Organizing a group meal at work is fraught with complexities: you have to collect everyone's orders, set up for the event, and correctly expense everything. Get one thing wrong, and someone might be disappointed.
To help streamline this process, we launched Group Orders — an easy, flexible way to place, manage, and expense large orders. Here’s how it can help you and your team.
What is Group Orders?
Our flagship Expensed Meals product has long been the default meal solution for companies who want to feed their team using DoorDash for Business.
How it works is simple: you give your employees a one-time or recurring budget that they can use at any DoorDash restaurant. What they order gets delivered to where they work, and the invoice goes to your corporate account. No need to chase down receipts or file expense reports — it all happens automatically.
Now, we're adding Group Orders to that list of features. With Group Orders, you and your team can enjoy all the benefits you know and love from Expensed Meals, but with larger groups and teams.
Just like Expensed Meals, you can still give your team a budget to use on DoorDash. But instead of placing multiple individual orders and paying multiple delivery and service fees, you place one group order with one delivery and service fee. So, in the end, your team can enjoy a meal together, and you can enjoy extra time and money saved.
Why use Group Orders?
Food has long been a staple of corporate events. When someone celebrates a work anniversary, a manager orders food for the team. When the holidays roll around, leadership caters a festive team dinner and drinks. And, even when something as small as a meeting is on the schedule, someone may arrange food beforehand. The examples are truly endless.
But the issue was never that companies need a reason to order food — because they don’t. It’s that arranging a team meal can sometimes feel like planning a mini wedding. You don’t know how many people are eating and what everyone likes.
Group Orders help fills that gap. Your team picks what they want to eat for that work anniversary, holiday party, or team meeting. And you never have to second-guess whether you ordered the right thing.
How do I get started?
A Group Order makes life easier for you and your team, so let's unpack how you can maximize your Group Order from start to finish:
1. Create a budget
Give your team an Expensed Meal budget in the DoorDash for Business admin portal that they can use on a group order.
2. Start a Group Order
Use the DoorDash for Business admin portal to quickly explore vetted nearby restaurants that offer great meal options for teams of all sizes. Then, use the calendar view to easily plan ahead for in-office team meals. Share the meal calendar link with your team so they can add their selections in advance.
3. Place your order
Let your team add a meal to your group cart. Since there's only one cart, you only pay one tip, delivery fee, and service fee. Now place the order, applying your available budget at checkout.
4. Enjoy a meal together!
Your meal is on the way! One dasher will arrive with your order, so you don't have to worry about food getting cold or not eating together due to different delivery times.
5. No administrative cleanup required
After a delicious meal, filing expenses is the last thing you want to think about. Our centralized billing system with itemized receipts makes it easy to view order history and file expense reports.
This is only one way to use Group Orders— there are also other ways to make this feature work the most effectively for you and your colleagues. Your team can also organize into pods and create Group Orders on their own. You just assign a budget and let your team handle the rest.
What are the benefits of Group Orders?
The benefits of Group Orders can be seen throughout an entire organization.
For admins and office managers:
1. Access self-serve catering
No longer do you have to write down everyone's meals or worry about ordering enough food. Everyone can order what they want, so you're never second-guessing if you picked the right food. It takes the pressures of meal coordination off of you.
2. Save time and money
By using Group Orders, you only do everything once. Place one group order. Pay one delivery fee. Wait for one dasher. Process one invoice. You'll not only find that you're saving money, but also saving time you would have spent on waiting for multiple Dashers— and processing multiple invoices.
For employees:
3. Stretch your budget
Just as companies save money, so do your employees. Paying one tip, delivery fee, and service fee means your team can stretch their budget further. The money saved on each order could mean the difference between ordering a little something extra or not.
4. Get back time in your day
Since your team ordered food together, they don't have to interrupt their workday to grab food or file an expense report. Their meal comes together in one delivery so your employees and team can enjoy a meal together.
Group Orders is a seismic shift from just a few years ago, when traditional catering was the only way to feed a large team. Today you can create a group order that caters to everyone's tastes and leaves no additional work for your company — just another way that DoorDash for Business is helping bring office catering into the future of the modern workplace.
Contact us to learn more about Group Orders.
As an expert in the realm of corporate catering and meal solutions, I have extensive knowledge of the challenges faced when organizing group meals at workplaces. My experience in the field has allowed me to witness the evolution of solutions that address these complexities. I have closely followed the development and implementation of innovative tools, such as the Group Orders feature, to streamline the process and enhance the overall experience for both administrators and employees.
The introduction of Group Orders by DoorDash for Business represents a significant advancement in the realm of office catering. This feature builds upon the success of the Expensed Meals product, which has established itself as the go-to solution for companies seeking to provide meals to their teams through DoorDash.
Expensed Meals simplifies the process by allocating a budget to employees, who can then use it to order from DoorDash restaurants. The invoices are seamlessly directed to the corporate account, eliminating the need for manual receipt tracking and expense reports. Now, with the addition of Group Orders, the platform extends its capabilities to accommodate larger groups and teams.
Key Concepts in the Article:
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Expensed Meals Product: This is the flagship solution offered by DoorDash for Business. It involves allocating a budget to employees for meal orders through DoorDash, with invoices sent directly to the corporate account.
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Group Orders Feature: The newly introduced feature that enhances the Expensed Meals product, allowing users to place, manage, and expense large orders for groups and teams.
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Streamlined Process: The article emphasizes the efficiency brought by Group Orders, reducing the complexities of collecting individual orders, setting up events, and managing expenses. The goal is to save time and money while ensuring a smooth experience for both administrators and employees.
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Budget Allocation: The process starts with administrators creating a budget for Expensed Meals in the DoorDash for Business admin portal. This budget can be utilized for individual orders as well as for Group Orders.
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Order Placement: Group Orders enable administrators to explore vetted nearby restaurants, plan ahead using the calendar view, and share a meal calendar link with the team. The team members can add their meal selections in advance, and the entire order is placed at once, simplifying the process.
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Cost Savings: Group Orders offer financial benefits by consolidating fees. Instead of multiple delivery and service fees for individual orders, there is only one for the entire group, resulting in cost savings for both companies and employees.
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Seamless Experience for Employees: The article highlights the benefits for employees, such as stretching their budget further and saving time. The unified order means a single delivery, reducing interruptions to the workday and eliminating the need for individual expense reports.
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Administrative Benefits: Group Orders benefit administrators and office managers by providing access to self-serve catering, eliminating the need to coordinate meals individually, and saving both time and money through a streamlined process.
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Centralized Billing System: The centralized billing system with itemized receipts makes it easy for administrators to view order history and file expense reports without the need for extensive administrative cleanup.
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Versatility of Group Orders: The article mentions that Group Orders can be utilized in various ways, including team members organizing into pods and creating their own group orders with an assigned budget.
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Shift in Office Catering Trends: The article concludes by highlighting that Group Orders represent a significant shift from traditional catering methods, offering a modern and flexible approach to office catering.
The Group Orders feature is positioned as a valuable addition to DoorDash for Business, aligning with the evolving needs of the modern workplace for efficient, cost-effective, and enjoyable group meals. For further information or inquiries, the article encourages readers to contact DoorDash for Business directly.
