Moe’s Southwest Grill Catering Guide: Bars, Free Chips & Salsa & How to Order for the Office

Moe’s Southwest Grill has built a national Tex-Mex fast-casual footprint (hundreds of locations across most US states) on three brand pillars that almost no other chain stacks together: the shouted “Welcome to Moe’s!” greeting culture that’s been part of every restaurant since the brand started in Atlanta, free chips and house-made salsa included with catering orders by default, and the Build-Your-Own Fajita, Taco and Nacho Bars anchored by Moe’s Famous Queso. That positioning carries directly into the catering menu, which centers on customizable buffet bars, burrito and cold-wrap catering, the queso-and-guac dips line, fresh-made sauces, gallon sweet and unsweet tea, and freshly baked cookies. Moe’s catering covers Fajita, Taco and Nacho Bars with twenty-plus toppings; burrito and cold-wrap catering for grab-and-go events; Moe’s Famous Queso, hand-crafted guacamole and house-made salsa as add-ons; gallon iced tea and fresh cookies; and free chips, salsa, plates, napkins, forks, warming stands and sterno on most orders. This guide walks every format, how the catering portal works, what to know about delivery and lead times, where Moe’s genuinely shines for office events, and what to order instead when the meeting calls for something the bar format can’t quite do.

Moe’s was born in Atlanta as a stick-it-to-the-man burrito joint with a playful voice (the “Welcome to Moe’s!” greeting and a menu of offbeat-named items at launch). The brand has streamlined its menu since those early days, but the hospitality cue and the Tex-Mex bar format remain its signature, alongside Moe’s Famous Queso, which the brand calls “liquid white gold” on its catering page. The bar-and-queso pairing is the catering thesis, and the free chips, salsa and serving gear that come with most orders make Moe’s one of the most logistics-light formats in the segment.

Moe’s Southwest Grill’s menu, pricing, format availability and catering inclusions vary by location and change over time. Confirm current offerings and live quotes directly with the catering portal at orderonline.catering.moes.com or your nearest Moe’s before ordering.

Moe’s Catering Menu

Moe’s structures its catering menu around four buckets: build-your-own buffet bars (the headliner), burrito and cold-wrap catering for grab-and-go events, the dips-and-more line for queso and guacamole add-ons, and a beverage-and-dessert program centered on gallon sweet tea and fresh cookies. Most office orders end up combining a Fajita or Taco Bar with a queso add-on, a couple of gallons of tea and a cookie tray. The ordering line that splits a catering order from a Group Order is at ten guests; smaller groups should use the Group Order menu (Taco Kit, Fajita Kit, Nacho Kit and Value Packs) on moes.com or the Moe’s app instead of the catering portal.

Catering Menu at a Glance

What’s bundled by default: chips, house-made red salsa, plates, napkins, forks, wire warming stands and sterno on request. This is a real per-head dollar advantage versus Chipotle and Qdoba catering, which bill chips, salsa and warming gear as paid add-ons. Plan the budget around the bar-or-burrito line item and the queso/guac upgrades, and assume the basics are already in the box.

Build-Your-Own Bars: Fajita, Taco & Nacho

The bars are the catering thesis. Moe’s pitches them as “fully customizable, flavor-packed” buffets with twenty-plus fresh ingredients per setup, which lets every eater build a plate that fits their preferences without anyone needing to flag a dietary preference up front. The Fajita Bar is the most popular catering item across the system; the Taco Bar is the budget-leaner option; the Nacho Bar is the queso-and-corn-chips option that doubles as the most celiac-friendly bar in the lineup.

Fajita Bar

The Fajita Bar is the brand’s flagship catering format and the most-ordered item across most locations. The bar arrives with foil pans of grilled fajita-style mixed peppers and onions, choice of protein (white-meat chicken, steak, ground beef, adobo chicken or tofu), cilantro-lime rice, pinto or black beans, soft flour tortillas, and a build line of toppings: shredded cheese, lettuce, sour cream, hand-crafted guacamole, pico de gallo, and house-made salsa. The bar comes with free chips and red salsa scaled to the headcount on the order. For an office that wants the most photogenic, most-ordered Tex-Mex catering moment Moe’s offers, this is the default.

Taco Bar

The Taco Bar is the lighter, lower-protein cousin of the Fajita Bar. Same build line, but without the fajita-style grilled peppers, the rice tray and the guacamole as a default; instead, the bar offers a mix of soft flour tortillas and crispy corn shells, choice of protein, pinto or black beans, shredded cheese, shredded lettuce, pico, sour cream and free chips and salsa. Per Moe’s own description, “the fajita bar is a souped-up version of the taco bar.” For offices on a tighter per-head budget or for events where lighter, smaller bites are the goal (afternoon working lunches, snack-style all-hands), the Taco Bar lands at a lower price point while keeping the same build-your-own format.

Nacho Bar

The Nacho Bar is the queso-forward, gluten-friendly bar in the lineup. The bar arrives with a deep tray of warm tortilla chips, a generous pour of Moe’s Famous Queso (included by default, the only bar that includes queso without a paid add-on), and toppings: choice of protein, black or pinto beans, pico, sour cream, sliced jalapeños, black olives. The Nacho Bar pairs unusually well with the Fajita Bar for a larger event; if the room is split between people who want a built plate and people who want grab-a-chip nachos, ordering both covers both at modest incremental cost.

Tip: the Fajita Bar and Taco Bar are marked gluten-friendly when ordered with corn shells and the gluten-friendly proteins, sides and toppings, but the soft flour tortillas are not gluten-free. The Nacho Bar uses corn chips by default, which makes it the most celiac-aware bar Moe’s offers. For a deeper look at how to plan around dietary needs at scale, see our guide to gluten-free office catering and the broader playbook on catering for mixed dietary needs.

Burritos, Bowls & Cold-Wrap Catering

For offices that want a grab-and-go format instead of a buffet, Moe’s runs a separate burrito and cold-wrap catering line. The orders arrive individually wrapped, labeled by variety, and ready to hand out. Chips and red salsa are included with burrito catering at the same headcount-scaled rate as the bars. For a hybrid-team office or a distributed team that needs labeled grab-and-go meals, this is the cleanest format Moe’s offers; it competes directly with Subway sub-tray catering and Chipotle’s individual-bowl catering.

Bowls and salads: Moe’s also catalogs burrito bowls (the Bowl, Homewrecker Bowl, Moe Protein Bowl) and salads (Salad, Southwest Salad) for catering orders that need a no-tortilla format. Bowls are typically the cleaner pick for keto or low-carb teams; salads work for summer events and mixed-dietary groups. Quesadillas (build-your-own) and a Three-Tacos plate round out the catalog. Format availability for bowls, salads and quesadillas in the catering line varies by location; the catering portal will show what your nearest Moe’s offers.

Proteins available across every build-your-own format: white-meat chicken, steak, ground beef, adobo chicken (a marinated, spiced variant), tofu (the vegetarian default), and a rotating limited-time option such as barbacoa where the location offers it.

Famous Queso, Guac & House-Made Salsas

Moe’s Famous Queso is the brand’s signature and a meaningful catering pillar. The chain calls it “liquid white gold” on its own catering page and treats it as the upgrade that turns a competent Tex-Mex catering order into a memorable one. Queso is included by default in the Nacho Bar and is a paid add-on on every other format (burritos, Fajita Bar, Taco Bar). For a small additional cost, dropping a queso ramekin alongside a Fajita Bar transforms the whole spread; most offices that order a bar twice end up adding queso the second time.

The Dips Line

Specialty Sauces

Beyond the salsa lineup, Moe’s offers four named specialty sauces that show up on the catering page as bar upgrades. They’re the reason a generic-feeling Tex-Mex order can read as deliberate when the sauces are part of the spread.

• Moe’s Sauce — the house signature, a slightly tangy, mildly spicy ranch-leaning sauce.
• Poblano Crema — smoky, mild, creamy; the default for fajita-bar layering.
• Chili Lime — bright and citrus-forward, ideal on grilled chicken or steak.
• Chipotle Ranch — smoky-sweet ranch for taco-bar drizzling.

Drinks & Desserts

Moe’s catering drink program centers on gallon iced tea, both sweet and unsweet. The desserts line is freshly baked cookies; specific cookie varieties available for catering vary by location. For a Southern-leaning office event, swapping a gallon of soda for a gallon of Moe’s sweet tea is a low-cost detail that makes the order feel intentional rather than generic; for a tech office where the team trends toward less sugar, the unsweet tea pairs cleanly with the bars.

How to Order Moe’s Catering

Moe’s catering runs through a dedicated catering portal at orderonline.catering.moes.com, separate from the standard online ordering flow at moes.com and the Moe’s mobile app. The catering portal is the only place where the bar formats and the headcount-scaled chip-and-salsa bundling work correctly; the standard sandwich-ordering page tops out at the Group Order tier (under ten guests) and won’t surface the bars. Here’s the sequence:

1. Go to orderonline.catering.moes.com or click “Order Catering” from the main moes.com navigation. The catering link routes you to the dedicated portal with a different cart and lead-time logic from the retail page.
2. Enter your delivery address or pickup ZIP. The portal checks which catering-enabled Moe’s locations serve your area. Format availability (especially the bars and the cold-wrap catering line) varies by location, so the menu adjusts based on which restaurant the portal routes you to.
3. Pick your date and time window. Moe’s does not publish a hard minimum lead time; the portal shows the earliest available slot for your address. As a practical rule, plan on at least twenty-four hours for small bars and forty-eight to seventy-two hours for events of fifty or more.
4. Build your order. Choose between the Fajita Bar, Taco Bar or Nacho Bar; or burrito and cold-wrap catering by the variety; or the dips and sauces line; or the gallon-tea-and-cookie program. Add queso, guacamole, specialty sauces and warming-stand sterno from the add-on menu.
5. Add logistics notes. For delivery orders, add building access notes, floor or suite number, and a contact phone number. Moe’s catering is drop-and-go; the driver delivers to the lobby or front desk, and full attended setup is not part of the standard offering.
6. Check out. Most catering portal orders go through credit card, with the card pre-authorized the day before the event. Moe’s gift cards cannot be used to pay for catering; Moe Rewards points cannot be earned or redeemed on catering orders. For tax-exempt orders, alternative payment methods or events of two hundred guests or more, call the local Moe’s directly rather than using the portal.

What’s included with most catering orders: chips, red salsa, plates, napkins, forks, wire warming stands and sterno on request. Bars arrive in disposable foil pans with serving tongs and topping ramekins; burritos and cold-wrap catering arrive individually wrapped and labeled. Active onsite setup with attendants is not part of the standard Moe’s catering offering. For events that need staff on premises (refreshing the bar mid-meal, plating, cleanup), plan to staff them yourself or use a different caterer.

Delivery, Pickup & Lead Times

Note on franchise variability: Moe’s is largely a franchise system, which means delivery radius, fee structure, and the exact set of formats can differ between two locations across the same city. The Fajita Bar is the most consistently available format across the chain. For recurring orders, identify a catering-enabled Moe’s near your office that you’ve had a good experience with and stick with them. Burrito and cold-wrap catering availability also varies; if your nearest Moe’s is small, the bar formats are usually the safer pick.

Pros and Cons of Moe’s Catering

What Works Well

• Free chips, salsa and serving gear are bundled by default. Plates, napkins, forks, wire warming stands and sterno on request are included on most orders. Chips and house-made red salsa scale with the headcount on the order. This is a real per-head dollar advantage versus Chipotle and Qdoba catering, where many of those items are paid add-ons.
• Build-your-own bars with twenty-plus toppings. The Fajita Bar in particular is one of the most flexible Tex-Mex catering formats on the market; every eater builds their plate at the line, which means dietary preferences self-resolve without upfront polling.
• Moe’s Famous Queso pour. The queso is brand-defining and turns a competent Tex-Mex order into a memorable one. The Nacho Bar includes it by default; on every other format, it’s a low-cost upgrade that punches above its price.
• Atlanta-rooted hospitality and a playful brand voice. The “Welcome to Moe’s!” cue and the brand’s stick-it-to-the-man tone make the catering order feel more event-ready than a typical fast-casual chain. Worth a moment for client-facing or culture events.
• Vegetarian, vegan and gluten-friendly options across the menu. Tofu protein is on every build-your-own item; the bean-only fillings work for vegan eaters; the Nacho Bar (corn chips, default queso, gluten-friendly proteins) is the most celiac-aware bar in the lineup. The Fajita and Taco Bars are gluten-friendly when ordered with corn shells and the gluten-friendly proteins, sides and toppings.
• Burrito and cold-wrap catering for grab-and-go events. Individually labeled meals work for hybrid teams, distributed offices and any event where buffet logistics aren’t a fit.
• Mid-tier price for premium feel. Moe’s lands below Chipotle on per-head price while delivering a similar or larger spread, particularly when the free chips, salsa and warming gear are factored in.

What Falls Short

• Geographic gaps on the West Coast. Moe’s location density is strongest in the Southeast, Texas and the Mid-Atlantic; offices in California, Oregon or Washington may be a long drive from the nearest catering-enabled location.
• No onsite staff or setup. Catering is drop-and-go. For client-facing events, executive lunches, or anything that needs someone to refresh the bar mid-meal, plan to staff it yourself.
• Queso is a paid add-on on most formats. Despite being the brand signature, queso is only included by default on the Nacho Bar. The Fajita Bar, Taco Bar and burrito catering all bill it as an upgrade.
• Cross-contact allergen risk on the bars. Tortillas, proteins and toppings are assembled at shared prep surfaces. For strict allergen-restricted eaters, lean on the Nacho Bar or order individually packed cold-wrap catering and confirm prep practices with the specific location.
• Moe Rewards and gift cards don’t work on catering. Loyalty points cannot be earned or redeemed; gift cards are not accepted. Plan to pay by credit card for every catering order.
• Quality varies by franchise. Two Moe’s locations in the same city can deliver materially different experiences. Bar setup, chip freshness, queso pour size and order accuracy depend on the operator.
• Recurring-order fatigue. Moe’s is broader than most peers by Tex-Mex standards, but it’s still a single-cuisine menu. Offices that order it weekly tend to plateau within a month or two and start asking for variety.

What Customers Say

Who Is Moe’s Catering Best For?

Moe’s vs. Chipotle, Qdoba & Subway

Tex-Mex and fast-casual catering have overlapping options, and the question is rarely “Moe’s or nothing.” Here’s how Moe’s stacks up against the three most-compared alternatives for office orders.

Chipotle is the brand-recognition choice with stronger ingredient-sourcing claims. Higher per-head price, no bundled chips and salsa. Read our Chipotle catering guide and Chipotle catering alternatives for the full comparison.

Qdoba is the closest peer to Moe’s on format (Hot Bar + Boxed Meals) and price tier. Better loyalty program on catering, similar ingredient depth, narrower brand voice. Better fit if your team is a Qdoba Rewards heavy user already.

Subway is the budget-tier sub-shop choice. Lower per-person price, broader location density, but no Tex-Mex format and no queso. Read our Subway catering guide for the budget comparison and the Firehouse Subs catering guide if hot subs are the alternative on the table.

Other brand guides worth comparing: if your team trends toward sandwiches or deli at scale, see our deep dives on McAlister’s Deli catering, Panera catering, Jersey Mike’s, and Chick-fil-A catering. For Italian, the Olive Garden catering guide and the Olive Garden alternatives roundup cover that lane. Looking at ways to combine sandwiches and Tex-Mex on the same week? The boxed lunch vs. buffet guide walks the format trade-off.

Looking beyond chains? Mexican catering on Zerocater connects you with hundreds of local Tex-Mex and Mexican caterers, many of which can match or beat Moe’s on quality while sourcing from local kitchens. A few worth browsing: Renegade Burrito (Denver), Raging Burrito (Atlanta), Tio Luis Tacos (Chicago), Folklore Artisanal Mexican Eatery (NYC), and Carlitos Barbecue Taqueria (NY/NJ) for a barbecue-tex-mex twist. The Tex-Mex cuisine directory and the broader American cuisine directory both pull a wider local-caterer pool than any single chain.

A Better Option for Office Catering

Moe’s is a strong choice when the office wants a Tex-Mex build-your-own bar, the bundled chips and warming gear, and the Famous Queso pour. For most other occasions (recurring office meal programs, multi-cuisine variety, executive client lunches, allergen-controlled service, anything that calls for a hot entree beyond the bars and burritos, or any office in a market where Moe’s location density is thin) most teams will land a better result with a catering platform that pulls from a wider pool of restaurants.

Zerocater connects offices with hundreds of vetted caterers across every cuisine, including local Tex-Mex shops and taquerias that can match or beat Moe’s on hospitality and food while expanding the menu to cover hot entrees, salads, multiple cuisines, and allergen-controlled service. Every order is managed by Zerocater’s operations team, which means reliable delivery, proper setup when the event needs it, and someone to call when something doesn’t land.

With CaterAi, you can plan your entire event in minutes: share your headcount, budget, dietary needs, and date, and CaterAi builds custom menus from multiple caterers. Chat to adjust items, add onsite staff or decor, and check out. Zerocater handles the rest.

Why offices switch from single-chain catering to Zerocater:

• Access to hundreds of caterers, not one menu
• Same-day ordering available for many caterers
• Dietary filtering (vegan, gluten-free, halal, kosher, allergen-aware) built into the platform
• Professional delivery with setup assistance where you need it
• One platform for events, daily meals, and everything in between

Plan Your Office Catering with CaterAi

For more office catering ideas, see our guides to boxed lunch vs. buffet catering, boxed lunch catering cost, boxed lunches for hybrid & distributed teams, ordering catering as an office manager, catering for mixed dietary needs, board meeting catering, vegan office catering, and gluten-free office catering. Comparing brand options? See our deep dives on Chipotle catering, Chipotle catering alternatives, Subway catering, Panera catering, Panera alternatives, Firehouse Subs, McAlister’s Deli, Chick-fil-A, Olive Garden, Olive Garden alternatives, and Jersey Mike’s. For city-specific caterer recommendations, browse the best corporate event catering in Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, New York City, Seattle, and Denver.

Which Moe’s Order for How Many People?

The right Moe’s catering format depends mostly on headcount and whether the meal should be a build-your-own bar, an individually wrapped grab-and-go, or a snack-style chips-and-dips spread. The chart below maps headcount ranges to the recommended format and add-ons.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is Moe’s Southwest Grill catering priced?

Moe’s Southwest Grill catering is priced per person on the build-your-own bars (Fajita Bar, Taco Bar and Nacho Bar) and per item on burritos, cold-wrap catering, dips and beverages. Specialty sauces, queso and guacamole are sold as add-ons by category portion. Each Moe’s location is independently owned and prices vary by store, so the most accurate quote comes from the catering portal at orderonline.catering.moes.com with your delivery address entered. Free chips, house-made salsa, plates, napkins, forks, wire warming stands and sterno are included on most catering orders, which lowers the all-in per-head cost compared with chains that bill those items as add-ons.

What is the minimum order for Moe’s catering?

The Fajita Bar, Taco Bar and Nacho Bar each require a minimum of ten guests. Burrito and cold-wrap catering minimums vary by location and are set in the catering portal. For events of two hundred guests or more, Moe’s asks that you call your local Moe’s directly rather than ordering through the portal so the location can plan capacity. Smaller groups under ten guests are better served by Moe’s separate Group Order menu (Taco Kit, Fajita Kit, Nacho Kit and Value Packs), which is ordered through moes.com or the Moe’s app, not the catering portal.

How far in advance should I order Moe’s catering?

Moe’s does not publish a hard minimum lead time, and recommends ordering as soon as the event is decided. The catering portal pre-authorizes the credit card the day before the event and warns that orders cancelled within twenty-four hours of the event may incur a cancellation fee set by the local store. As a practical rule, plan on at least twenty-four hours of notice for small bars (ten to twenty guests) and forty-eight to seventy-two hours for larger events (fifty or more) so the location can stock proteins, queso, fresh produce and tortillas in volume. Tax-exempt orders, alternative payment methods and events of two hundred guests or more must be placed by phone with the local Moe’s, not through the portal.

Are chips, salsa and queso included free with Moe’s catering?

Chips and house-made red salsa are included with Moe’s buffet-style bars, burritos and cold-wrap catering, scaled to the number of guests on the order. This is a meaningful difference from Chipotle and Qdoba catering, which both bill chips and salsa as paid add-ons. Queso is the brand’s signature, and is included by default in the Nacho Bar but is a paid add-on on burritos, the Fajita Bar and the Taco Bar. Free Moe Rewards signup grants a one-time cup of queso, but Moe Rewards points cannot be earned or redeemed on catering orders. Plates, napkins, forks, wire warming stands and sterno are also typically free on request.

Can Moe’s catering accommodate vegetarian, vegan or gluten-friendly orders?

Moe’s offers vegetarian options across the catering menu, including the tofu protein on every build-your-own item, the bean-only fillings on burritos and tacos, and the Veggie picks on the bars. The Fajita Bar and Taco Bar are explicitly marked gluten-friendly when ordered with corn shells and the proteins, beans, rice, salsas and queso that are gluten-friendly by default; the soft flour tortillas are not. Most salsas, the queso, the guacamole and the rice and beans are vegetarian. Cross-contact with wheat is a practical concern at the assembly line for celiac-strict eaters, since flour tortillas and crispy items share prep space. For strict allergen control, lean on the Nacho Bar (which uses corn chips) or order individually packed cold-wrap catering and confirm prep practices with the specific location. Our broader guides to gluten-free office catering and mixed dietary needs walk through how to plan around allergens at scale.

How does Moe’s catering compare to Chipotle, Qdoba or Subway?

Moe’s sits in the mid-tier of fast-casual Tex-Mex catering, in the same price neighborhood as Qdoba and below Chipotle. The clearest differentiator is what’s bundled: chips, house-made salsa, plates, napkins, forks and warming stands are included with Moe’s catering by default, while Chipotle and Qdoba bill many of those items as add-ons. Chipotle wins on ingredient sourcing claims and brand recognition; Qdoba wins on a similar Hot Bar format with a stronger loyalty program; Subway wins on price and footprint. Moe’s wins when the team wants the bar format with the bundled extras, the Famous Queso pour and the playful Welcome to Moe’s hospitality cue. For office events that fall outside the Tex-Mex lane, a multi-cuisine platform such as Zerocater is usually a better fit.

What makes Moe’s a good fit for office catering?

Moe’s is a strong office catering pick when the team wants a Tex-Mex build-your-own moment with low logistics overhead. The Fajita Bar is the most popular catering item, lets every eater tune their plate at the line, and includes free chips, house-made salsa and warming gear. The Nacho Bar adds the Famous Queso pour as a default and is celiac-friendlier than the flour-tortilla bars. Burrito and cold-wrap catering covers the grab-and-go office case. The brand operates hundreds of locations across most US states with Atlanta-rooted hospitality and a playful voice that reads more event-ready than the typical fast-casual chain. Use the catering portal at orderonline.catering.moes.com to confirm format availability with the location nearest your office.

Does every Moe’s offer catering, and which formats are available everywhere?

Catering is available at most Moe’s Southwest Grill locations through the catering portal at orderonline.catering.moes.com. Format availability (Fajita Bar, Taco Bar, Nacho Bar, burrito catering, cold-wrap catering, the dips and sauces line, beverages and desserts) varies by location and franchisee. The Fajita Bar is the most consistently available format across the system. Moe’s gift cards cannot be used to pay for catering, and Moe Rewards points cannot be earned or redeemed on catering orders. For tax-exempt orders, alternative payment methods or events with more than two hundred guests, call the local Moe’s directly rather than using the portal.

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