How to Plan a Successful Catered Business Lunch in Columbus

A catered business lunch can be much more than a convenient way to feed your team. With the right planning, it can create an opportunity to strengthen client relationships, recognize employees, share important information, or simply bring people together away from the normal distractions of the workplace.

Whether you’re planning lunch for a small leadership group or a larger company gathering, a few thoughtful decisions can make the event more productive and enjoyable for everyone involved.

If you’re planning a catered business lunch in Columbus, here’s what to consider.

When Does a Catered Business Lunch Make Sense?

Not every company gathering requires a formal event, but there are plenty of occasions when moving a meeting away from the office and adding a catered meal can make a difference.

A catered business lunch can work well for:

• Client and customer meetings
• Employee appreciation events
• Leadership and strategy meetings
• Training sessions and workshops
• Sales meetings
• Company announcements
• Team-building events
• Department gatherings
• Networking events
• Retirement and milestone celebrations

Taking the event outside your everyday workplace can help distinguish it from another routine meeting. It also allows your team to focus on the people and purpose of the gathering rather than worrying about food delivery, setup, cleanup, and other logistics.

Choose a Venue That Fits the Purpose

Before thinking about the menu, consider where the lunch will take place.

Ordering food for an office conference room may be perfectly appropriate for a small team meeting. However, when you’re hosting clients, bringing together a larger group, or planning an event that includes presentations and activities, a dedicated event venue can provide more flexibility.

When comparing business lunch venues in Columbus, consider your guest count, seating needs, parking, location, audiovisual requirements, and the overall atmosphere you want to create.

La Navona’s Gahanna location provides more than 5,000 square feet of flexible event space, allowing companies to customize the setup based on their gathering. Complimentary onsite parking also makes arrival simple for employees and guests traveling from throughout Central Ohio.

Plan the Menu Around Your Event

A successful business lunch menu should complement the event rather than become a distraction.

Think first about the format. Will attendees be eating while participating in a meeting? Will there be a designated lunch break? Is the meal itself the centerpiece of an employee or client appreciation event?

The answers can help determine the best style of food service.

For meetings and training sessions, foods that are easy to serve and eat may be preferable. For celebrations or appreciation events, you may want a more substantial meal that encourages guests to slow down, socialize, and enjoy the experience.

La Navona offers onsite, made-from-scratch catering with customizable menu options, giving companies the flexibility to choose food that fits the occasion instead of relying on a standard boxed-lunch approach.

Don’t Forget Dietary Needs

When you’re feeding a group, dietary restrictions and preferences should be considered early in the planning process.

Ask attendees to provide dietary information when they RSVP, particularly if you’re planning a larger gathering. Depending on your guest list, you may need to consider vegetarian options, food allergies, gluten sensitivities, or other dietary requirements.

Working directly with your venue and catering team can make it easier to determine which menu options will work for your group.

Build the Lunch Around Your Schedule

One of the biggest benefits of combining a business meeting with lunch is efficiency. Instead of asking attendees to dedicate separate blocks of time to a meeting and a meal, you can bring both together.

However, that only works when the schedule is thoughtfully planned.

If you’re hosting a presentation, consider whether guests should eat before, during, or afterward. Serving food during an important presentation can create distractions, while waiting too long to serve lunch can leave guests focused more on their hunger than your message.

For longer events, you might structure the day around a morning meeting, a dedicated catered lunch, and an afternoon workshop or training session. For shorter gatherings, lunch might serve as the centerpiece while allowing time for conversation before and after the meal.

Leave some breathing room in the schedule as well. Business lunches can be valuable precisely because they give employees, clients, and colleagues time for conversations that may not happen during a tightly structured meeting.

Make Productivity Part of the Venue Decision

If the purpose of your lunch includes presentations, training, strategic discussions, or other business activities, make sure the venue supports them.

Reliable Wi-Fi and audiovisual capabilities can be just as important as tables and chairs. Consider whether you’ll need a screen, projector, microphone, sound system, or other presentation equipment.

You should also think about the room layout. Guests need to be able to see and hear presentations comfortably while still having enough room to eat, take notes, and participate in discussions.

A flexible event venue allows the room to be arranged around your agenda instead of forcing your agenda to fit the room.

Consider the Value of Getting Out of the Office

There is something to be said for changing the environment.

An offsite business lunch can help employees temporarily step away from phones, desks, incoming emails, and other everyday interruptions. For planning sessions, training programs, and leadership meetings, that change of scenery can help create a more focused environment.

For appreciation lunches and company celebrations, leaving the office can also make the occasion feel more meaningful. Rather than gathering around a conference table where everyone works every day, employees are invited somewhere specifically chosen for the event.

The result can feel more intentional, even if the gathering only lasts a few hours.

Simplify the Planning Process

One of the challenges of organizing a catered corporate event is managing all of the individual pieces.

If you’re renting a room from one company, ordering food from another, renting equipment from another, and handling setup yourself, a relatively simple lunch can quickly turn into a complicated project.

Choosing a venue with catering and other event services available in one place can reduce that workload.

Before booking, ask what’s included with your event package. Depending on your needs, this might include tables and chairs, linens, tableware, catering, audiovisual equipment, Wi-Fi, setup and teardown, and assistance from the venue’s event team.

The fewer logistical details your staff needs to manage, the more attention they can give to the actual purpose of the gathering.

Plan Your Next Catered Business Lunch at La Navona

A successful business lunch should make it easy for people to connect, communicate, and enjoy their time together.

At La Navona, we provide Columbus-area businesses with a flexible setting for meetings, catered lunches, training sessions, appreciation events, and other corporate gatherings. Our Gahanna venue combines customizable event space with onsite made-from-scratch catering, audiovisual capabilities, Wi-Fi, complimentary parking, and an experienced team to help coordinate the details.

Whether you’re bringing together a department for training, thanking your employees for a job well done, or hosting an important client meeting, we’ll help you create an event that fits your company and your goals.

Contact La Navona to learn more about hosting your next catered business lunch in Columbus or schedule a tour of our Gahanna event venue.