Holiday office party catering in Dallas: book before the calendar fills

Holiday office party catering in Dallas runs on one hard fact: every company in the city wants the same three weeks of December, and the kitchens that do it well fill up before the office manager has even been told the date. I have watched it happen from my kitchen in Plano every year. The orders that come in early get the day they want. The orders that come in the week of the party compete with everyone else’s, and the office manager spends the week worrying.

The short answer: Order holiday office party catering in Dallas as soon as the date and a headcount are set; our online store lets you pick a date ahead. Plan two to three tamales per person, mix pork and chicken, and budget $120 to $180 per 20 people for the main dish at $60 per dozen. Choose delivery or pickup and pay online.

The rest of this article is the plan I give every office that asks, from the first count to the moment the trays land on the conference table.

Why the December calendar fills so early

Three things collide. First, most offices hold the party in the second or third week of December, after the quarter’s work is mostly done and before people leave for the holidays. Second, the same weeks are when families order tamales for Christmas Eve, which is the busiest stretch of my whole year. Third, a good caterer only has so many hands, and everything I send out is made from scratch on the morning it is delivered. There is no freezer full of extra capacity to pull from.

So the calendar fills in layers. The offices that plan ahead order their December date first, often in October. Then the big parties. Then the family Christmas orders arrive in a wave after Thanksgiving. By the week of Christmas, the kitchen is running flat out, and that is no time to be placing an office order for the next morning.

The fix is not complicated: order early. I explain how to plan when half the details are still missing in how to book holiday catering early, and the short version is that a date and a reasonable estimate are enough to place the order. Next day orders must be received and confirmed by us before noon the previous day. Only confirmed orders will be delivered as requested.

Holiday office party catering in Dallas: what to serve

An office party has two problems a home party does not. The food has to work in a conference room with no oven, and it has to please forty people who did not choose the menu. That is why I steer offices toward tamales: they arrive hot, they stay hot in a covered tray for a long time, they are eaten with a fork or with the hands, and almost nobody in Texas dislikes them.

The main dish

Pork tamales in red salsa and chicken breast tamales in green tomatillo salsa, from the menu. Ours are big, so two per person is a full lunch and three is a dinner. Order about two thirds pork and one third chicken unless your office leans one way; the chicken and green salsa is milder, and the pork has a little kick. Both are made with gluten-free corn masa, which quietly solves the one dietary question every office party raises.

Around it

• Rice and beans, from a restaurant near the office or a potluck sign-up, to fill the plate.
• Salsas and sour cream from the store, so people can adjust the heat themselves.
• A dessert from a bakery. Conchas, tres leches, or a sheet of pan dulce. I do not make sweets, and the bakeries in Dallas do it better anyway.
• Drinks the office already has. Iced tea, sodas, and whatever the party budget allows.

If you want more ideas for the room itself, from a hot cocoa station to how to do a white elephant without stopping the food line, I collected them in office holiday party food ideas that work in a conference room.

How much to order and what it costs

Offices ask me two questions in the same breath: how many, and how much. Here is the answer at $60 per dozen; a half dozen is $30 if you need to round to the nearest six. The counts assume tamales are the main dish and a few people will take a third.

For a party that is really a lunch, two per person is enough; for an evening party where the tamales are dinner, go to three. The tamales-per-person guide covers the edge cases, like a party where half the guests are bringing families.

Setting up the party in a conference room

A conference room becomes a buffet line in about ten minutes if you plan the table. Put the plates at one end, the tamales next, then rice, beans, salsas, and toppings, then forks and napkins at the far end so nobody has to juggle. Keep the tamales in the covered tray and in the husk until they are on a plate; that is how they stay hot through a second and third wave of people coming from meetings. My step-by-step for setting up a buffet line for tamales has the table order and the timing.

You choose delivery or pickup when you order. For delivery, put the full address in the order, with the building, the floor and a cell number for the person who will receive it; delivery fees are shown at checkout. If the party is at an offsite venue, a hotel meeting room or a rented space, check the loading-dock rules and make sure someone is watching the phone. Most of the delivery problems I have seen in twenty-floor buildings were a locked door and no phone number, not the food.

Booking before you know the headcount

Nobody has a final count in October, and you do not need a perfect one. Start from a range like “40 to 60 people,” plan for the middle, and round up to whole dozens. Headcounts move at every office party, because people RSVP yes and then take vacation, so order once you have a number you trust, and put the leftovers in the freezer if the room is smaller than you hoped. I wrote about how to adjust without stress in when the headcount changes.

Payment happens online when you order, so there is nothing to chase after the party. Next day orders must be received and confirmed by us before noon the previous day. Only confirmed orders will be delivered as requested. Questions about a large order? Call or text (469) 888-8398. The office catering page has more for offices, and a lot of the offices that order a December party end up starting a monthly Tamale Day in January because the team asked for it.

The week of the party

1. Seven days out: settle the headcount and the split between pork and chicken, and place the order if you have not already. Check who is gluten-free or wants milder food; the chicken in green salsa is the milder choice.
2. Two days out: check that the delivery address in your order has the floor, the parking or dock, and the name and cell number of the person receiving it, or plan who will pick up at our Plano kitchen.
3. The morning of: the tamales are made from scratch for delivery or pickup. Clear the table in the room.
4. Arrival: set the trays where the line will start and keep the tamales covered. Open the lids only when the line starts.
5. After: leftovers go in the fridge in their husks and reheat beautifully the next day. The desk lunch on the day after the party is one of the reasons people remember it.

If it helps to see what other offices said about the food, the reviews page collects the Google reviews; more than one is from an office where the whole floor waits for tamale day.

Ready to book your Dallas holiday office party?

Count the room, plan two or three tamales each, and round up to whole dozens. Maggie’s Tamales & Catering makes chicken tamales in green salsa and pork tamales in red salsa in our Plano kitchen, for delivery to offices in Far North Dallas, Richardson, Plano, Frisco, Allen, and McKinney, or pickup at the kitchen. In the store you choose chicken or pork, a half dozen or a dozen, delivery or pickup and the date, and pay online; delivery fees are shown at checkout. The holiday tamales page covers the December weeks, when office orders and family orders fill the same calendar. Order online for your holiday office party now, while the calendar still has the week you want.

Frequently asked questions

When should I book holiday office party catering in Dallas?

As soon as the date is set, and ideally in October or early November. The second and third weeks of December are wanted by every office in the city and by families ordering tamales for Christmas Eve. You do not need a perfect headcount: plan from a range, order for the date ahead in our online store, and pay online. Next day orders must be received and confirmed by us before noon the previous day.

How many tamales do I order for an office party of 40?

About eight dozen. Plan two tamales per person for a lunch party and three per person for an evening party where the tamales are dinner, because ours are large and one is a full meal for most adults. Eight dozen for 40 people is $480 at $60 per dozen. Order roughly two thirds pork in red salsa and one third chicken in green salsa.

What food works for an office holiday party in a conference room?

Food that arrives hot, stays hot in a covered tray, and needs no oven. Tamales do all three: they hold in the husk for a long time, they are eaten with a fork or the hands, and they are made with gluten-free corn masa. Add rice, beans and salsas of your own, and let a local bakery handle dessert. Set the room up as a single buffet line from plates to napkins.

Can we book the party without a final headcount?

You can plan without one. Start from a range, plan for the middle and round up to whole dozens, then place the order in our online store once you have a number you trust. Next day orders must be received and confirmed by us before noon the previous day. Only confirmed orders will be delivered as requested. If you have a question about a large order, call or text (469) 888-8398.

Do you deliver office party catering to downtown Dallas and Uptown?

Our delivery area is Allen, McKinney, Fairview, Frisco, The Colony, Plano, Murphy, Carrollton, Addison, Richardson and Far North Dallas. For an office outside that area, such as downtown or Uptown, you can pick up at our Plano kitchen; the pickup address and time come with the order confirmation. For high-rise buildings inside the area, put the floor and a cell number in the order.

Is a tamale lunch a good office Christmas party if some people are gluten-free?

It is one of the easiest options. Every tamal is made with gluten-free corn masa, so the main dish needs no special version and nobody is singled out. The kitchen is not a certified gluten-free facility, so a person with celiac disease should know that; call or text (469) 888-8398 with any ingredient questions before you order.