Conference and Meeting Catering in Melbourne: What a Full Day Costs
A Melbourne hotel will sell you a day delegate package at $90 to $130 a head. That covers the room, the AV and the food together, which is fair enough if you need the room. If you already have a boardroom, a training room or a floor you can clear, you are paying hotel rates for sandwiches.
The food on its own, delivered to a room you already have, costs a good deal less. Every price below is from our current menu.
What a catered conference day costs per delegate
Four builds for twenty delegates. The first keeps people going; the last is what you'd run for a board offsite or a day with clients in the room. All prices are in Australian dollars, GST included, with no service fee.
| Day | What's in it | Total for 20 | Per delegate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Half day, lean | Sweet muffins for morning tea, Working Lunch B × 2 | $452 | $22.60 |
| Half day, full | Tea and coffee station, The Brisk Morning Tea, Working Lunch B × 2 | $819 | $40.95 |
| Full day, lean | Sweet muffins, Working Lunch B × 2, assorted slices in the afternoon | $526 | $26.30 |
| Full day, full | Tea and coffee on arrival, The Brisk Morning Tea, Working Lunch B × 2, brownies and a fresh fruit platter at 3pm | $946 | $47.30 |
The lean full day works out at $26.30 a delegate and the generous one at $47.30. Both sit well under a hotel package, because you are not paying for the room.
The individual prices behind those totals, if you want to build the day differently:
| Item | Price | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Tea and coffee station, with eco-friendly disposables | $4.85 | per person |
| The Brisk Morning Tea | $17.40 | per person |
| Sweet muffins | $5.25 | each |
| Mini muffins | $3.90 | each |
| Assorted slices | $3.70 | each |
| Chocolate brownies | $3.70 | each |
| Mini croissants with jam and butter | $5.25 | each |
| Fresh fruit platter | $53 | large platter |
| Working Lunch B — 10 baguettes, 10 beef sausage rolls, 10 iced doughnuts | $187 | serves 10 |
| Working Lunch C — 10 wraps, 10 mini beef burgers, 10 mini muffins | $197.50 | serves 10 |
| Working Lunch A — 10 point sandwiches, 10 mini banh mi, 10 brownies | $208 | serves 10 |
| Regular Gourmet Sandwich Platter | $104 | 10 sandwiches |
| Leafy greens salad | $6.45 | each |
| The Lunch Box | $27 | each |
| Orange juice | $6.10 | each |
| Capi sparkling mineral water | $4.75 | each |
Full pricing across every format sits in our catering cost per person guide, and the working lunch packages and morning and afternoon tea range have the rest of the menu.
Boardroom meetings and smaller rooms
Most of what we deliver is not a conference. It is eight people in a boardroom at nine in the morning, or a dozen in a meeting that has run into lunch. Those orders have a different problem: they are small enough to bump into our $80 minimum.
| Meeting | What to order | Total | Per head |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morning board meeting, 8 people | 8 mini croissants with jam and butter, tea and coffee station for 8 | $80.80 | $10.10 |
| Working lunch, 10 people | 1 × Working Lunch B | $187 | $18.70 |
| Client lunch, boxed, 10 people | 10 × The Lunch Box | $270 | $27.00 |
| Half-day meeting, 10 people | Tea and coffee for 10, 10 sweet muffins, 1 Regular Gourmet Sandwich Platter, 2 leafy greens salads | $217.90 | $21.79 |
Eight people with pastries and a coffee station lands at $80.80, which clears the minimum by eighty cents. Seven people does not get there. When the room is genuinely small, add the drinks rather than dropping the food, or the maths stops working.
When clients are in the room, boxes work better than shared platters. Everyone gets an identical labelled box, nobody reaches across the table, and dietary requirements get handled without anyone having to announce theirs. Individual lunch boxes start at $18.10, and our boardroom lunch box guide runs through what's in each one.
How much to order for each session
Portions are where conference catering goes wrong, usually at morning tea, where people order lunch quantities for a fifteen-minute break. Our recommendation after thirty years of delivering these:
| Session | Per person | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Arrival, before session one | 1 hot drink | Most delegates have eaten. Coffee is what they want. |
| Morning tea, 10–10.30am | 1–2 pieces | A short break. One pastry each plus a few spares. |
| Seated working lunch | 1 round of sandwiches, plus a salad to share between five | People eat less sitting down with an agenda in front of them. |
| Standing or networking lunch | 4–5 finger food pieces | People on their feet keep eating for the whole break, so order more than feels necessary. |
| Afternoon tea, 3pm | 1–2 pieces | Something sweet. This is the session people flag when it's missing. |
| Multi-day conference | Vary it daily | The same pastry platter three mornings running gets noticed. |
Our guide to how much food to order goes further on quantities, and finger food catering covers the standing-lunch format properly.
Running a day and want it costed? Send us the date, the headcount and the run sheet, and we'll price the whole thing session by session. Get a quote, or build it yourself on the full menu.
Timing, delivery and the deadlines that matter
A conference runs to a schedule, so what you need to know is when food lands relative to the break. Our delivery rules, in full:
| What | When |
|---|---|
| Order for next-day delivery | 3pm the business day before |
| Delivery window | From 7am, Monday to Friday |
| Cold food | May arrive up to 90 minutes before your confirmed delivery time |
| Hot food | May arrive up to 15 minutes before your confirmed delivery time |
| Same-day or last-minute | Call 1300 322 240. 8 out of 10 get through, subject to stock and drivers. A $10 fee may apply |
| Changes to a booking | In writing, at least 48 hours before |
| Cancel, up to 20 people | By 4pm the business day before |
| Cancel, 20 to 50 people | 2 business days before |
| Cancel, 50 or more | 5 business days before |
| Cancel after the deadline | 50% of the invoiced total |
Plan around the 90-minute cold-food window. Book morning tea for 10.30am and it can land at 9am, which is what you want if the room is locked while a session runs. Hot food booked for 12.30pm turns up close to 12.30pm, because it has to.
The cancellation tiers matter more than they look. Confirm a fifty-person day on Monday for the Friday and you keep five business days of room to move numbers. Confirm it on Wednesday and you have none. Conference numbers always move.
Delivery is free to the CBD, Docklands and St Kilda Road precincts on orders over $80. Below $80 a $10 delivery fee may apply. Outside those precincts we quote the fee before you order, and anything beyond 15 km from the CBD carries a $200 minimum. The Melbourne CBD delivery page has the suburb list.
One thing we don't do: weekends, unless the event is over $1,000, and then by quote. A Saturday breakfast for a twelve-person strategy day isn't something we can take.
Dietary requirements for a room of delegates
With twenty people you will have dietaries. With fifty you will have several nobody told you about.
Ask on the registration form rather than on the day. Put the question wherever people RSVP, because chasing it at 8am is how a delegate ends up with a fruit plate for lunch. Vegetarian you can stop worrying about; every sandwich order includes 15% vegetarian as standard.
Gluten free costs almost nothing extra either. Gluten-free sandwiches are $11.40, the same as sourdough, and gluten-free wraps are 30 cents more than standard. Have a look at the gluten free range for what's available. Everything special comes labelled and packed separately to reduce the risk of cross-contamination, at no extra charge.
Then put the detail into the order itself. There's a special instructions field at checkout, and it takes names as happily as counts. "1 GF, 1 vegan (Priya)" travels a lot better than "2 dietary".
Conferences we can't cater
This one saves a phone call. If your conference is at a hotel or a purpose-built venue, the MCEC and most hotel meeting floors included, that venue almost certainly holds exclusive catering rights and won't let outside food in. Check your contract before you start collecting quotes.
Where we work is the space you control: your own boardroom, your training rooms, a floor you've cleared, a coworking meeting room, an office hired for the day. We drop the food off ready to serve and you don't need staff on hand for it. If you do want staff and equipment for a larger corporate function, that's corporate event catering and we quote it separately.
FAQ
How much does conference catering cost per person in Melbourne? A full catered day of morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea runs $26.30 to $47.30 per delegate with Brisk. A half day is $22.60 to $40.95. Hotel day delegate packages in Melbourne typically run $90 to $130 a head, but those include room hire and AV, not just food.
What is included in conference catering? Usually three service points: morning tea, lunch, and afternoon tea, with tea and coffee available on arrival. Our drop-off catering arrives ready to serve on platters with serving tongs. Napkins are free on request, and plates and cutlery are available for about $1 a head.
Can you cater a full-day conference? Yes. Order by 3pm the business day before and everything for the day is delivered from 7am. For groups over fifty, book earlier. Your cancellation deadline is five business days out, so an early booking is what buys you flexibility on numbers.
How much food do I need for a conference morning tea? One to two pieces per delegate for a short break. Order lunch quantities for a fifteen-minute morning tea and most of it comes back.
What food works best for a boardroom meeting? Something quiet and clean. Sandwiches, wraps, pastries and slices are all food people can eat one-handed while someone is presenting. Save hot finger food and anything that needs a plate for a proper break.
Is there a minimum order for meeting catering? $80 within 15 km of the Melbourne CBD, and $200 beyond that. Eight people with pastries and a coffee station comes to $80.80, so small boardroom orders can clear the minimum with drinks included.
How far in advance should I book conference catering? 3pm the business day before covers next-day delivery. For a fifty-person day, book at least five business days ahead so you keep the ability to change numbers without a cancellation charge.
Can you cater conferences of different sizes? From an eight-person boardroom to a floor of a hundred and fifty. We deliver 250+ orders across Melbourne every day, so a booking that size is an ordinary Tuesday for the kitchen.
Can I pay by invoice? Yes. We invoice ten minutes after delivery, payable by credit card or EFT up to 14 days later. Invoices over $4,000 need a 50% deposit within 7 days to hold the booking.
Book the day
Send us the date, the headcount and the run sheet, and we'll come back with the whole day priced by session. Request a quote, or go straight to the menu and prices and build it yourself. Order by 3pm and it arrives from 7am tomorrow.
Thirty years, 2,000 active clients, 250 deliveries a day across Melbourne, 4.9 stars from 91 Google reviews, and an on-time-or-your-money-back guarantee.
Related reading: catering cost per person in Melbourne, gourmet lunch boxes for the boardroom, working lunch packages, morning and afternoon tea and drinks catering.
