Organizing daily office lunch: process, weekly plan and costs 2026
1. What daily office lunch means today
Daily lunch at the office has changed. It used to mean the canteen or the snack bar around the corner. Today teams are smaller, office days vary and diets are more diverse.
Three developments shape office lunch in 2026:
- Eating lighter. Bowls, salads and warm dishes with vegetables replace heavy plated meals. The goal is a lunch after which the team can keep working.
- Planned instead of spontaneous. Teams that eat together on fixed office days plan the week in advance. Spontaneous individual orders cost time every day.
- Everyone eats differently. Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free or nut-free: a team of 20 almost always has several diets at the same time.
For employers, what counts in the end is that the food arrives on time, suits everyone and keeps the effort for office management small.
2. Four models for daily lunch
There are four common models for daily meals at work. They differ in effort, cost and team size.
Figure 1: Four models for daily lunch. A canteen or corporate catering from around 400 meals a day, high effort and high fixed costs. A meal allowance for distributed and hybrid teams, low effort, up to €7.67 per working day. A delivery service with individual orders for small teams and spontaneous days, medium effort, item price plus delivery fee. Catering with a weekly plan for 10 to 80 people on fixed office days, low effort with a digital vote, around €10 to €15 per person.
A canteen only pays off for large workforces. Our comparison canteen vs. catering vs. meal allowance works out exactly when.
A meal allowance is not a lunch, it is money. It works well for home-office days and can be combined with catering on office days, as our article on office catering for hybrid teams shows.
For most teams between 10 and 80 people, catering with a weekly plan remains the most practical model. The rest of this article describes how it works day to day.
3. The weekly plan: selection, vote and order
Daily lunch rarely fails because of the food. It fails because of follow-up questions: Who is eating? Who is vegan? Who is working from home tomorrow? A fixed weekly plan answers these questions once a week instead of every day.
3.1 Fixed deadlines for the whole week
A rhythm with three deadlines has proven itself:
- Tuesday: The menu for the following week is set. Each day offers two to three dishes.
- By Friday 12 noon: Everyone chooses a dish for each day or "nothing today".
- Until 4 pm the day before: Cancellations are still possible, for example due to illness or a changed schedule. The caterer then receives the final numbers per dish.
With this rhythm, the caterer can plan purchasing and staff reliably. The team knows the whole week's menu in advance. And no portions are delivered for people who are not in the office.
3.2 How egora Daily Lunch works
With egora Daily Lunch, this weekly plan runs digitally:
- Each day offers three dishes with photo, calories and allergens.
- Everyone gets a personal link and votes for the following week. A one-click week booking automatically picks suitable dishes based on the personal profile.
- Before the deadline, an email reminds everyone who has not voted yet. The contact person at the company can see at any time who has already chosen.
- Cancellations are possible until 4 pm the day before. The caterer then gets the final numbers.
Office management no longer has to collect lists. It only checks the overview.
Request daily lunch for your team
- Weekly menu with allergen labeling
- Gross price per person clearly stated
- Delivery in a fixed time window
- One collective invoice per month
4. Covering diets and allergens safely
With daily meals, mistakes usually happen around allergens. A group email asking people to "report intolerances" gets lost. A profile per person with diet and allergies, taken into account with every choice, works better.
Under the EU Food Information Regulation (LMIV/FIC), caterers must label the 14 main allergens, including on non-prepacked food. They include gluten, milk, egg, nuts, celery and sesame. This labeling belongs on every dish in the weekly menu and on the packaging.
Three rules help day to day:
- A vegetarian option every day, vegan at least twice a week. That covers most teams.
- Pack and label allergen dishes individually. A box with a name prevents mix-ups at the buffet.
- Order a small buffer. One or two extra vegetarian portions cover guests and spontaneous changes.
What a balanced weekly plan looks like is shown in our article on healthy employee meals.
5. What daily lunch costs per week
A delivered lunch costs around €10 to €15 gross per person. Bowls and lunch boxes are at the lower end, warm buffets with several components at the upper end. This gives the following weekly budgets for five delivery days:
Figure 2: Lunch per week by team size with five delivery days and €10 to €15 gross per person. 10 people €500 to €750, 20 people €1,000 to €1,500, 40 people €2,000 to €3,000.
Anyone planning with a fixed weekly budget, such as €500 a week, has two levers:
- Fewer days. €500 covers 20 people on two office days at €12.50 per person.
- A smaller format. Bowls instead of a buffet lower the price per head by a few euros.
The minimum order value matters. Many caterers only deliver lunch boxes from around €150 per delivery. Small teams are therefore better off bundling two or three days instead of ordering a small amount every day. The guideline values are in our article on the minimum order value for catering.
How many catering days per week are worthwhile is worked out in our frequency guide. A meal allowance of up to €7.67 per working day can cover the remaining days.
6. Finding the right provider in Berlin and Munich
Daily deliveries call for different criteria than a single event. Five points decide:
- Delivery area and time window. The caterer must be able to deliver on time every day, usually between 11:30 am and 12:30 pm.
- Minimum order value per delivery. It has to match the team size.
- A changing weekly menu. After three weeks of the same menu, participation drops.
- A fixed contact person. Daily deliveries need someone who implements changes quickly.
- One invoice per month. A collective invoice saves accounting a receipt every day.
In Berlin and Munich, egora connects companies with local caterers who regularly supply offices. One request is enough for offers from several caterers. More on the pages for office catering in Berlin and office catering in Munich.
Office catering in Berlin and Munich
- Local caterers experienced in office deliveries
- Offers from several caterers with one request
- A fixed contact person at egora
Conclusion
Daily office lunch does not need a big project. It needs a suitable model, a weekly plan with fixed deadlines and a profile per person for diet and allergens. For teams of 10 to 80 people, catering with a weekly plan is usually the simplest solution. A delivered lunch costs around €10 to €15 gross per person, a week for 20 people around €1,000 to €1,500.
FAQ
What are the current trends in office lunch?
Lighter dishes such as bowls and salads, fixed office days instead of daily presence and more diets within the same team. Companies therefore plan the week in advance and let everyone choose for themselves.
What models are there for daily lunch at companies?
Four: a canteen or corporate catering, a meal allowance, a delivery service with individual orders and catering with a fixed weekly plan. For teams of 10 to 80 people without their own kitchen, catering with a weekly plan usually fits best.
How do you plan varied meals for the team over the whole week?
With a weekly menu that is set by Tuesday, two to three dishes per day and a choice by Friday noon. Every day there is a vegetarian option, at least twice a week a vegan one.
What does daily lunch for a team cost?
Around €10 to €15 gross per person per day. For 20 people on five days, that is around €1,000 to €1,500 per week. With €500 per week, 20 people can be supplied on two office days.
How do I find a caterer for daily team lunch in Munich or Berlin?
What matters is the delivery area, a time window around noon, a suitable minimum order value, a changing weekly menu and a fixed contact person. Through egora, one request brings offers from several caterers in Berlin and Munich.
Why is fixed planning worthwhile for daily lunch?
Because it bundles follow-up questions. Choosing once a week saves office management daily lists, the caterer uncertain quantities and the company portions for people who are not in the office.
