order lunch for your office without hassle

by Alison Green on March 11, 2013

And now a break to talk about a sponsor…

Food plays a big role in the workplace – from catering for client meetings and employee events to group lunches and meals for people working late, food is on an awful lot of our minds at work. But if you’re ever charged with managing these food orders, you’re well aware of what a pain it can be to keep track of who needs their food vegan, who always wants extra pepperoni, and who doesn’t like anything from the deli and always wants sushi instead … as well as processing invoices, chasing down budget codes, and filling out expense reports. At some point you’ve probably thought to yourself that there should be an easier way to manage it all.

Enter Seamless. With a corporate account from Seamless, all of your office food ordering hassles are about to end. Seamless streamlines the entire process with online ordering, access to hundreds of local caterers and restaurants, easy capture of all billing and budget codes, complete enforcement of all your budgets and rules …. and you get only a single invoice for all orders, no many orders and no matter how many separate people are ordering.

The group ordering option is basically the holy grail of office food management: You can send your coworkers a link to use and let them place their own orders without involving you at all. All the orders get aggregated and sent to the restaurant, and then they arrive all at the same time, individually labeled and bagged.

And it’s all done online, so you don’t have to talk to anyone. Which is ideal if you’re like me and hate the phone. And you can log in whenever you want to run expenditure reports, etc. — again, without ever having to talk to anyone.

It. Is. Awesome.

You can use Seamless for catering, group orders, individual meals, and more. And businesses that use Seamless say that they save up to 30% in food ordering costs because it streamlines the whole process.  (They even have a savings calculator here if you’re skeptical.)

I’ve used Seamless for a couple of years now, and it’s on my list of Top Services That I Love. Seriously, get started right now.

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Seamless. All thoughts and opinions related to Seamless are my own.

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{ 33 comments }

{ 33 comments… read them below }

  1. Jamie*

    If this will stop the people with notepads coming into my office at 8:30 am demanding to know what I want for lunch in 4 hours (as if I would have any idea!) I will be eternally grateful.

    I’ll definitely pass this along to those with the power over lunch in my office.

    However, now I’m hungry and no time/way to get out for lunch so this post is kind of tormenting me. I wonder what I can make out of a couple of ketchup packets, a handful of pretzels, and some saltines. Some kind of tiny saltine pizza with pretzel topping?

  3. KayDay*

    My roommate used to use Seamless to order dinner at the law firm where she worked (yes, I said dinner) and we have used it to order roomie-dinners at home. So an un-sponsored +1 from me!

  4. Wilton Businessman*

    +1 on seamless.com. We’ve been using it for about 3 years and it is awesome. Of course, we have a good local selection, so there’s always something different being offered.

  5. Fan*

    this post was lame and kind of shameless. A full post essentially kissing Seamless’ butt and then your most active fans also comment on how much they love Seamless? Blech

    1. Ask a Manager* Post author

      You saw it was clearly labeled as a sponsored post, both at the top and bottom, right? It’s not a regular post. I think you misunderstood.

      And I imagine that the reason people chimed in with positive comments is because they, like me, really do like the company. I’m very picky about who I do sponsored posts for, so there’s a reason that when I do, the company is a good one.

      1. N*

        I really appreciate that about this blog. I don’t begrudge you the right to have sponsors and to occasionally ask us to hear about them and I appreciate that you choose them carefully. (And I second that Seamless is a great company)

        1. Josh S*

          I don’t know a darn thing about Seamless, but I do know that Alison is really good about being sparse with the commercials, being really up front about the sponsored posts, and being really clear that her ‘shilling’ for them is because she likes them and not because she’s selling out.

          And because I really appreciate the advice she doles out day after day, I can’t begrudge her the opportunity to scratch a living from it through ads in the sidebar or the rare sponsored post. Heck, this is one of the few sites that I have white-listed in my adblocker software, so she can actually collect revenue from the fact that my eyeballs see those ads.

          Alison, if everyone on the internet treated ads the way you do, the world would be a better place. Thanks.

          1. tcookson*

            ” . . . but I do know that Alison is really good about being sparse with the commercials, being really up front about the sponsored posts, and being really clear that her ‘shilling’ for them is because she likes them and not because she’s selling out.”

            Exactly! Plus, if they’re as good as Alison (and the other commenters) says, I need to check them out ASAP!

    2. Rob Bird*

      You seem surprised that she talked about the very thing she said she would have. What were you expecting; a title that said “And now a word from our sponsor” and then an article about the benefits of corn starch?

      This post was brought to you by the makers of Sarcasma. Just one Sarcasma capsule per day can free you, and others, from your normally arrogant, abrasive attitude.

    3. NonFan*

      Rude! Table for one! That was mean and uncalled for. I lost an hour of sleep and now I have lost my patience. You are lucky this is not my site I would find a way to block you.

    4. A Bug!*

      I can understand where you’re coming from, but I think you’re over-reacting. As AAM said, you were given fair warning in advance that the post was sponsored. Unlike most advertising, AAM is offering her honest opinion about the product; the fact that it’s a positive opinion doesn’t mean she’s automatically a shill. There are products and services out there that are great, and the users of such products and services will usually say so.

      That she received financial compensation for sharing her honest opinion in her blog doesn’t bother me, because I want AAM to be able to continue providing this blog and I don’t give her anything for doing so except my having white-listed the site for the ads.

      That regular commenters are chiming in with similar opinions to AAM’s doesn’t make them butt kissers, either. When I have a positive experience with a product I’ll say so. A blog post about that specific product would be an excellent place for me to do that.

      And now I know about a product that is endorsed by people whose opinions I have come to sort of trust, so that if I’m ever in a situation where I need a service like this, I’ll look at using this one.

      So my suggestion to you, if you like reading AAM’s blog, to just suck it up, skip over any more sponsored posts you see, and accept the fact that those sponsored posts are what helps allow AAM to keep things running.

      1. Jessa*

        Exactly. Alison is very clear about sponsorship. And I trust her and know that there won’t be a post about how wonderful X Company is, if she really doesn’t use them or believe in them.

        Also, if someone hated the company and put in a post saying X Company is awful in my location, they did a, b, c. AUGH. Alison would NOT delete their post. She’s not an unannounced shill and she does want honest discussion.

        The fact that a huge bunch of people who usually give me very very good advice like this company, says a whole lot.

        If they were useful to me in my situation, I would absolutely patronise them, and I will recommend them to people who ask me about such.

    5. Ash*

      “Oh no, this free blog that I visit and in no way financially support needs financial support and is clearly labeling their advertisements and sponsored posts as advertisements and sponsored posts! I am outraged!”

      You are a huge baby.

    6. Melissa*

      Hey, stuff costs money. I think for the excellent service Alison provides she has the right to do some selective marketing from time to time. And besides, they’re not lying, Seamless is awesome. We use it to do orders at my office too, plus I order from home through them quite frequently. They have excellent customer service too.

    7. Josh S*

      This is only the second sponsored post in the history of this blog, as far as I can figure. One in October 2012 and one in March 2013. That’s 153 days between sponsored posts.

      Considering that Alison typically posts no fewer than 3 times per weekday and at least once each day on the weekends, that’s no fewer than 373 posts answering questions (and probably significantly more than that). Not to mention that there is a “Short Answer” post most every day answering 6 or 7 different questions.

      So basically, Alison has answered in the neighborhood of 1100 questions from people since her last sponsored post.

      I would humbly suggest that if the ratio of sponsored posts per questions answered of 0.09% is too high for you, that you attempt an anatomically impossible act of auto-eroticism and attempt to find yourself another blog with a better ratio somewhere on the internet.

    8. Karl Sakas*

      As a long-time reader, no concerns here about the sponsored post!

      I loved that my former employer used Seamless for ordering lunch — we’d order after getting an email link in the morning and the food would just show up at lunchtime.

      Since moving to NC, that’s no longer an option, but it’s very convenient if you’re in a Seamless market — and it can boost team productivity, since people aren’t leaving to take long lunches.

  6. Madison*

    This is a really awesome idea. But I just checked restaurant locations. My work and home address comes up with 0 results, while my husband’s work address comes up with 1. I’m guessing that some areas have more options than others.

    1. Ask a Manager* Post author

      Yeah, I’m sure it depends on where you’re located. In the DC area, there are hundreds of options, but I’m sure it’s going to vary by location.

      1. Madison*

        I can definitely see DC and some other metro areas being really great for this. I was just surprised that my Chicago suburb had 0 options considering all of the restaurants, businesses and shopping in this area. But hopefully they add more restaurants because I’m really digging their idea :)

  8. Anonymous*

    I tried to sign up for this service to do a group order right now, but it doesn’t look like I can do that following any of the links provided or by browsing their site. They ask for my information and then say they’ll get back to me. We’re a small office of 15, it doesn’t mention any costs, and we only order in lunch once a week. Is this worth it? This seems more geared toward large corporate entities. Anyone have any experience actually signing up for group service?

    1. Anonymous*

      I did get a call back today, and I originally thought that group ordering was something different from a corporate account, but in fact you have to have a corporate account to do a group order. I was assured that even small non-profits like ours would benefit, especially since Seamless offers free accounts for non-profits, and they’ll automatically save us from the sales tax. The rep was great, she’s sending over a 1 page agreement form. I’ll let you know how it goes.

  9. Meg*

    As I work and live in DC metro area, I can say that I’ve used Seamless, at least for lunch while at work. My whole office doesn’t though (federal agency, we’re large!), but as far as individual goes, it’s definitely not bad. Another service I would try for the same thing if you don’t have any Seamless results would be Eat24.com

  10. ThatGirl*

    I was so ready to pass this one to the admin in our office (4 years in the position and still can not get the monthly lunch order correct). Unfortunately, they don’t have any services near me, so I am seriously bummed out about that.

  11. Not even close.*

    I live in a hugely rural area… I’m just pleased to work within the distance of a jimmy johns that delivers. Lol. But I will keep this in kind when the hubs finally PCSs to a metropolis, again!

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