5 Tips for Planning a Successful Team Lunch in Singapore

The best team lunches aren't complicated. They just take five minutes of planning before anyone leaves the office.

Get the headcount, the venue, and the order sorted early, and the rest of the hour looks after itself. Here's how to plan a work lunch your whole team actually enjoys.

These five tips cover everything from picking the right venue to making sure no one goes hungry.

Tip 1: Get a Headcount and Dietary Requirements First

Booking a venue before you know who's coming and what everyone can eat ends in rebooking twice and still getting it wrong. Collect headcounts and dietary requirements at least a few days out. For groups larger than eight, the margin for error gets expensive fast.

A quick message in the team chat a few days ahead is usually enough to catch dietary needs early.

Let our team know ahead of time, and we'll flag menu options that work for every dietary need at the table.

Tip 2: Choose a Nearby Location

The best casual lunch places in Singapore will not matter if half the team needs two trains to get there and back. Prioritise venues within walking distance of the office, or with easy MRT access, so the commute does not eat into the actual meal. With more than 12 outlets across the island, Harry's is one of the best places for a team lunch.

A ten-minute walk each way already eats a fifth of a typical lunch hour, so location matters more than most teams think. If your team is based in the CBD, a restaurant near Raffles keeps the walk short and the lunch hour intact.

Tip 3: Pick a Venue That Can Handle a Large Group

Large teams put real strain on a kitchen. If you're bringing more than ten people, some restaurants struggle to serve everyone at once, and service slows down fast. Our menus are built for sharing, and the casual, vibrant atmosphere makes for an easy team bonding lunch.

Sorted, whether it's a table of six or a table of twenty. Our restaurant in Chijmes regularly seats teams of fifteen or more without the wait.

Tip 4: Decide Whether You're Doing Set Menu or Open Order

Set menus keep the bill predictable and the kitchen happy. Open ordering keeps everyone satisfied, but it adds complexity once the group gets past six or seven.

Decide before you arrive, and send the menu around beforehand so no one spends half the lunch hour deciding what to order. For groups over ten, a set package or a limited sharing-style order keeps the whole thing simple.

Either way, clarity before you arrive keeps the lunch hour focused on the team, not the menu.

If you're going the open order route, let us know the group size in advance, so the kitchen can pace things. Teams at our restaurant around Tai Seng often do this over email the day before, and it makes lunch service smoother for everyone.

Tip 5: Book in Advance and Confirm the Day Before

Walk-ins are tough to pull off for large groups during lunch hour, so book ahead. A quick confirmation call the day before saves everyone a wasted trip if plans change. Simple, but worth doing every time.

Popular spots like our restaurant at Marina Bay Link Mall fill up fast over lunch, so an early booking makes all the difference.

Ready to sort your next team lunch? Organise your next team lunch at your nearest Harry's, and let us handle the food while you handle the catching up. Cheers to easier lunch hours.