The Office Lunch Catering Guide for Atlanta Teams
A 20-person team lunch and a 60-person all-hands need almost nothing in common except one thing: the headcount has to be right before anything else about the order makes sense. Everything downstream - which menu fits, what it costs, when it needs to arrive - is easier to get right once that one number is locked in. This guide walks through it in the order we'd actually plan it, from headcount to the food landing on the table.
Headcount First, Menu Second
Both of our catering menus - the Atlanta Fajita Bar and Atlanta Brack's grain bowl bar - are priced strictly per person, so the headcount you give us is what the whole quote is built on. If you're working from an RSVP list, round up rather than down: a fajita bar scales gracefully with three or four extra portions sitting in reserve, but it does not scale gracefully with a shortfall fifteen minutes into a lunch line. Teams that cater regularly usually pad their RSVP count by 10-15% for exactly this reason.
Two Worked Examples at Real Headcounts
Numbers make this concrete faster than percentages do. A 15-person team lunch on the Fajita Bar Tier 1 (one protein choice, $16.99/person) runs $254.85 plus tax before any upgrades. Split that group so ten people pick Herb Chicken and five pick Grilled Steak (+$4.50pp), and the total becomes $254.85 + $22.50 = $277.35 plus tax - the steak upcharge only applies to the five people who actually chose it, not the full headcount. Scale the same math to a 40-person all-hands on Brack's Tier 2 ($17.99/person, two protein choices) and the base runs $719.60 before tax, with any premium protein upcharges (salmon or ahi tuna at +$6pp, tiger shrimp at +$4pp) again applied only to the guests who select them.
Fajita Bar vs. Brack's: Matching the Menu to the Room
The Fajita Bar is the more familiar, hands-on option - flour tortillas, black beans, pico, guacamole, and a protein of your choosing (Herb Chicken, Grilled Steak, Grilled Salmon, BBQ Chicken, or Tofu on Tier 1). It builds itself at the table, holds up well over a longer lunch window, and rarely needs an introduction when people walk up to the line.
Brack's is the build-your-own grain bowl version: a choice of bases (brown rice, quinoa, spicy black forbidden rice, sweet potato glass noodles, lettuce mix), a protein tier, roasted veggies, and house sauces. It tends to be the better call when your group leans toward lighter meals or you're managing a real mix of dietary needs, since the bases, veggies, and sauces all flex independently for vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free eaters without anyone needing a separate order.
Dietary Accommodations Are Built In, Not Bolted On
Both menus include a tofu or falafel protein option as a standard menu item, not a special request routed through a side kitchen. That matters for how you plan: instead of collecting "any allergies?" as an open-ended question the week of, ask your team for real numbers - how many vegetarian, vegan, or gluten-free portions you need - and pass that count along with your headcount when you request a quote. It's the difference between us planning proteins accurately up front and guessing.
Timing Delivery Around a Meeting, Not "Lunchtime"
Tell us your meeting's actual start time, not a general window. We build setup time in ahead of your requested delivery so the spread is arranged and ready - not still being unpacked - when your team walks in. If your meeting has a hard start, say so in the quote request and we'll plan the delivery window backward from it rather than forward from a generic "noon."
Three Mistakes That Cause Most Office Catering Problems
The most common one is guessing headcount instead of collecting real RSVPs - a lunch ordered for "about 20" tends to run short right around the 18th plate. The second is treating "lunchtime" as a delivery instruction instead of a specific time tied to a meeting start; without that anchor, a caterer has no way to know whether 11:45 or 12:15 actually matters to you. The third is deciding on dietary needs the morning of, after someone in the meeting mentions an allergy - by then, the order is already prepped and there's no way to adjust proteins that have already been cooked.
If You Order Regularly, Standardize It
Teams that cater lunch on any kind of recurring schedule save real time by keeping a standing template: usual headcount, typical dietary breakdown, building access notes, and a preferred delivery window, all in one place someone can copy into a quote request. It turns a recurring booking into a two-line email with an updated date, rather than reconstructing the same logistics conversation every time.
How Booking Actually Works
Catering isn't ordered online the way Family Meal Pickup is - it's quoted directly, because headcount and dietary mix genuinely change the plan each time. Call (470) 485-2899, email atlantamaithai@gmail.com, or submit a quote request with your headcount, date, and menu preference, and our team replies with a tailored proposal, usually within 2 hours.
Feeding a Smaller Group Instead?
If it's really your own household rather than an office order, skip the quote process entirely - order from the Family Meal Pickup menu instead, pick a pickup window, and pay online in a few minutes. Not sure which path actually fits your situation? We've laid out the decision guide here.