The Picnic Basket is a sandwich shop on West 37th Street in Midtown Manhattan, and its catering menu looks long at first glance. It lists four packages, twenty-one sandwiches, seven salads and three sides. Read the packages side by side, though, and the choice gets short.
All four packages carry the same sandwich list. Every one offers the same twenty-one sandwiches and the same salads. Each step up the package list adds one course: a salad, then a side, then a second side. So decide how much lunch each guest gets first. Pick the sandwiches after that.
In this guide
- The four packages, and what each one adds
- How the price steps up from package to package
- The sandwich list: cold, hot pressed and meatless
- Salads, dressings, sides and extras
- How to order for a New York office
A Midtown sandwich shop with a Mediterranean pantry
The Picnic Basket describes its team as small but mighty, and says it is known for its paninis. The shop says it uses handmade bread delivered daily and prepares every item to order. Its About page names the mix plainly: Mediterranean foundations, Italian traditions and subtle Asian influences, across more than twenty sandwiches.
You can taste that mix on the catering menu. Hummus, tahini, grilled eggplant and za’atar run through the cold sandwiches. The hot pressed side leans Italian, with prosciutto, mozzarella and basil pesto. And five sandwiches carry a South American sauce: chimichurri on the Chimi Chicken, the Chicken Melt and the Halloumi, a Peruvian hot sauce on the Chicken Amarillo, and salsa criolla, a Peruvian onion, pepper and lime relish, on the Peruvian Ham & Cheese.
The shop keeps weekday lunch hours and closes on weekends, which suits the office crowd it cooks for. If you plan a weekend event, ask the shop before you build the menu around it.
Four packages, one sandwich list
The catering menu opens with four per-person packages. Pick N’ Mix is the entry package. Each package above it names exactly what it adds, so the names double as a description.
| Package | What the name adds | Price per person vs. the entry package |
|---|---|---|
| Pick N' Mix | The entry package | 1.00x |
| Sandwich & Salad | Adds a salad | 1.49x |
| Sandwich & Salad & Side | Adds a salad and a side | 1.75x |
| Sandwich & Salad & 2 Sides | Adds a salad and two sides | 1.97x |
Now open any of the four. The menu under each package is the same menu: the same fourteen cold sandwiches, the same seven hot pressed sandwiches and the same seven salads, in the same order. The sandwich list does not grow as the package grows. The number of courses on each plate grows instead.
That makes the planning easy to split in two. First, one person on your team decides how many courses the room needs. Then the room picks from the sandwich list, which stays the same whatever package you chose.
Each step up costs less than the one before it
The top package costs just under twice the entry package per person. Each step up costs less than the one before it. Adding the salad is the largest step, about twice the size of the step that adds the first side. The second side then costs a little less than the first.
So the salad is the course that moves the price most. Go from the entry package to Sandwich & Salad for a lunch that needs to be a full meal, such as a long working session or a training day. Once the salad is in, each side step costs roughly half as much as the salad step did, and a side is what makes a sandwich lunch feel generous. For a short meeting where people eat and get back to work, the entry package covers it.
Our boxed lunch cost guide covers budgets across partners, and the New York City office catering cost guide covers the city.
The sandwich list: fourteen cold, seven hot pressed
The cold sandwiches split into a Mediterranean half and a deli half. On one side sit the Veggie, the Rustic Vegan, the Med Vegan Shawarma, the Classic Mediterranean and a Tunisian-style tuna. On the other sit turkey and Swiss, roast beef and the two Peruvian-sauced sandwiches. The hot pressed sandwiches are the paninis the shop is known for: turkey and herbs, pastrami, a chicken melt, prosciutto di Parma, and three built on cheese or mushrooms.
The catering menu prints a line of bread options: Italian ciabatta, multigrain, wheat wrap and pita, plus a gluten-free bread for an extra charge. Note the bread you want for each sandwich in the order details.
For a mixed room, the count that matters is this one: nine of the twenty-one sandwiches carry no meat, poultry or fish in their listed ingredients. Six are cold: the Veggie, the Rustic Vegan, the Med Vegan Shawarma, the Classic Mediterranean, the Fresh Mozzarella and the French Goat Cheese. Three are hot pressed: the Mozzarella, the Shitaki Melt and the Halloumi. That is enough to give the vegetarians in the room a real choice of their own. Our vegetarian office catering guide covers how to size that share of an order.
Salads come with the dressing on the side, except two
The menu makes one promise about every salad: the dressing comes on the side. There are two exceptions, the Grand Caesar and Dressed Kale salads, which arrive dressed. That is a useful thing to know before you choose. A salad with the dressing on the side holds its crunch on a table for as long as a meeting runs. A dressed salad is freshest when people eat soon after it arrives.
The salad list reads like the sandwich list, Mediterranean with a twist. The Root Vegetables and Feta salad brings kohlrabi, radish, beets, feta and stuffed vine leaves. The Mediterranean salad comes with a side of tahini and pita. The Goat Cheese salad pairs fresh pears with dried cranberries, and the Chicken Edamame salad is the one with chicken built in. The menu also flags that two items with kalamata olives may contain pits or pit fragments: the Tunisian-style tuna and the Mediterranean salad.
Salads also come on their own, outside the packages, in two catering sizes: one for up to ten guests and one for up to twenty. A seasonal fruit bowl comes in the same two sizes and makes an easy dessert next to the cookies.
Sides, extras, and what comes in the box
The sides list is short, three in all: hummus bowls, a quinoa salad with dried fruit, and baked sweet potato pieces. The hummus bowl comes with a topping you pick: plain, chickpeas, chopped salad and egg, or pickles and olives, among others. A catering side on its own feeds five, which makes it easy to add a bowl or two of hummus to any package.
Every catering sandwich is cut in half and displayed in the shop’s catering box, so the table reads as one shared spread. If you need a meal for each person, for a training room or a meeting where people eat at their seats, the menu carries an Individually Wrapped & Labeled line you can add. Chips, soda or bottled water, and homemade cookies are extras you add by the piece.
Plates, cutlery, napkins and serving utensils come with every order. The menu asks you to say so if you do not need the utensils, which is worth doing in an office that keeps its own. Our boxed lunch guide for meetings covers the rest of the format.
Who The Picnic Basket suits
The Picnic Basket fits a weekday lunch in Midtown for a team that wants more than a standard deli tray. The Mediterranean side gives vegetarians real options, the pressed sandwiches give the meat eaters something hot, and the package names make the order simple to brief. The catering request page takes groups from ten guests up to four hundred, so it covers a team lunch and an all-hands alike.
It suits recurring lunches well, too. Because the sandwich list stays the same across packages, you can change the course count from week to week without re-learning the menu. Our boxed lunch catering roundup lists other sandwich and boxed lunch partners, and the Mediterranean catering directory for New York City shows the rest of the lane.
How to order The Picnic Basket catering for a New York office
Direct, the shop’s own site has a Catering page that takes a request. It asks for your name, phone, email and company, the number of people, the date and time, pickup or delivery, the delivery address and an on-site contact, and the order details. Put the package, the sandwiches, the bread and any extras in that last field. You can also call or email the shop.
Through Zerocater, the Picnic Basket page carries the current menu and a live quote, and the order sits alongside every other kitchen your office already uses, on one invoice. How it works covers the mechanics, and the New York City catering directory shows every partner in the city.
Whichever route you take, the ordering advice is short. Choose the package by the course count the room needs. Then pick the sandwiches, with a few from the meatless list and one or two hot pressed. Choose salads with the dressing on the side if lunch will sit, and add a hummus bowl if you want one more thing to share.
The Picnic Basket and Zerocater
A neighbourhood sandwich shop with a Mediterranean pantry is the kind of kitchen an office lunch rotation needs on an ordinary Tuesday. Putting it on the same account as the rest of the week’s orders keeps it in the rotation without extra admin.
CaterAi builds the rotation, keeps track of what the office has already eaten, and brings a kitchen like this one in when the week needs a sandwich day. Our guide to corporate event catering in New York City covers the city, and Bite is another New York sandwich kitchen on the blog.
Menus, packages and prices change. This guide describes how The Picnic Basket catering menu is laid out rather than what it costs this week. For the current menu and a live quote, use the Picnic Basket page on Zerocater, and confirm the current detail with the shop before you order for anyone with a dietary requirement.
Frequently Asked Questions
What kind of food does The Picnic Basket cater?
Sandwiches, salads and sides from a Midtown Manhattan sandwich shop with a Mediterranean pantry. Hummus, tahini and grilled eggplant sit next to Peruvian sauces, Italian pressed sandwiches and a Tunisian-style tuna. The catering menu carries fourteen cold sandwiches, seven hot pressed sandwiches, seven salads, a seasonal fruit bowl and three sides, with chips, drinks and homemade cookies as extras.
What are The Picnic Basket catering packages?
There are four, all priced per person: Pick N’ Mix, Sandwich & Salad, Sandwich & Salad & Side, and Sandwich & Salad & 2 Sides. All four packages carry the same sandwich list and the same salad list, so the package decides how many courses each guest gets, and the sandwiches are a separate choice.
How much more does a bigger package cost?
The top package costs just under twice the entry package per person. Each step up costs less than the one before it: adding the salad is the largest step, and the second side costs a little less than the first. For current pricing, use the live quote on the Picnic Basket page on Zerocater.
Does The Picnic Basket have vegetarian sandwiches?
Yes. By their listed ingredients, nine of the twenty-one catering sandwiches carry no meat, poultry or fish, from the Veggie and the Rustic Vegan to the Halloumi and the Shitaki Melt. Confirm the current detail with the shop before you order for anyone with a dietary requirement. Nothing here is dietary or medical advice.
Are the salad dressings served on the side?
Yes, with two exceptions. The menu says every dressing comes on the side except on the Grand Caesar and Dressed Kale salads, which arrive dressed. If lunch will sit out for a while before people eat, lean on the salads with dressing on the side.
How are the sandwiches served?
Each sandwich is cut in half and displayed in a catering box, so the table reads as one shared spread. If you need a meal for each person, the menu carries an Individually Wrapped & Labeled line you can add. Plates, cutlery, napkins and serving utensils come with every order.
How do you order The Picnic Basket catering?
Two routes. Direct, through the Catering page on the shop’s own site, which takes a request with your headcount, date, time, pickup or delivery, and the order details. Or through Zerocater, where the Picnic Basket page carries the current menu and a live quote, and the order sits alongside every other kitchen your office uses.
