How Can I Buy Lunch for My Team Remotely?
From using a couple of stipend categories to deliver lunch to hiring a catering company that specializes in remote delivery, here are five answers to the question, “What are the best ways to deliver lunch to a remote team?”
- Cater to Every Taste With Food Stipends
- Keep it Simple With a Chain Restaurant
- Let Them Choose With Their Hoppier Cards
- Carefully Choose a Reliable Delivery Service
- Provide Uber Gift Cards
Cater to Every Taste With Food Stipends
Our team is fully remote, so we create as many opportunities as possible to get the team together virtually to strengthen our team-building and culture.
We use a couple of our stipend categories to deliver lunch (or any meal or snack) to one another. For our holiday party, each person received the same amount of money in a stipend to purchase food delivery for one another. We paired up and tasked ourselves with sending our partners their favorite treats. Instead of sending gift cards or purchasing from a pre-approved vendor, our team could support their favorite local businesses and send a variety of snacks across the country.
On a normal day, our team can also use their quarterly stipend to submit receipts for food purchases they made to feed themselves and their families. We’ve found lifestyle spending accounts are the way to go because it affords our team ultimate flexibility and caters to their personal tastes.
Amy Spurling
CEO and Founder, Compt
Keep it Simple With a Chain Restaurant
Choose a restaurant that exists in the same town as all of your remote employees. For example, many chain restaurants deliver. This way, you can make things easier by sending the same menu to all of your employees so they can choose what they want. Then you can order ahead for delivery to each of them.
Drew Sherman
Director of Marketing and Communications, Carvaygo
Let Them Choose With Their Hoppier Cards
Our company uses Hoppier cards for remote lunches. Every quarter, each employee receives a digital credit card with a pre-loaded amount to cover company meals for the next three months. This method is ideal for virtual teams because employees can use the card nearly anywhere that accepts credit cards, either by entering the card information into the online ordering system or loading the card into their smartphone wallet.
If we sent gift certificates to meal delivery apps instead, it would be a headache figuring out which app all employees had access to and would likely limit their restaurant options, and entering manual reimbursements for every meal would put an unnecessary burden on our staff. Thus, Hoppier is an ideal option for our team.
Carly Hill
Operations Manager, Virtual Holiday Party
Carefully Choose a Reliable Delivery Service
Start by choosing a reliable delivery service, as 90% of the work is going to be done by them. Beware! There are many fraudulent reviews all across the internet; hence, do research prior to placing an order for your remote team by asking for referrals.
Once you have chosen a service, provide simple instructions in easy-to-read English. The instructions should include the location of each remote employee along with clear delivery timing, to ensure that everyone receives their meal on time and is in good condition. Don’t forget to consider dietary restrictions, as some employees may not consume all foods.
Tiffany Homan
COO, Texas Divorce Laws
Provide Uber Gift Cards
There are several ways to deliver lunch to a remote team. One of the easiest options is to use a food delivery service, such as Uber Eats, DoorDash, or Grubhub. You can order food from a local restaurant and have it delivered directly to your team. Another option is to hire a catering company that specializes in delivering food to remote locations.
They can provide a variety of options and can accommodate different dietary restrictions. You could consider setting up a group order through a service like Seamless, which allows multiple people to order from the same restaurant and have their food delivered at the same time.
Ryan Kopf
Chief Executive Officer, AnimeCon.org
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