Golden Corral caters the way a Southern meat-and-two plate works. You pick one entree, and then you pick two sides. Every individually packaged meal on the brand’s catering site asks the same question: Choose Your 2 Sides. We read the order form at all 253 catering storefronts and found it on 2,332 of 2,332 individually packaged meal listings.
A boxed meal offers up to 18 of them, from macaroni and cheese and green beans to sweet potato casserole and mashed potatoes three ways. The buffet side of the menu sells sides by the tray, and those trays come from a second list. The two lists share most of their items, and each one keeps a few of its own.
For an office order, choose the sides from the list that matches the format. The boxed list holds yellow rice, refried beans and stuffing. The tray list holds the seafood salad, tuna salad, black-eyed peas and pinto beans.
In this guide
- The two-side question on every boxed meal
- What the catering menu holds
- The boxed-meal side list and the side-tray list
- How the two lists line up
- Entree platters, fried chicken boxes and the rest
- Building a buffet line from the menu
- How to order, step by step
Two Sides on Every Boxed Meal
Golden Corral sells catering through a dedicated catering site, separate from its everyday online ordering. The site lists 253 public catering storefronts in 39 states, and each one publishes its own copy of the menu.
Each storefront lists between six and twelve individually packaged meals, which adds up to 2,332 listings across the chain. Every one of those listings carries the same option group, “Choose Your 2 Sides”, and every one lets you pick one side or two. The brand’s own description of the section says the same thing: all entrees come with your choice of two sides, a yeast roll, honey butter and cookies.
So a Golden Corral boxed meal is a plate. One entree, two sides, a roll with honey butter, and something sweet. For an office lunch, that means each guest gets a full Southern plate in one box, and you choose the sides on their behalf.
What Is on the Golden Corral Catering Menu
Eight sections appear at all 253 catering storefronts. They fall into two groups: meals packed one per person, and food sent by the tray or box for a serving line.
| Section | What it holds | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Individually Packaged Meals | Fried chicken, fried fish, baked fish, baked chicken, Bourbon Street Chicken, meatloaf, pot roast, pulled pork, and sirloin steak in sizes that vary by storefront | One per person |
| Party Platters | Pot roast, Bourbon Street Chicken, meatloaf, carved ham, pulled pork, fruit tray, vegetable tray | By the tray or by the pound |
| Famous Fried Chicken | Boxes of 6, 8, 12 or 20 pieces | By the box |
| Signature Salads | Garden, Chicken Caesar, Cobb | By the bowl |
| Side Options | Side trays, gravy, yeast rolls, baked potatoes | By the tray |
| Pizza | Cheese, pepperoni | By the pizza |
| Desserts | Carrot cake, chocolate cake, cheesecake, banana pudding, bread pudding, brownie bites, blueberry pie, apple pie, mini cookies | By the cake, pan or dozen |
| Beverages | Sweet tea, unsweetened tea, lemonade, strawberry lemonade | By the container |
Breakfast is a ninth section at 35 of the 253 catering storefronts, so check your own storefront if you want an early meeting. Most trays and boxes on the form state how many guests they are built for, which keeps the arithmetic in one place when you check out.
The Boxed-Meal Side List
The boxed meals draw on one list. At 1,911 of the 2,332 listings it runs to 18 choices, and the rest carry a shorter version of the same list. These are the choices, with the number of listings that carry each one.
| Side | Listings that offer it (of 2,332) |
|---|---|
| Buttered corn, coleslaw, green beans, macaroni and cheese, white rice | 2,332 each |
| Mashed potatoes and brown gravy | 2,332 |
| Mashed potatoes and no gravy | 2,332 |
| Mashed potatoes and white gravy | 2,230 |
| Steamed broccoli | 2,324 |
| Baked potato | 2,315 |
| Steamed cabbage, yellow rice | 2,314 each |
| Potato salad | 2,308 |
| Steamed carrots | 2,302 |
| Baked beans | 2,227 |
| Sweet potato casserole | 2,156 |
| Refried beans | 2,146 |
| Stuffing | 2,050 |
Mashed potatoes count as three separate choices, one for each gravy. That is a useful detail for a mixed room. A guest who wants the potatoes plain can have them plain, and a guest who wants brown gravy gets it on the plate, with no extra line to add. Choose the gravy as part of the side, not as a separate order.
The two-side rule also gives you a way to balance a box. Pair one hot, rich side such as macaroni and cheese or sweet potato casserole with one green side such as broccoli or green beans, and the plate reads like a full Southern lunch. For a guest with dietary needs, ask the restaurant how each side is made before you order. The form does not mark any side for a diet, and our guide to ordering catering for mixed dietary needs covers how to collect those needs from a team in advance.
Plan a meat and two lunch with CaterAi
The Side-Tray List
The Side Options section sells sides by the tray for a buffet line. Fourteen of its items appear at 245 or more of the 253 catering storefronts.
| Side tray | Catering storefronts (of 253) |
|---|---|
| Buttered corn, green beans, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, steamed carrots, white rice | 253 each |
| Gravy, yeast rolls | 253 each |
| Baked potato, seafood salad, steamed broccoli, steamed cabbage | 252 each |
| Potato salad | 251 |
| Sweet potato casserole | 245 |
| Tuna salad | 228 |
| Baked beans | 192 |
| Red bliss potatoes | 166 |
| Coleslaw | 144 |
| Black-eyed peas | 129 |
| Seasoned pinto beans | 97 |
Six of the trays appear at some storefronts and not at others, so open your own storefront before you plan around black-eyed peas or pinto beans. The gravy tray comes as a bowl in a choice of a beef-based brown gravy or a poultry-seasoned gravy, and the yeast rolls come by the half dozen or the dozen.
How the Two Side Lists Line Up
Most sides sit on both lists. A few belong to one list, and those are the ones to watch when you plan.
| Where the side appears | Sides |
|---|---|
| Both lists | Buttered corn, green beans, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, white rice, steamed broccoli, steamed cabbage, steamed carrots, baked potato, potato salad, baked beans, sweet potato casserole, coleslaw |
| Boxed meals | Yellow rice, refried beans, stuffing, and the three mashed-potato choices by gravy |
| Side trays | Seafood salad, tuna salad, black-eyed peas, seasoned pinto beans, red bliss potatoes |
Read the split as two menus built for two jobs. The boxed list leans on hot sides that travel well on a plate. The tray list adds cold salads and Southern beans that suit a buffet line. Stuffing reaches the tray list at four storefronts, and yellow rice and refried beans reach it at none.
If your team liked the yellow rice in last month’s boxes, a buffet order will not have it, so pick white rice or another starch. If you want a seafood salad on the table, order a tray, because the boxes do not offer it. Each case comes down to one line on the form.
Entree Platters and Fried Chicken Boxes
For a buffet line, the entrees come from two sections. Party Platters holds the slow-cooked dishes, and Famous Fried Chicken holds the boxes.
- Pot roast comes as two roasts on a bed of potatoes, carrots, onions, celery and gravy. The brand describes it as slow-cooked overnight.
- Bourbon Street Chicken is marinated for 12 hours in a sweet and savory sauce and served on rice.
- Meatloaf is made with ground beef and pork.
- Carved ham and pulled pork are sold by the pound. The pulled pork is smoked on site with hickory wood, so tell the storefront your headcount when you choose the weight.
- Fried chicken comes in boxes of 6, 8, 12 or 20 pieces. The 8, 12 and 20 piece boxes include biscuits or yeast rolls, and the 20 piece box lets you choose a mix of pieces or breasts and wings.
Fruit and vegetable trays sit in the same Party Platters section, and the vegetable tray comes with ranch dressing. Add one of each to give a heavy buffet some colour. For a meat-free entree, speak to the restaurant, because every entree platter carries meat or chicken.
Rolls, Salads, Desserts and Drinks
Rolls, salads, desserts and drinks fill out the line the way the restaurant’s own buffet does.
- Yeast rolls are made from scratch and come with honey butter in the boxed meals. Add a dozen to a buffet order.
- Salads come as a garden salad, a Chicken Caesar and a Cobb with ham, blue cheese and egg.
- Desserts include carrot cake with cream cheese icing, banana pudding, bread pudding and brownie bites. The blueberry pie is listed as no sugar added.
- Drinks come as sweet tea, unsweetened tea, lemonade and strawberry lemonade.
Banana pudding and sweet tea are the two items that make the table read as Southern. Add both, and your buffet looks like the restaurant’s.
Building a Buffet Line From the Menu
There is no fixed buffet package on the catering form, so you build the line yourself. Work through the menu in the order a guest walks the line.
- Choose one or two entrees. Pot roast and fried chicken make a good pair: one in gravy, one crisp.
- Choose the sides from the tray list. Three or four sides give the line its variety. Mix a starch, a green vegetable and one Southern side such as cabbage or black-eyed peas.
- Add rolls and gravy. Order the gravy in the kind that matches your entree.
- Add a salad and a fruit or vegetable tray for colour and a lighter plate.
- Finish with dessert and tea.
For a meeting where people eat at their seats, switch to the boxed meals and do the same work inside each box: one entree, two sides from the boxed list. Our guides to boxed lunch catering vs buffet and to Pollo Tropical catering cover how to choose between the two formats for a room.
For the same kind of food from local catering partners, the directory has pages for Southern catering, BBQ catering, fried chicken catering, mac and cheese catering and pulled pork catering, and menu pages for buffets, boxed meals and desserts.
How to Order Golden Corral Catering
- Choose the storefront. Open the catering site and pick the restaurant nearest the office.
- Choose the format. Individually packaged meals for one box per guest, or platters, boxes and side trays for a buffet line.
- For boxed meals, choose the entree and two sides per box. Pick the gravy as part of the mashed potatoes. For fried chicken, choose white or dark meat.
- For a buffet, choose the entrees and then the side trays. Read the tray list, not the boxed list.
- Add rolls, gravy, salad, dessert and drinks.
- Choose pickup or delivery. Pickup is on at all 253 catering storefronts, and the form also offers delivery at 250 of them.
- Raise dietary needs before you pay. Speak to the restaurant directly about any serious allergy.
The brand’s FAQ describes catering as large party platters available for pickup, so confirm delivery with your storefront for a buffet order. The same FAQ says catering orders do not earn or redeem rewards points yet. Nutrition details sit on the brand’s nutrition page. Our office manager’s guide to ordering catering covers what to have ready on the day.
Where Golden Corral Catering Fits
This is a full Southern lunch at scale: pot roast, fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, yeast rolls, banana pudding and a gallon of sweet tea. It suits a team celebration, an employee appreciation lunch, a retirement party or an all-hands where the room wants comfort food and seconds.
If your office knows other Southern menus, the Bojangles catering guide, the Popeyes catering guide and the Honey Baked Ham catering guide cover three of them. Our guide to BBQ corporate catering covers the smoked side of the same table.
A Better Option for Recurring Office Meals
Golden Corral is good at one big comfort-food lunch. By the tenth lunch the same team is choosing between the same entrees and the same sides, and a team that eats together every week wants a rotation.
Zerocater works the other way round. You describe the room once, including who skips meat and who needs a lighter plate, and CaterAi builds a menu from local catering partners that deliver to your address. It then rotates the menu so the team does not eat the same lunch on a loop. Our office lunch ideas and office catering budget guide show what a rotation can look like, how it works walks through the steps, and our corporate catering page covers the service in full.
Build a rotating office lunch with CaterAi
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Golden Corral do catering?
Yes. Golden Corral runs a dedicated catering site with 253 catering storefronts in 39 states. Every one lists individually packaged meals, entree platters, fried chicken boxes, salads, side trays, desserts and drinks.
What comes with a Golden Corral individually packaged meal?
One entree with your choice of two sides, a yeast roll, honey butter and cookies. The two-side choice appears on all 2,332 individually packaged meal listings across the 253 catering storefronts.
What sides can I choose with a Golden Corral boxed meal?
Up to 18, depending on the storefront: buttered corn, coleslaw, green beans, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes with brown gravy, white gravy or no gravy, white rice, yellow rice, steamed broccoli, cabbage and carrots, baked potato, potato salad, baked beans, sweet potato casserole, refried beans and stuffing.
Are the side trays the same as the boxed-meal sides?
No. The two lists overlap, and each has its own items. Yellow rice, refried beans and stuffing appear in the boxed-meal list. The seafood salad, tuna salad, black-eyed peas, pinto beans and red bliss potatoes appear as side trays. Check the list for the format you are ordering.
What entree platters does Golden Corral cater?
Pot roast, Bourbon Street Chicken and meatloaf by the tray, carved ham and pulled pork by the pound, and fruit and vegetable trays. Fried chicken comes in boxes of 6, 8, 12 or 20 pieces, and the three larger boxes come with biscuits or yeast rolls.
Does Golden Corral deliver catering?
Pickup is on at all 253 catering storefronts, and the order form also offers delivery at 250 of them. The brand’s FAQ describes large party platters as available for pickup, so confirm delivery with your storefront when you order.
Can I earn Golden Corral rewards on a catering order?
Not at the moment. The brand’s FAQ says catering orders do not earn or redeem rewards points, and that a catering loyalty program is in the works.
Does Golden Corral cater breakfast?
Some storefronts do. Breakfast appears on 35 of the 253 catering storefronts, with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, biscuits and gravy, and a breakfast feast. Check your own storefront.
Every menu item, option and storefront figure in this guide was read from the brand’s own catering site on 1 October 2026. Menus change, so check the catering site for your own restaurant before you order. Nothing here describes an order that was placed. This guide is not allergy, dietary or medical advice.
