Tamale Day: how to start a monthly office lunch your team loves

Tamale Day is a standing lunch order, usually once a month, where a fixed number of hot tamales and burritos arrive at your office at the same time every cycle and nobody has to plan anything. I set it up once with the office manager, confirm the headcount a few days before each delivery, and the kitchen does the rest. One of my office customers wrote in a review that everyone there looks forward to tamale day, and that is the whole point: a lunch people notice, on a schedule that runs itself.

I have watched a lot of offices try to build a lunch tradition. Pizza Friday lasts until someone points out that it is always pizza. Potlucks work twice and then the same three people end up cooking. What makes a tamale lunch different is that it feels like an event without anyone doing the work of an event. The husks come off at the desk, the office smells like a real kitchen for an hour, and the people who grew up with tamales start telling stories to the people who did not.

Here is how I set one up, what I ask, and what I have learned from the offices that keep theirs running.

Start with one lunch, not a program

Do not announce a monthly Tamale Day on day one. Order once. Watch what happens. If people come back for a second tamal, if someone asks where the salsa verde went, if the last plate disappears before 1 PM, you have your answer. Then you tell the team it is coming back next month, and now it is a thing.

The first order is also where I learn about your office. I find out whether your group leans pork or chicken, whether the burritos got claimed by the warehouse crew first, and how many people actually show up on a Wednesday versus a Friday. That first delivery tells me more than any planning call, and it makes every later order more accurate.

The page for office catering and Tamale Day delivery explains the packages, but honestly the easiest way to begin is a quick message with your date and a rough headcount. I answer the same day with a menu and a price.

Pick the rhythm your office can keep

Monthly is the sweet spot for most teams. It is often enough to become a tradition and rare enough to stay special. A few of my customers run it every other week, and one warehouse team does it every Friday because they have shift workers who cannot come to evening events and this is their team meal. All of those work. What does not work is “whenever someone remembers.”

• First Wednesday of the month. My most common request. Mid-week attendance is the most predictable, and the delivery lands before the mid-month crunch.
• Payday Friday. Popular with retail and logistics teams. People are already in a good mood.
• The day of the monthly all-hands. Lunch right after the meeting keeps people in the room for the conversation that actually matters.

Whichever you choose, put it on the shared calendar as a recurring event with my delivery window on it. Remote staff plan office days around it. I am not exaggerating; I have been told this by three different office managers.

How many tamales to order for an office

My tamales are big. Reviewers use the word “huge,” and they are not wrong. One tamal is a full lunch for many people, and I have never had an office run out when they planned on two per person and added a small buffer. Here is the sizing I use when someone gives me a headcount.

Two things move that number. If you add burritos, some people take a burrito instead of a second tamal, so the tamale count can come down. And if your office has a few big eaters who are famous for it, the buffer earns its keep. I wrote a longer piece on how many tamales to order per person for parties and offices if you want the full math, including what to do about leftovers.

The split I recommend to a new office is about half pork in red salsa and half chicken in green salsa. After the first delivery you will know your ratio. One accounting firm in Plano is now 70 percent chicken. A construction office near Richardson is almost all pork. Neither surprised me once I met them.

What arrives and how to serve it

Tamales come hot, in their husks, packed so they keep their steam through the drive. I send the salsas on the side: red for the pork, tomatillo green for the chicken, and people mix them anyway, which is correct. If you ordered burritos, they come foil-wrapped and labeled by filling so nobody has to unwrap three to find the chicken.

You do not need a serving line. I have seen it done in a kitchenette the size of a closet. What helps:

1. Clear one counter and set the tamale trays at one end, salsas and plates at the other.
2. Put a small sign or a sticky note on each tray: “pork, red salsa” and “chicken, green salsa.” It stops the peeling-to-check problem.
3. Keep the lids on until the first people arrive. The husks hold heat surprisingly well if you do not let the steam out early.
4. Tell newcomers the husk is a wrapper, not food. Every office has one person who does not know, and they will thank you for the quiet warning.

Leftovers, if there are any, reheat beautifully the next day. Wrap them in a damp paper towel and microwave, or steam them if your break room has a way to do that. I have a full guide on reheating tamales so they taste fresh that you can pin next to the microwave.

Gluten-free and other dietary questions

Every tamal I make uses gluten-free masa. That is not a special order; it is the only masa in my kitchen. So the person on your team who usually eats a sad salad on catered days can eat with everyone else. I get asked about this more than any other question from office managers, and it is a real relief to be able to say yes without a caveat.

The chicken tamales are made with chicken breast. The pork is slow-cooked and shredded into the red salsa. Both fillings have what one reviewer called “a little kick,” which I would describe as warm rather than hot; the heat lives in the salsas on the side, so people set their own level. For larger standing orders, ask me about other fillings. I do not put them on the regular menu, but I like to cook for a group I know.

Why it sticks when other lunches do not

I have thought about this a lot, because I want my office customers to keep coming back, and the ones who keep Tamale Day going for a long time share a few habits.

Someone owns it, lightly

There is one person, usually the office manager or an executive assistant, who sends me the headcount and puts the calendar hold up. That takes them about five minutes a month. It is not a committee and it does not need a budget meeting every time. The standing order means the price is known in advance and the approval was done once.

It is tied to something people already do

Lunch after the monthly meeting. Lunch on the first day of the sales cycle. Lunch on the Friday the interns present. When the food is attached to a moment, the moment gets better and the food gets remembered.

It is not the same as every other vendor

A sandwich tray is fine. But nobody walks to the break room early for a sandwich tray. Tamales are a little bit of theater: the husk, the steam, the choice of salsa. New hires get told about it during onboarding. That is the kind of small culture thing that costs a few hundred dollars a month and quietly does a lot of work.

The kitchen is reliable

I can only speak for mine. Every order is cooked from scratch that morning, and I confirm each delivery personally. If your headcount changes the day before, you text me and we adjust. That flexibility is what turns a one-time order into a standing one.

Setting up the standing order

Here is the whole process, so you can see how little there is to it.

1. Pick a day and a delivery window. Most offices want food on the counter between 11:30 AM and noon. My kitchen is open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, 9 AM–2 PM; I am closed Thursdays and Sundays, so plan the recurring day around that.
2. Send me the first headcount and a pork-to-chicken guess. If you have no idea, say so and I will split it evenly.
3. Decide on burritos. Some offices add a tray of chicken and pork burritos for the people who want a handheld lunch at their desk. See my comparison of tamales and burritos for the office if you are choosing.
4. Get the quote and approve it once. The price per delivery stays the same until your headcount changes.
5. Confirm each month. I check in a few days ahead. You reply with a number. That is the entire ongoing workload.

Small one-off orders, like a plate for a birthday at your desk, go through DoorDash; the how to order page explains which route fits which order. Standing office deliveries go through the quote form or a phone call, because I want a person on my end who knows your building, your suite number, and where the loading dock is.

If your office is in Richardson, I am a few minutes away on North Greenville Avenue. I deliver to Plano, Frisco, Allen, McKinney, and Dallas as well, and the Richardson catering page has the details for offices closest to the kitchen.

Frequently asked questions

How much does an office Tamale Day cost per person?

At two big tamales per person, the food runs about $10 a head at the one-dozen price of $60. Most offices land between $10 and $13 per person once they add a burrito tray or a bigger buffer for a hungry crew. I send an exact quote for your headcount before you commit, and the price stays the same each month until your headcount changes.

How far ahead do I need to order a recurring office lunch?

For a standing order, the first delivery needs the most notice so I can plan the cook and learn your office. After that I check in a few days before each delivery and you confirm the headcount. The more notice the better, especially around the holidays, when the kitchen fills up with Christmas and Thanksgiving pre-orders and office slots go quickly.

Can Tamale Day work for a small office of eight or ten people?

Yes. Two dozen tamales feeds ten people comfortably with a couple left over, and it is the same fresh cook whether I am making two dozen or twelve. Small offices are some of my most loyal standing customers because a hot lunch for ten is easy to organize and everyone actually sits down together.

Are the tamales gluten-free for staff with celiac disease or a gluten sensitivity?

All of my tamales are made with gluten-free masa, and that is the only masa I use. The pork in red salsa and the chicken in green salsa are both made from scratch in my kitchen with natural ingredients. If someone on your team has a serious allergy, tell me when you order and I will walk you through exactly what is in each item.

Do the tamales arrive hot, or do we need to reheat them?

They arrive hot and packed to hold their steam, so you can serve straight from the trays. Keep the lids on until people start lining up. If lunch gets pushed by a meeting, tamales in husks hold heat well for a while, and anything left over reheats the next day in a microwave with a damp paper towel or in a steamer.

What if our headcount changes month to month?

That is normal and easy. When I check in before each delivery, you give me the number for that month and I adjust the order and the price. Offices with remote staff often swing by a third between deliveries. I would rather you tell me the real number than over-order out of caution, though a small buffer for big eaters is always a good idea.