Corporate Catering Dublin Tips, Guides & Planning Advice

How Much Does Corporate Catering Cost in Dublin? (2026 Price Guide)

Published 1 March 2026 · The Dublin Catering Company

If you are trying to plan the budget for an office lunch, a boardroom meeting or a full-day conference, knowing what corporate catering actually costs in Dublin is the starting point. This guide breaks down current 2026 prices across every format of corporate catering we offer, from a simple working lunch for ten people to a full conference spread for several hundred delegates.

Working Lunches and Office Delivery

Working lunch menus start from €17.60 per person and include freshly prepared artisan sandwiches, wraps or salad bowls, along with accompaniments such as mini pastries, fruit and condiments. Every item is prepared fresh on the morning of delivery. No pre-packaged sandwiches, no bulk orders from a third-party supplier. For a team of twenty, that is a total catering budget of €352, a figure most office managers find straightforward to approve.

Conference and Event Catering

A typical half-day conference package, covering morning arrival and a working lunch, runs from approximately €28–€35 per person. A full-day package covering all five service points (morning arrival, mid-morning break, working lunch, afternoon refreshment and evening reception) typically runs from €45–€65 per person. These figures include delivery, setup and all dietary management.

Canapé Receptions

Canapé reception pricing starts from €18 per person for 8 pieces. For a standalone reception lasting 90 minutes or more, we recommend 12–14 pieces per person at approximately €24–€28 per head. Our cold canapé selections are available from €65 per 36 pieces, with a dedicated gluten-free selection from €70 per 36 pieces.

Breakfast Catering

Breakfast catering starts from €11 per person for a continental spread. For a team of fifteen, that is a total budget of €165 for a morning arrival that sets the right tone for the day. Our Frittata Breakfast Box, serving six to eight guests, is priced at €78 per box.

2026 Price Summary

The Ultimate Guide to Organising Office Catering in Dublin

Published 8 March 2026 · The Dublin Catering Company

If you are responsible for organising catering for your Dublin office, whether that is a one-off lunch for a board meeting, a recurring daily delivery, or catering for a series of training days throughout the year, this guide covers everything you need to know. From choosing the right menu format to managing dietary requirements at scale.

Why Office Catering Matters More Than You Think

The quality of catering at a work event communicates a great deal about the organisation hosting it. When a law firm brings clients in for a working lunch, the food on the table is part of the client experience. When a tech company hosts an all-hands meeting, the quality of the food signals how much the business values its team. In a diverse Dublin workplace competing for talent, good office catering is not a luxury, it is part of the employment proposition.

Step 1, Know Your Numbers

Before choosing a menu or a caterer, be clear on how many people you are feeding and how often. For recurring office catering, establish a baseline headcount and build in a 10% buffer. After a few deliveries, you will have a clear picture of exactly how much to order for your team on any given day of the week.

Step 2, Choose the Right Menu Format

For a regular working lunch eaten at desks or in a meeting room, a cold working lunch, sandwiches, wraps, salad boxes and accompaniments, is almost always the right choice. It is practical, cost-effective and requires no heating equipment. For a more formal client meeting, a hot buffet (from €22 per person) makes a stronger impression. For full-day training or away days, a combination format, morning pastries, hot buffet at lunch, afternoon refreshments, keeps energy consistent throughout.

Step 3, Managing Dietary Requirements

Managing dietary requirements across a team of twenty, fifty or a hundred people is not simply a matter of providing a vegetarian option. It requires knowing who has which requirement, communicating it clearly to your caterer, and ensuring every item is correctly labelled on delivery. At The Dublin Catering Company, we ask every client to share their dietary requirements at time of booking, not the day before. We routinely cater for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, halal and nut-free requirements, often all within the same order, at no additional charge.

Step 4, Choosing a Reliable Catering Partner

Reliability is the single most important criterion, above price, above menu variety, above almost everything else. A caterer who delivers excellent food but arrives late half the time is a liability. Look for a provider with long-standing client relationships and a clear process for when things go wrong. The Dublin Catering Company has been serving Dublin businesses for over ten years. The majority of our clients are repeat customers who have been ordering from us for years. We respond to every enquiry within 2 business hours and have never missed a confirmed delivery.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

The most common mistake is leaving the booking too late. For a regular office lunch, 48 hours is the minimum notice we require. For larger events, two to three weeks is strongly recommended. The second most common mistake is underestimating dietary requirements, always collect dietary information in advance. The third is choosing on price alone. Rock-bottom catering prices exist because corners are being cut somewhere. For corporate catering in Dublin, where the food reflects on your business, buying on price alone is a false economy.

10 Corporate Event Food Ideas That Impress Clients in Dublin

Published 15 March 2026 · The Dublin Catering Company

The standard corporate event in Dublin: a meeting room, a tray of supermarket sandwiches, some crisps and maybe a bowl of fruit. It is functional. It is forgettable. But when you are trying to impress a client, celebrate a milestone, or make a genuine impression at a product launch or networking event, forgettable is exactly what you cannot afford to be. Here are ten corporate event food ideas that actually make an impression.

1. Hand-Passed Canapés During Networking

If your event involves networking, and most do, hand-passed canapés are one of the most effective catering choices you can make. When our team moves through the room with beautifully presented, bite-sized food, guests have a natural reason to pause, interact and engage. The food becomes a social catalyst. Our canapé selections start from €18 per person for 8 pieces and cover everything from elegant cold selections to hot finger food.

2. Live Food Stations

A live food station, where a chef prepares or finishes dishes in front of guests, creates an experience, not just a meal. A live carving station, a pasta station where guests choose their toppings, or a crepe station at the end of a dinner all give guests something to talk about. For product launches, milestone celebrations and anything where you want the event to feel like a genuine occasion, a live station transforms the atmosphere.

3. Artisan Working Lunch Upgrade

The upgrade from a standard supermarket-style sandwich selection to a genuinely artisan working lunch costs less than most people expect, but the impression it makes is significant. Freshly baked sourdough with slow-roast beef and horseradish cream, Vietnamese-inspired chicken wraps, individual mezze boxes with hummus, falafel and warm flatbread, these communicate quality immediately and tell clients that your business takes the details seriously.

4. Dietary-Inclusive Buffet with Clear Labelling

This is not glamorous, but it is one of the most powerful ways to make a positive impression on every single guest. When someone with a dietary restriction finds a full range of clearly labelled options that include them from the start, rather than a sad plate of undressed salad in the corner, the relief and appreciation is genuine. In a diverse Dublin workplace or client list, catering that takes dietary requirements seriously is consistently noticed and remembered. Every Dublin Catering Company order includes full dietary labelling as standard.

5. Themed Food Around the Event

One of the most underused ideas in Dublin corporate catering is aligning the food with the event's theme. Launching a product with Irish heritage? A menu built around Kerry lamb, Wicklow smoked salmon and Connemara mussels tells a story. Hosting an international conference? A diverse, globally-inspired menu signals cultural awareness. A short conversation about your event's theme is all it takes to build a menu that genuinely reinforces the occasion.

6. Grazing Tables for Informal Events

A grazing table, an abundant spread of cheeses, charcuterie, breads, fruits, dips and accompaniments laid out to be grazed from throughout the event, works brilliantly for internal team celebrations, informal client get-togethers, and any event where you want a relaxed, sociable atmosphere. It is also highly photogenic, which matters increasingly for internal communications and social media.

7. Hot Breakfast Before Morning Keynotes

A hot breakfast arrival, warm croissants, frittata slices, smashed avocado toast, hot drinks, signals investment and care from the first moment delegates walk in. It also ensures everyone is properly fuelled for the sessions ahead. Compared to the standard conference arrival of a pot of lukewarm coffee and individually wrapped biscuits, a genuinely good hot breakfast is the single most cost-effective way to upgrade the perceived quality of your event. Our breakfast catering starts from €11 per person.

8. Elegant Afternoon Tea for Client Meetings

An afternoon tea service, individual tiered stands with finger sandwiches, scones with clotted cream, miniature pastries and high-quality loose-leaf teas, creates a memorable, distinctive experience. In a city where most client meetings involve a standard lunch or a restaurant booking, afternoon tea in your own boardroom is the format that gets remembered and talked about.

9. Branded Desserts or Custom Cake

For significant corporate milestones, a company anniversary, an office opening, a product launch, a custom cake or branded desserts are an easy way to make the event feel genuinely special. A tiered cake with the company logo, or individual dessert cups in the brand's colours, creates a visual centrepiece and a shareable moment. In Dublin's corporate market, a visually striking dessert gets photographed and shared, providing organic social content from the event at no extra cost.

10. Post-Event Sweet Station

The post-event sweet station is a simple idea with a disproportionately positive impact. After a long conference day, offering a final sweet station, artisan chocolates, miniature desserts, fresh fruit skewers, coffee and petit fours, before guests depart sends them home on a high note. The last experience of an event shapes how the whole day is remembered. For Dublin conference organisers, the post-event sweet station is one of the easiest and most cost-effective upgrades available.