Menus & Cuisines
Medellin Elite Catering serves lunch to private events, visiting groups, family celebrations and tour parties across Medellín and the Aburrá Valley. Since we opened in 2019, lunch has become one of the meals we cook most, because in Colombia it is the meal that matters most.
This page covers lunches for gatherings: a first communion lunch at home, a Sunday reunion at a finca, a midday reception after a ceremony or a packed lunch for a group heading out of the city. Office lunch programs and recurring contracts have a page of their own.
Whatever the format, we cook it the same morning in our Medellín kitchen and keep hot dishes above 60 °C until the moment they reach the plate.
Plan your event
Our lunch catering covers any midday meal for 15 guests or more with staff, or any drop-off order booked 48 hours ahead. Most bookings are family occasions such as baptisms, first communions, birthdays and Mother's Day, along with lunches for visiting groups, retreats and tours.
Offices that need lunch every day or every week should look at our corporate lunch catering, which handles recurring orders, monthly invoicing and boxed meals for meetings. Here we focus on the lunch that is the event itself.
For a Sunday reunion where three generations share one long table, our family gathering catering adds kids' plates and large-format dishes such as a whole lechona or a pot of sancocho for 40.
In Colombia, lunch (almuerzo) is the main meal of the day, eaten between noon and 2:00 p.m., and it follows a fixed order: soup, a main plate, a juice and something sweet. Serving a lunch in that shape is the surest way to make local guests feel at home, and it shows visitors how Colombians really eat.
Lunch opens with a soup, served first and on its own. Sancocho de gallina, ajiaco with chicken, capers and cream, and mondongo (tripe soup) are the classics, and a cream of ahuyama (Colombian squash) is the lighter choice for international guests.
The main plate, which Colombians call the seco, brings white rice, a protein, a salad and usually beans, plantain or potato. At a celebration lunch we serve sobrebarriga in creole sauce, posta negra cartagenera, grilled chicken or pork loin, with 150 to 180 g of cooked protein per guest.
The full Antioquian version is the bandeja paisa: beans, rice, ground beef, chicharrón, chorizo, a fried egg, an arepa, avocado and ripe plantain on one plate. It is a heavy meal, so we serve it as a smaller portion when there is dancing or an afternoon program after lunch.
A fresh fruit juice comes with the meal, made with water or milk: lulo, mora, maracuyá, guanábana or tomate de árbol. Dessert is small, such as arroz con leche, a square of tres leches, bocadillo with fresh cheese or a cup of salpicón, fruit salad in watermelon juice.
The four lunch formats differ in staffing, table space and how formal the meal feels. Choose by how long guests have to eat and whether they will sit down.
| Format | How it works | Best for | Staffing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hot buffet | Guests serve themselves from chafing dishes | 30 to 300 guests with mixed tastes | 1 server per 20 to 25 guests |
| Plated | Soup and main served at the table | Ceremonies, receptions, formal lunches | 1 server per 10 to 12 guests |
| Family-style | Platters of rice, meat and salad set on each table | Reunions, retreats, wedding-week lunches | Between buffet and plated |
| Boxed | An individual sealed lunch per guest | Tours, workshops, outdoor activities | None, delivered or collected |
A hot buffet is the most common choice, and our buffet catering page explains how we size and run the line. Family-style service suits groups who already know each other and want a home-cooked feel, while plated lunches keep a schedule tight when speeches or a ceremony follow.
Packed lunches let a group eat well on a day trip, whether that is the drive to Guatapé and El Peñol rock, a coffee farm visit or a paragliding morning at San Félix above Bello. Each lunch is a sealed box with a main, a side, a piece of fruit, a sweet and a drink, plus a cold pack for anything that must stay below 5 °C.
Drop-off delivery stops at the edge of the Aburrá Valley, so tour lunches are collected from our kitchen or delivered to your hotel or meeting point in the city before departure. Many hotels and hostels in El Poblado sit 20 to 35 minutes from our kitchen, and our catering in El Poblado delivers there daily.
Tour boxes leave out mayonnaise dressings, soft cheeses and rare meat, because they may ride in a bus for 4 to 6 hours. Typical boxes hold grilled chicken with rice and lentil salad, or a wrap of roasted vegetables and hummus, and groups who prefer sandwiches can order from our sandwich platter catering menu instead.
Questions and answers
Yes, we pack lunches for day trips and deliver them to your hotel or meeting point in Medellín, Envigado, Itagüí or Sabaneta before you leave. Each box keeps safely for about 4 hours at room temperature, and longer with the cold packs we include. We do not drive lunches out to Guatapé or other towns beyond the valley, so the group takes them along.
Yes, every buffet and plated lunch includes a fresh fruit juice and a small dessert, following the shape of a Colombian almuerzo. Boxed lunches include a bottled drink and a sweet such as a brownie or a piece of bocadillo with cheese. Coffee, soft drinks and alcohol are extras, listed separately on the quote.
Reserve your date
Tell us the date, the number of guests and whether you need a buffet, plated service or boxed lunches, and we will send an itemized quote within 24 hours. You can also write to info@medellincatering.com.