with seasonal fruit

• Bagels

• Smoothie Bowls

• Overnight Oats

• Chia Pudding

• Banana Bread

Fine dining - star cuisine for the special occasion

Getting away from it all also means a gala dinner in the evening in elegant dress, festively decorated tables and an appropriate multi-course menu served at your seat. Whether for a Christmas team dinner or simply to celebrate a special occasion such as an anniversary or company farewell - Fine Dining provides the right ambience.

Examples of fine dining dishes:

• Tafelspitz

• Pork tenderloin

• Vegetable curry

• Mushroom polenta

• Roast beef

• Gnocchi with truffle

• Vegan roast

• Vegan Tajin

• Salmon tartar

Finger food buffet - team meals in a relaxed atmosphere

Most team dinners are informal. Discovering new dishes together, eating small bite-sized morsels that can be eaten standing up and allowing all teamies to choose what and how much they want to eat - the finger food buffet makes it possible. Mediterranean antipasti, Spanish tapas or regional snacks - many caterers offer finger food menus that are suitable for many different occasions.

Examples of finger food:

• Mini wraps

• Meatballs

• Mini Burger

• Mini Schnitzel

• Sandwiches

• Crostini

• Canapés

• Salad in a glass

• Fruit skewers

• Cheesecake in a glass

Flying Fingerfood - the buffet comes to you

To avoid crowding at the buffet and to offer employees something special, flying finger food or flying buffet is a good choice, especially for festive occasions. Instead of everyone taking something from the buffet themselves, the food is delivered to the guests on trays. Especially if the team is scattered throughout the company premises, it is a nice surprise to have service staff walk through the rooms with the finger food and serve the employees.

Examples of flying finger food:

• Mini Bowls

• Chicken skewers

• Vegetable skewers

• Falafel skewers

• Petit Fours

• Mini Club Sandwich

• Mini jacket potato

• Tatar

• Panna Cotta

Dessert Catering or Ice Cream Trucks

Who doesn't like to nibble? Homemade chocolates, refreshing ice cream or healthy desserts with smoothies and plant-based creations made from fruits - there are many ways to feast. With or without sugar, gluten-free, lactose-free or vegan - there are desserts to suit every taste. A dessert or ice cream catering is welcome as a small surprise for the afternoon, for an extensive coffee break or as a highlight on a team day. Alternatively, a cake buffet and freshly brewed coffee.

Examples of desserts:

• Brownies and blondies

• Cheesecake

• Muffins

• Scones

• Cakepops

• Macarons

• Chocolates

• Cake

• Waffles

• Popsicles

Catering for remote teams

If the entire team or part of the team works remotely, you don't have to do without eating together. Specialised caterers send catering boxes to the home office - as ready meals or the ingredients as a cooking box for joint virtual cooking. Of course, it's not the same to eat together in front of the screen, but if it's not possible to physically bring everyone together in the same room, a virtual team meal is a good alternative.

Examples of dishes from cooking boxes:

• Pasta & Pesto

• Massaman Curry

• Pad Thai

• Bibimbap

• Nasi Goreng

• Focaccia

• Quinoa Bowl

• Antipasti

• Sushi

• Penne Arrabiata

Eating together as a teambuilding measure

Food is one of the basic needs and can connect people. It is not for nothing that family celebrations or meetings among friends are often associated with shared meals. Teamies who spend their lunch breaks together generally have a closer relationship with each other than colleagues who only spend working hours together.

To initiate teams eating together, an invitation to have breakfast, lunch or dinner together is a good idea. The team meal can be as formal or informal as it suits the occasion.

Good food also enhances any team event. What do people often talk about long after the event? The entertainment - and the food! Whether all employees and their individual needs were thought of, whether the food was good and chosen with care or not special, can make a big difference in the perception of the time spent together.

Of course, it can be appealing to hold a breakfast together in an informal setting where everyone brings something. Or to bake a pizza together. To save work and effort and to spoil the team with good food, good business catering is an excellent choice.

Team cooking or catering?

Team meals can take a variety of forms, ranging from a shared meal to a complete event. A popular variant is cooking together in the office, according to a recipe or under expert guidance as a cooking course. This variant has advantages and disadvantages that you should consider before deciding whether to order food or cook it yourself:

Advantages

• Shared activities with a result (and what could be more satisfying than eating what has been cooked, fried or baked together?) has a very positive impact on team building. Moreover, many people find it a pleasant change to learn something new - which may even help them in their everyday life. Cooking courses or cooking together are also possible for remote teams (for example, you can find virtual cooking courses for teams here).

• Cooking is a very communicative joint activity and is fun for many people.

• Cooking yourself is generally cheaper.

• Cooking can be organised as an event, for example as a weekly event where different employees take turns cooking for everyone in small groups.

Disadvantages

• When cooking together, it can be a challenge to accommodate all tastes, allergies, intolerances and diets. With or without meat, vegetarian or vegan, halal, gluten-free, lactose-free... before you decide on team cooking or team catering, it makes sense in any case to ask what special requirements there are. Of course, this also applies to personal taste - in a catering where there are different dishes to choose from, it is easier to have something for everyone.

• Not every office kitchen is suitable for cooking together. Depending on the size of the team, there may not be enough space.

• Especially employees who already cook a lot at home are happy to be cooked for or have food delivered. Whether cooking is perceived as fun can vary from person to person. A survey before the event can help to get an overview of who would like to cook and who would rather order food.

Tip: Save taxes with the meal subsidy for employee meals

Did you know that companies can subsidise their employees' meals tax-free? In 2023, for example, this is up to 288 euros per month and person. You can read more about this in this article on the non-monetary benefits in 2023.

Order catering for team meals from heycater!

Heycater! specialises in business catering. Whether it's a small team dinner or a large corporate event, our catering partners have the right offer for you, your team and your guests - throughout Germany and beyond Germany's borders in Austria, Switzerland and other countries. Simply send us an enquiry with your key data and we will send you a non-binding offer for team catering.