When can I place my order

Some Corporate Caterers tell you they need 24 Hours advance notice to prepare your order. (How long does it take to make 15 Box Lunches, anyway??) Now, we’d really like it if you would be so kind as to give us a week’s notice so we could order just enough inventory and have just enough staff on hand to complete our Customers’ orders for that day but we’ve found that life in the real world doesn’t quite work that way. J In fact, as you well know it moves pretty darn fast. So what we recommend to our Customers is to contact us by 5:00 p.m. (NOT Noon or even 3:00 p.m. After all, most of our Customers have to work all the way to 5:00 p.m.!) the day before your event so they can be sure of getting what they want, when they want it. Sometimes you’ll be able to order well in advance, which is always okay with us (especially on bigger orders). And then sometimes the following conversation takes place at your company at about 8:50 a.m. :

Boss says, “Hi Susan, how are you today? Boy, it seems like I didn’t see much of you yesterday. Were you out?” Susan says, “I’m fine, Thanks and no, I was here all day just like normal.” Boss says, “By the way, Susan, what are we having for lunch today for our client meeting?” Susan says, “Larry, the client meeting was scheduled from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Since when are they staying for lunch?” Boss says, “Umm, since I invited them yesterday.” Susan says, “If I have to add “Mind Reader” to my list of duties, Larry, I’ll need a raise!”

Not only miscommunication but also quick changes in plans can mean that you may need breakfast, lunch or dinner in a hurry. Because we understand this we actually structure our workday to be able to work in these last minute calls. We try to be so organized and so well prepared that if (when) a Customer calls in at say, 9:15 a.m. for lunch today, then we’re in a position to help them out of a jam. Of course, we enjoy having the additional business, but over the years it’s become clear that this really is the norm. These “Same-day call-ins” are part of the normal flow of Corporate Catering. Our thinking is: Because our Customers are in a fast-paced corporate environment we must put ourselves in a position to be ready to help them whenever they need it. So instead of fighting “same-day call-ins” we’ve decided to accept them as “normal” and try our very best to be ready for them. And if I may boast a bit, we are pretty darn good at getting you what you want, when you want it, even when you call in just a few hours before you need it. My estimate is that 90% of the time we can help you all the way out of your jam. About 5% of the time we can help you most of the way out of your jam (e.g., we may have to make some substitutions on your order, or can’t get the delivery time exactly when you want it). And about 5% of the time we simply can’t pull that rabbit out of the hat (mainly because we can’t make your preferred delivery window).

And even though we’re really good at helping you with last minute requests, we’re always working on ways to improve our work procedures so that our responsiveness will get even better. And it’s kind of funny but people have asked: “What if all of your Customers start calling in their order on the same day? How will you deal with that?!” First, most of our Customers dearly want to have any important events scheduled as far ahead of time as possible so they can cross off another item on their to-do list. Secondly, if that’s what our Customers really want then we’ll just have to be creative and figure out a way to help them out.