A lunch and learn is the hardest easy catering job there is. The talk starts at 12:05 whether the food is there or not, nobody budgeted more than an hour, and the presenter is competing with lunch for the room’s attention. Get the food logistics right and the session runs itself. Here’s the playbook we’ve settled on with Alpharetta offices.
The timeline that works
- 11:40 — food arrives. Twenty minutes early, not five. That’s enough slack to set up before anyone is watching.
- 11:50 — setup done. Trays open or boxes stacked, plates and napkins out, at the back of the room or just outside the door.
- 12:00–12:10 — people serve themselves while the presenter connects the laptop. By the first slide, everyone is seated and eating.
Boxed beats buffet in a presentation room
A buffet line blocks the screen and keeps forming for twenty minutes. Individual boxes — pasta, salad, roll, all in one — let thirty people be seated with food in three minutes, and latecomers grab one without a sound. Save trays for sessions with a real break in the middle, where the spread becomes part of the draw.
Food that doesn’t fight the speaker
Pre-cut slices, fork food, nothing that needs assembly. New York pizza cut and boxed, baked ziti or penne alla vodka, a garden salad — hot food that’s quiet to eat and doesn’t leave the room smelling like a fryer. It also holds temperature, which matters when the Q&A runs long and someone goes back for seconds at 12:50.
What to budget per person
For a lighter session, a pasta tray (serves 25 for $187) plus salad and garlic rolls lands around $10–12 a person. For a fuller spread — the kind that gets the next session better attendance — complete packages run $215 for 10 / $320 for 15 / $530 for 25, about $21–22 a head with dessert included.
Want the exact number for your event? These are standard package prices. Tell us your headcount, date and delivery address and we’ll send back an exact all-in total — delivery and setup included, no service charge added later.
Running a monthly series?
Training calendars repeat, and your food should keep up without re-planning every month. Set the schedule with us once — second Thursday, 25 people, rotate the menu so it never gets old — and confirm the headcount the day before each session. Companies can pay on a single invoice.
Where we deliver
We’re on Old Milton Pkwy, minutes from the office corridors along GA-400 — Avalon, Windward, Northwinds, Sanctuary Park — and we deliver across Alpharetta, Johns Creek, Milton and Roswell. Free delivery in North Fulton, and with about two hours’ notice we can usually cover a same-day session.
Three ways to book it
- Order catering online on Toast — quick for standard trays.
- Call (770) 475-0369 — best for boxed lunches and exact delivery windows.
- Request a quote — date, headcount, room location; we reply with an all-in number, usually within the hour during business hours.
Next lunch and learn on the calendar? Get an exact quote and the food will be the one part of the session you don’t think about.