Institutional
Sports Team Catering in Medellín
Medellin Elite Catering feeds athletes in Medellín: football academies, volleyball and basketball clubs, school squads, cycling groups and visiting teams at tournaments. Since 2019 our kitchen has learned that a team meal is judged by how players feel in the last ten minutes of a match, not by how the buffet looked.
We work with clubs that train every day, schools traveling for a weekend tournament and organizers who need to feed twenty teams at once. Menus follow your nutritionist's plan when you have one, and sound sports nutrition defaults when you do not.
Medellín sits at close to 1,500 meters above sea level, and teams arriving from the Caribbean coast feel it in the first few days. Hydration, carbohydrate timing and familiar food matter more here than many visiting coaches expect.
- Itemized quotes available
- Bilingual English and Spanish coordinators
Plan your event
Our Sports Team Catering
Sports team catering means meals timed around training and competition: breakfast before a morning session, a pre-match meal, recovery food straight afterward and dinner back at base. We cook in our own kitchen and deliver, or serve from a buffet at the club, the hotel or the training ground.
Typical clients include youth football academies, university teams, swimming and athletics clubs training at the Unidad Deportiva Atanasio Girardot, and school squads heading to inter-school tournaments. That sports complex sits inside our catering in Laureles zone, about 15 to 30 minutes from our kitchen.
Portions are set per athlete, not per guest. A 16-year-old midfielder on double sessions needs nearly twice the food of a parent watching from the stands, and we plan quantities that way.
Clubs that train with us every week can move to a recurring contract with monthly invoicing. Individual athletes who want their week's meals at home are better served by our meal prep service, which offers a high-protein plan, and early training sessions can start with a spread from our breakfast catering menu.
Meal Timing for Athletes
Athletes should eat a carbohydrate-rich meal 3 to 4 hours before competing and a recovery meal with protein and carbohydrate within an hour of finishing. Between those two points, small snacks and steady fluids keep energy up.
| When | Goal | What we serve |
|---|---|---|
| 3 to 4 hours before | Fill glycogen, easy digestion | Pasta or rice, grilled chicken, cooked vegetables, plain arepa |
| 1 to 2 hours before | Top up | Banana, bread with bocadillo (guava paste), electrolyte drink |
| During sessions over 60 minutes | Fluids and quick carbohydrate | Electrolyte drink, orange slices |
| Within 60 minutes after | Recovery | Chocolate milk, turkey sandwich, rice bowl with eggs or chicken |
| Evening | Rebuild and sleep well | Fish or lean beef, potato, rice, salad, fruit |
Sports nutrition guidelines put pre-event carbohydrate at 1 to 4 g per kg of body weight and post-exercise protein at about 0.3 g per kg. For a 70 kg player, that means 70 to 280 g of carbohydrate before kickoff and roughly 21 g of protein afterward.
We keep heavy paisa favorites such as chicharrón, frijoles and fried patacones off the menu before a match. They come back for the post-tournament celebration, when nobody has to sprint.
Working With Team Nutritionists
We cook to your nutritionist's plan. Send the macro targets per meal or per athlete group, and we turn them into recipes, weigh every protein and carbohydrate portion and return a menu with grams and kcal for sign-off.
Most clubs give us three or four groups, for example goalkeepers, outfield players, athletes making weight and players in injury rehab, each with its own portion card. Individual needs such as lactose-free or halal-friendly meals are packed separately and labeled with the athlete's name, and celiac players are covered by the separate prep line described on our gluten-free catering page.
Teams without a nutritionist get defaults set by the registered nutritionist who reviews our contract menus, adjusted for age group and sport. Each week we share the quantities served and what came back uneaten, which helps coaching staff spot a player who is not eating enough.
Tournament and Travel Catering
For visiting teams we cover the whole stay: breakfast at the hotel, packed lunches for the stadium, recovery snacks for the bus and dinner back at base. One coordinator holds the schedule and adjusts when a kickoff time moves.
Some hotels restrict outside food in their restaurants, so we agree the arrangement with the hotel before quoting and often serve in a meeting room or private salón. Packed travel meals go into insulated bags with ice packs and a clear eat-by time: hot meals within 2 hours, cold sandwiches within 4.
Tournament organizers feeding many teams can use a central buffet at the venue with a time slot per team, which keeps queues short between matches. For tournaments at the sports grounds around Itagüí's Parque Ditaires, our catering in Itagüí route gets hot trays to the touchline in under 45 minutes.
Hydration and Snack Stations
On match days we set up pitch-side hydration and snack stations stocked with water, electrolyte drinks, fruit and simple carbohydrate snacks. One station handles up to 150 players and staff, and our team refills it between matches.
A standard station holds watermelon, orange and pineapple wedges kept below 5 °C, bananas, bocadillo veleño with fresh cheese, oat bars baked in our kitchen and salted crackers. We plan about 1 liter of water per player per match, more for afternoon kickoffs in Medellín's dry months.
Teams on the move can swap the station for individual snack boxes, dropped at the ground through our catering delivery service. Drop-off orders need 48 hours' notice, and each box is labeled with the player's name or squad number.
Questions and answers
Sports Team FAQs
Can you follow our nutritionist's meal plan?
Yes, we follow your nutritionist's plan to the gram. We turn the macro targets into recipes, send the menu back with portions and kcal for approval, and weigh portions at service so the plan holds up in practice.
Can you deliver to a training ground?
Yes, we deliver to training grounds across Medellín and the Aburrá Valley. Drop-off routes run from Laureles, Estadio and Belén out to Sabaneta, La Estrella, Bello, Copacabana and Caldas, with 48 hours' notice. Grounds in Rionegro or La Ceja are served only on staffed bookings, because the 1 to 2.5 hour drive needs a team on site to hold the food at temperature.
Reserve your date
Fuel Your Team for the Season
Send your squad size, training or match schedule and any nutritionist targets through the quote form, and we will reply with a meal plan and itemized quote within 24 hours. Team managers can also email info@medellincatering.com.
- Itemized quotes available
- Menus, staff, tableware, setup and cleanup in one quote
- Food-handler certified team and labeled allergens on every tray
- Monday to Saturday
- 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
- Sunday
- Closed (events still run)