Typically, office lunches are a matter of soggy sandwiches and uninspired salad bars, but there’s a way to do it differently- Lona’s Lil Eats. It’s a bright, fun alternative that even gets the whole staff excited!
Nestled within the heart of the Fox Park neighborhood, Lona’s Lil Eats is a James Beard-nominated fusion of Asian-inspired flavors and soul food textures that make it one of Yahoo News’ #1 restaurants in Missouri. Our signature Giant Rice Paper Wrap and handmade glass noodles offer a new way to scratch-made for those office managers who need to accommodate a range of dietary requirements without sacrificing taste. From a meeting that demands the utmost boardiness to a team lunch to make your Friday more relaxed, our Silk Road-inspired menu adds an element of culinary prestige and “clean” energy that keeps St. Louis offices productive and satisfied.
The Real Problem With Office Lunch Catering in St. Louis
For anyone running the show with regard to corporate lunch catering in St. Louis, the dietary minefield is the biggest challenge. One of the teams on any particular team will probably have someone who is strictly vegan, someone who is gluten-free, a few strict carnivores, and maybe someone with a diabetic diet or a paleo diet. Most of the caterers consider these as “special requests,” and then you end up having to place a separate order for the salads and a separate order for sandwiches, so you can keep everyone safe. This often ends up in what’s called ‘catering fatigue’, when teams become bored of the same three rotational restaurants providing bland, mass-produced food.
Once the food is delivered, with each team being able to eat half, morale suffers. Lona’s Lil Eats knows that the one selecting the lunch is stressed to please everyone on a limited budget. Our kitchen can accommodate all three types of diets – vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, meat-heavy – all with the same scratch-made quality base ingredients. This means you can order once and get a full, rich, and safe meal without compromising, without the worry of someone getting too little and receiving something flavourless, or someone getting too much and being overwhelmed by the portions or having to split them.
What Makes Lona’s Lil Eats Different for Office Catering
Lona’s Lil Eats isn’t your typical catering service; we are a community-rooted kitchen that treats every office order with the same precision as a plated dinner in our Fox Park dining room.
Made From Scratch, Every Sauce, Every Day
Unlike many corporate caterers that rely on pre-made dressings and bottled marinades, Lona’s Lil Eats is a 100% scratch kitchen. We peel our garlic in-house, roast our peanuts fresh every morning, and build every sauce from the ground up without the use of MSG or heavy processed additives. This commitment to “clean” cooking is a major differentiator for health-conscious office cultures in St. Louis. When your team eats a lunch that is prepared with fresh herbs and natural spices rather than heavy oils and preservatives, they avoid the dreaded 2:00 PM “food coma,” staying sharp for the rest of the workday.
One Menu, Every Dietary Need Covered
We don’t just “accommodate” dietary restrictions; we celebrate them. Our menu is designed so that vegan, vegetarian, paleo, and gluten-free guests can eat just as heartily as the meat-eaters. Most of our proteins, including our spicy tofu and smoked brisket, are prepared with gluten-free seasonings. Our glass noodles are naturally gluten-free and vegan, providing a satisfying base for any meal. By offering a menu where inclusivity is the default rather than the exception, we remove the stress of office lunch planning.
Award-Winning Food Your Team Will Notice
Choosing Lona’s Lil Eats brings a level of social proof to your office event. We have been featured in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Top 100 and recognized nationally for our culinary innovation. As Stevie from Bruton Strobe Studios puts it: “The office is ready to riot when we don’t have Lona’s LiL Eats for a while.” When you bring in food that has a James Beard pedigree and a #1 ranking in the state, it signals to your employees and clients that you value quality and support local St. Louis excellence.
What’s on the Office Catering Menu?
The food on our catering menu has been designed to be portable and flavorful, so that it tastes great in your conference room, too.
The Giant Rice Paper Wrap, Lona’s Signature.
The Giant Rice Paper Wrap is the perfect solution for team lunch catering in St. Louis. In essence, it’s a larger wrap that retains its structure when carried around and is super easy to eat while sitting in front of a desk or during a meeting. These can be made with all sorts of proteins, such as grilled chicken, pulled turkey, steak, shrimp, or our famous spicy tofu. They’re wrapped in thin, fresh rice paper and not heavy flour tortillas, making them light and yet filling, which is a great change from the traditional wrap or sandwich platter.
Side dishes, salads and extras.
It’s an essential part of any office lunchtime. We have fresh, real menu items such as our peanut salad with lime and ginger, chopped salad, and chilled cucumber salad. Handcrafted spring rolls and dumplings make an ideal appetizer for a buffet. Our plates and wraps are all served as sides, so ordering per head is easy and reliable to keep within the catering budget and still get a full meal.
Sauces and Flavors: Sweet, Savory, Spicy, Sour
Our range of homemade sauces is what makes Lona’s experience. Whether it’s our smoky and tangy Lona-Q sauce or our zesty lime-ginger dressings, these tastes are truly hard to come by in the realm of St. Louis office catering. There are several flavor options available, including sweet, savory, spicy, and sour, so there’s something for every taste. This diversity will make sure even the pickiest eaters enjoy the flavor.
Office Catering Occasions Lona’s Handles Well
Lona’s Lil Eats is the go-to choice for a variety of corporate settings where the quality of the food reflects the quality of the company. For weekly team lunch rotations, we provide the variety needed to keep the menu from feeling stagnant. When you are hosting client or stakeholder meetings, the food you serve makes a lasting impression; serving Lona’s shows that your firm is plugged into the best of the St. Louis culinary scene and cares about health and authenticity.
We also specialize in employee appreciation and milestone lunches. Whether it’s celebrating a project completion or a work anniversary, a meal from Lona’s feels like a genuine reward rather than a mandatory meeting snack. For larger department meetings and all-hands events, our efficient catering setup ensures that everyone is fed quickly so the agenda can stay on track. Even for holiday office gatherings, our Asian fusion menu offers a festive, unique departure from the traditional (and often heavy) holiday fare, making your event stand out in a season of “same-old” parties.
How to Book Lona’s for Your Office Lunch
Booking your corporate lunch catering in St. Louis with Lona’s Lil Eats is designed to be a friction-free process for busy office managers.
How Far Ahead Should You Order?
For standard office lunches, we typically require at least 24 to 48 hours of lead time to ensure we can prep your scratch-made meal to perfection. However, for larger corporate events or those with complex custom requirements, reaching out 3 to 5 days in advance is ideal. Providing this lead time allows us to coordinate the freshest ingredients and ensure your delivery window is secured.
Ordering for Small vs. Large Teams
Lona’s Lil Eats is equipped to cater for teams of all sizes. Whether you have a small creative team of 10 or a large corporate department of 100+, we can scale our portions and service to fit. We offer flexible options for both small and large parties, ensuring that the food is packaged for easy serving regardless of your office layout. Our goal is to make the ordering process as simple as possible—just tell us your headcount and dietary preferences, and we will handle the rest.
To book your next office lunch, call or text us at 314-314-8244. You can also view our full catering menu to see all the options available for your team. We’ll guide you through the entire process to ensure your lunch is a success.
What St. Louis Offices Are Saying About Lona’s
Consistency and flavor are the key components of Lona’s Lil Eats’ reputation in the business community. Local offices often emphasise that our food is the “only thing everyone on their staff can agree on”. We get a lot of feedback from executive assistants who are happy to find a caterer who doesn’t need to send a separate “special order” form to their gluten-free and/or vegetarian staff. Hats are routinely thrown in the air for the food arriving ready in time, smelling great and being eaten up to the last drop – no money wasted. That’s what has made us a constant presence in the St. Louis catering scene for years.
If you’re the person who decides what lunch will consist of and you want to make sure it’ll be a winner for both leadership and staff, then Lona’s Lil Eats is your quick solution to a good lunch. Our James Beard-nominated kitchen in Fox Park is at your disposal to deliver the best Asian fusion cuisine in the city right to your conference room. Our attention to scratch-made ingredients, dietary accommodations and creative Silk Road cuisine makes our catering service something that St. Louis teams will look forward to. Give us a call or text today and find out why we are the best-rated provider of healthy, tasty office meals in St. Louis! We hope to feed your team and make your next lunch at the office a memorable one!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).
Q1. Can Lona’s Lil Eats be found throughout St. Louis?
Ans: Yes, we offer office lunch catering services to most places in the St. Louis metropolitan area, such as downtown, Clayton, Central West End, and surrounding suburbs. Call us to check the availability of delivery to your area.
Q2. Do I have the option to put spices in a group order?
Ans: Absolutely. We realize that there is some variation in spice tolerance. We can also make your catering order, and all the sauce is served separately so each member of your team can choose their own level of heat (mild to extra spicy).
Q3. Do your catering containers meet the requirements of the environment?
Ans: For our St. Louis catering services, we do our best to use sustainable packaging. We aim to offer something simple that can be easily cleaned up and will have a minimum of impact to your office environment.
Q4. Do you provide individually packed lunches or a one-serving lunch?
Ans: Both of these can be accommodated. Our buffet-style meals are ideal for team time, and many St. Louis offices choose them to accommodate grab-and-go portions for their meetings.
Q5. Do you have a minimum delivery order?
Ans: Usually, we have a minimum size or dollar amount for delivery orders. The minimums are different depending on the neighborhood and team size; please call our catering coordinator at 314-314-8244 for specific minimums.
