What Makes a Great Corporate Caterer in Washington DC?
Looking for corporate catering in Washington, DC and the DMV? See how Apple Spice delivers quality food, on-time service, setup and attention to detail.
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How to Make Recurring Corporate Catering Easier
If you handle recurring corporate catering for the same meeting, training or team, ordering should get easier over time—not harder.
We've been catering corporate meetings and events throughout Washington, DC, Northern Virginia and the greater DMV for over 20 years, and one thing we've learned is that the best catering relationships become pretty simple.
We learn your people. You learn us. And eventually, feeding everyone becomes one less thing you have to think about.
Stop Starting From Scratch Every Time
If you have a training twice a month or a weekly team lunch, you shouldn't have to reinvent the wheel every time you order.
A good caterer should start learning the basics of your account:
- How many people you typically feed
- Your normal delivery time
- Where the food needs to be set up
- Dietary restrictions or preferences
- Your approximate budget
- What your group loved last time—and what they didn't
- Who needs to receive receipts or invoices
The more we know, the easier the next order becomes.
That's really the goal with recurring catering: give us the problem once and let us help build the system.
Keep the Menu From Getting Boring
Recurring catering doesn't have to mean eating the same sandwiches every Tuesday.
One of the advantages of working with the same caterer is that we can help rotate the menu.
Maybe one week is individually packaged box lunches. The next is a hot buffet. Another might be salads and wraps. Breakfast meetings can rotate through breakfast sandwiches, burritos, continental breakfast or a hot breakfast.
You shouldn't have to study a catering menu every time you have a meeting coming up.
Tell us what you're trying to accomplish, your budget and who you're feeding. We can help with the rest.
Make Dietary Restrictions Part of the Routine
Dietary restrictions can be one of the more stressful parts of ordering food for a group, especially as the number of people grows.
Vegetarian. Vegan. Gluten-free. Food allergies.
When you're working with the same group regularly, those needs shouldn't be a surprise every time.
Keep a simple list of recurring dietary requirements and share it with your caterer. As the relationship develops, accommodating those guests becomes part of the normal ordering process instead of a last-minute scramble.
Find a Caterer You Don't Have to Worry About
This might be the biggest one.
If you're responsible for a meeting or training, lunch probably isn't the only thing on your plate that day.
The projector has to work. People need to be in the right room. Someone is running late. The agenda changed. Your boss needs something.
You shouldn't also have to wonder where lunch is.
At Apple Spice, our deliveries are guaranteed on time. We use our own Apple Spice team members for deliveries rather than third-party delivery services, and our catering includes setup.
Our job isn't just to bring you food.
Our job is to take catering off your list of things to worry about.
Let Your Caterer Help With the Planning
Sometimes customers know exactly what they want.
Other times the call is more like:
"I have 75 people next Thursday. What should I order?"
That's perfectly fine.
We do this every day.
A good catering partner should be able to help you figure out quantities, menu choices, dietary accommodations, delivery timing and setup.
If you're newer to ordering food for groups, we've also put together a corporate catering guide for first-time planners with some of the things worth thinking about before placing an order.
You don't need to become a catering expert just because somebody put you in charge of lunch.
And You Might as Well Get Rewarded for It
If you're already responsible for ordering catering regularly, there's another benefit to ordering with Apple Spice Northern Virginia.
We have a loyalty program that allows our customers to earn gift cards simply by ordering catering with us.
You're already ordering the food. You might as well get something back for doing it.
Ask our team about the loyalty program when you place your next order and we'll explain how it works.
The Best Catering Relationships Get Easier
That's ultimately what recurring corporate catering should look like.
We learn what you need. We learn what your people like. You know we're going to show up. And nobody has to start from zero every time there's another meeting on the calendar.
At Apple Spice, our team mission is Creating Apple Spice fans, daily.
For a recurring customer, that means earning your business again and again—not making you rethink your caterer every time you need to feed a group.
If your company has recurring meetings, trainings, employee lunches or other events throughout Washington, DC, Northern Virginia or the greater DMV, we'd love to learn how you're handling the meals now—and see if we can make it a little easier.
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