A standing office lunch order — a regular, recurring delivery of fresh food to your office — is one of the most effective ways to improve workplace food quality with minimal ongoing management. Once established, a standing order requires only occasional adjustment rather than weekly ordering effort. This guide covers how to set one up, what to agree with your caterer, and how to manage it efficiently.
Before You Set Up: What You Need to Know
Before approaching a caterer about a standing order, gather the information they will need: your typical weekly headcount, a breakdown of dietary requirements (particularly halal needs and serious food allergies), your preferred delivery days and times, the delivery address and access instructions, and your approximate budget per head. Having this information ready makes the initial conversation faster and the resulting standing order more accurate from day one. Read our complete guide to briefing a caterer.
Key Terms to Agree With Your Caterer
Default headcount and adjustment process. Agree a default weekly headcount and a clear process for adjusting it. The adjustment cut-off time matters most — you need to be able to change the headcount up to a realistic point before delivery without being locked into a number that no longer reflects your team. Most caterers work with a cut-off of 24–48 hours before delivery.
Menu rotation. Ask your caterer how the menu rotates. A standing order where the same dishes arrive every week quickly loses appeal. Vanda's Kitchen's menu rotates to maintain variety — our Filipino culinary heritage provides sufficient depth that regular clients continue to find different dishes across weeks and months.
Dietary requirement changes. Agree how new or changed dietary requirements will be managed. Team composition changes — people leave, join, change their requirements — and the standing order needs to accommodate this smoothly. A direct communication channel (like WhatsApp) for quick dietary requirement updates is more practical than email for this purpose.
Billing and invoicing. Agree billing frequency (weekly, monthly, per-delivery) and invoicing format. Monthly consolidated invoicing is typically most practical for office management purposes.
Setting Up With Vanda's Kitchen
Vanda's Kitchen's standing order process is designed to be as simple as possible. An initial conversation — via WhatsApp or email — establishes headcount, dietary requirements, delivery preferences, and menu preferences. We confirm the arrangement in writing and set up a regular delivery schedule. Adjustments are managed via our direct WhatsApp channel, which our catering team monitors throughout the working day.
Our EC4 base near St Paul's Cathedral gives us excellent delivery reliability across the City of London and central London — the consistency of delivery time that standing orders require. Our certified halal, 100% nut-free kitchen means that dietary requirement changes rarely require changes to the menu, because our baseline already covers the most common requirements.
Managing the Standing Order Day to Day
Once a standing order is established, the day-to-day management is minimal. The main tasks are: adjusting headcount when it changes significantly, communicating new dietary requirements when team members change, and providing feedback on quality or delivery issues when they arise. A monthly five-minute review of the arrangement — comparing the agreed terms to what has been delivered — keeps the standing order performing as intended.
When to Review and Renegotiate
Review your standing order arrangement at least quarterly. If the team has grown significantly, the dietary requirements have changed, or the menu has become repetitive, a conversation with your caterer can address all of these. Good caterers welcome standing order reviews — they are an opportunity to improve the service and deepen the relationship.
WhatsApp us to discuss a standing order for your office, send an enquiry, or view our team lunch options. Read our healthy office lunch delivery guide for more on our daily delivery service.
Why Choose Vanda Kitchen for Your London Office
Vanda Kitchen brings together the credentials that London most demanding corporate clients require: certified halal (verified by the Halal Friendly List), 100% nut-free kitchen, 5-star food hygiene rating, and Selfridges Food Hall quality. Freshly prepared daily from our EC4 kitchen near St Paul Cathedral. One caterer, all requirements covered. WhatsApp us, send an enquiry, or view our team lunch options. Read our complete corporate catering London guide.