CARTHAGEKITCHEN

By event

Working Lunch catering in Los Angeles.

Working-lunch catering across Los Angeles — no-mess platters and boxed meals that keep the meeting moving, halal.

$17
Per guest, from
48 hrs typical
Typical lead time
On request
Custom spreads
Working Lunch Catering
WORKING LUNCHES
50+Events catered
20+Years in hospitality
40Catering services & programs
22Menus, one kitchen

The occasion

Working Lunches catering in Los Angeles & Orange County

What it takes to cater working lunches well — the logistics, the timing, and how we make it work.

A working lunch should feed the room without stopping it. We build spreads that eat cleanly at the desk or table — boxed individual meals or easy-serve platters, labeled for every diet, halal throughout — so the meeting keeps its momentum while everyone actually eats.

What makes a lunch work in a working meeting is almost entirely physical: how the food behaves on a lap, next to a laptop, in a room where someone is still talking. Anything that needs two hands and a knife stops the conversation. So we build these menus around food that holds its shape and does not drip — wraps and rolled sandwiches cut to halves, grain and pulse salads that do not wilt in the first twenty minutes, skewers and kofta off the stick, mezze with thick dips rather than loose ones, and cut fruit instead of anything that has to be peeled. Sauces travel on the side by default. It sounds like a small distinction and it is the whole difference between a room that eats and a room that picks.

The second decision is boxed against platter, and it is driven by the room rather than the budget. Individually boxed and labeled meals are right when people are working through the hour, when the group is spread across a table with papers on it, or when attendance is uncertain and you need a clean per-head count. An easy-serve platter spread is better when there is a genuine break in the agenda and a surface to put it on, and it usually reads as more generous for the same money. We will tell you which one your meeting actually is. Either way it arrives inside the window you give us and set up before you need it, every dish labeled with contents and allergens, vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free running alongside the main line, and the whole order halal · zabiha-sourced. Full-service adds staff to lay it out and clear it during the meeting so nobody on your team is stacking trays afterward.

Why Carthage

Why Carthage for working lunches

What you get with us for working lunches specifically — not a generic catering pitch.

  • Food engineered for a laptop

    Wraps cut to halves, sturdy grain salads, skewers off the stick, thick dips, sauces on the side. Nothing that needs two hands or drips on a keyboard.

  • Boxed or platter, chosen for the room

    Boxed and labeled when people work through the hour or attendance is uncertain; an easy-serve spread when there is a real break. We tell you which yours is.

  • Inside the window, set before you need it

    Delivered and laid out ahead of the slot you give us — 48 hours notice is usually enough — so the meeting never waits on the food.

  • Halal, labeled, no separate queue

    Zabiha-sourced throughout, every dish labeled with contents and allergens, dietary tracks plated alongside the main line.

Working Lunches catering runs about $17$48 per guest for food. Multiplied out, that is what a spread costs at the counts people usually ask about.

Estimated working lunches catering cost by guest count — food only
GuestsEstimated food costPer guest
25$425 – $1,200$17 – $48
50$850 – $2,400$17 – $48
100$1,700 – $4,800$17 – $48
150$2,550 – $7,200$17 – $48

Food only. Staffing, rentals, delivery, setup and breakdown are separate lines, and a mandatory service charge and California sales tax apply on top — so the invoice for a staffed event runs meaningfully above the food figure. Smaller counts sit at the top of the band: setup and delivery cost the same at 25 guests as at 100. Every menu halal · zabiha-sourced.

Questions

Before you ask

Should we get boxed meals or a platter spread?
Boxed if the room is working through the hour, spread across a table with papers on it, or if attendance is uncertain and you need an exact per-head count. A platter spread if there is a genuine break and a surface for it — it reads as more generous for the same money. Tell us which your meeting is and we will tell you which to order.
Can you work inside a thirty-minute break?
Yes, and it is the most common brief we get. Everything is delivered and laid out before the window opens rather than during it, and the menu is built so nothing needs assembling or carving on site.
What stops it being messy at the table?
The menu itself. Wraps and rolled sandwiches cut to halves, grain and pulse salads that hold, skewers off the stick, thick dips rather than loose ones, cut fruit, and sauces on the side by default. Nothing that needs two hands or a knife.
Do you clear up afterwards?
On full-service, yes — staff lay it out and clear it, including during the meeting if that is easier. On drop-off we leave it set up and ready, and everything is packaged so your team can clear it in one pass.

Dietary

Dietary needs?

Every working lunches menu is labeled per dish and built around the guest list — here's how we handle the requests we hear most.

Working out a budget first? See what catering costs in Los Angeles across every service style.

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$2M · liability insured1 · business-day reply50+ · events
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