Veterans Day Office Lunch: The 11 a.m. Pause, Who the Day Thanks, and How to Order

Veterans Day was planned around a clock time. The World War I armistice took effect on “the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month” in 1918, and the first observance in 1919 called for “a brief suspension of business beginning at 11:00 a.m.” That plan comes from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which runs the national observance.

An office that wants to mark the day can still use that plan: a short pause at eleven, then a meal for the people on the team who served. This guide reads the VA’s own Veterans Day pages and turns them into a plan for the hour, the date, the guest list and the order.

For the kitchens themselves, our veteran-owned catering page lists the veteran-owned restaurants in the Zerocater network by city. This guide covers the part that page leaves out: how to plan the day around the VA’s own description of it.

What the VA pages give a planner

The VA publishes two short pages that answer most planning questions. The History of Veterans Day page sets out the timeline from the 1918 armistice to the date the country uses now. The Veterans Day facts page answers the questions the VA gets most often, from spelling to office closings.

Read together, the two pages give an office four planning facts:

• The hour. The day began as a pause at 11:00 a.m., and the national ceremony still starts at that hour.
• The date. Veterans Day is November 11 in every year, whatever the day of the week.
• The guests. The day thanks all who served, and the VA says it is largely meant for living veterans.
• The name. The VA spells it Veterans Day, with no apostrophe, and explains why.

Each fact changes one small thing about the lunch.

The hour: a pause, then the meal

The 1919 plan was simple: parades and public meetings, and a short stop in the working day at 11:00 a.m. The national observance still keeps that hour. According to the VA’s Veterans Day page, the National Veterans Day Ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery “commences precisely at 11:00 a.m.” with a wreath laying at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

For an office, the hour gives the event a natural order. Gather at eleven for a few minutes of quiet or a short word from a colleague, then move to the food. The meal follows the pause, so the food should be set out and ready by the time the pause ends.

The ceremony at Arlington runs on Eastern time, and Zerocater serves cities in four time zones. November 11 always falls after daylight saving time ends on the first Sunday in November, so the offsets never change. The table shows when 11:00 a.m. at Arlington reaches each office.

That gives you two choices. You can hold the pause at 11:00 a.m. local time, which follows the 1919 plan in any office. Or you can gather to watch the national ceremony live, which puts a Pacific office in front of the screen at 8:00 a.m. In that case the right meal is breakfast. Our office breakfast catering guide covers the menu, and breakfast catering menus list partners by city.

The date never moves

Veterans Day did move once. The Uniform Holiday Bill of 1968 put it on a Monday in October, and the first Monday observance took place on October 25, 1971. Many states kept November 11 anyway, and Public Law 94-97 returned the day to November 11, beginning in 1978. The VA’s facts page states that Veterans Day is always observed on November 11, whatever the day of the week.

The federal day off is a different matter. When November 11 falls on a Saturday, federal employees get the Friday before. When it falls on a Sunday, they get the Monday after. The Office of Personnel Management publishes that schedule, and the VA notes that private businesses are free to decide for themselves whether to close.

Across the table, November 11 falls on a Saturday or a Sunday in four of the ten years. In those years, pick the nearest workday for the lunch and say on the invitation that it marks Veterans Day. The VA also notes that many communities hold their parades on the weekend before or after November 11, so the veterans on your team may already have plans that weekend.

On a weekday, hold the lunch on the eleventh itself. The day carries more weight on its own date, and the 11:00 pause only makes sense on that date.

Who the day thanks

The VA draws a clear line between two holidays. Memorial Day is for remembering the people who died in military service. Veterans Day thanks all who served honorably, “in wartime or peacetime”, and the VA says it is “largely intended to thank LIVING veterans for their service”.

That line shapes the guest list. An office Veterans Day lunch is a meal for colleagues who are in the room, so treat the veterans on your team as the guests of honor:

• Ask before you name anyone. Send a private note first and ask whether a colleague wants to be thanked by name, say a few words at the pause, or just eat lunch.
• Let them go first. Invite the veterans on the team to the front of the line when the pause ends.
• Make room for family stories. Some colleagues have a parent, partner or child who served, and the day gives them a natural moment to mention it.
• Keep the program short. A few minutes at eleven is the whole program. The rest of the hour is lunch.

The same line settles a question about decor. The VA says the red poppy is a Memorial Day tradition in the United States, not a Veterans Day one. Leave the poppies for May, and see our Memorial Day catering page when that date comes around.

The name on the invitation

The VA’s facts page opens with a spelling question, and the answer is Veterans Day, with no apostrophe. The VA explains that the day does not belong to veterans. It is a day for honoring all veterans.

The spelling shows up in more places than you expect at an office lunch. Check it on the calendar invitation, the email to the team, the sign at the start of the buffet and any lettering you order on a cake or a cookie tray. Ask your catering partner to use the same spelling on the menu cards.

Plan Veterans Day catering with CaterAi

Order for the hour you picked

Once the hour is set, the order follows from it. Three plans cover the usual cases.

A pause at eleven, then lunch. Ask for the food to be set up before eleven, so the line opens as the pause ends. A buffet suits a team that eats together in one room, and it gives the veterans on the team an easy way to go first. Our office lunch ideas cover the menu.

A live stream, then breakfast. For a Pacific or Mountain office that wants to watch Arlington, order breakfast for the hour of the ceremony. Boxed breakfast works well when people watch from their desks.

A boxed lunch for a split team. If some of the team is out at a local ceremony or works from home that day, boxed meals let everyone in the office eat at the time that suits them.

Place the order early in every plan. Our veteran-owned catering page notes that veteran-owned kitchens are often busy on November 11 itself, so ask whether your first choice is catering that date before you set the menu.

Veterans Day sits in the middle of the fall run of office holidays. It follows Halloween and comes about two weeks before Thanksgiving, and the holiday catering directory carries what comes after, up to the holiday party.

Where Zerocater fits

Zerocater handles the catered side of the day. For ongoing office catering, Zerocater manages the rotation across a network of local catering partners, and how it works explains the ordering side. For the Veterans Day lunch itself, CaterAi drafts a menu from a plain description of the event. Tell it the date, the headcount, the time of the pause and whether you want to order from a veteran-owned kitchen.

The plan itself stays short. Pause at eleven, thank the people who served, and let them go first in line.

Plan Veterans Day catering with CaterAi

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it Veterans Day or “Veteran’s Day”?

Veterans Day, with no apostrophe. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs explains that the day does not belong to veterans. It is a day for honoring all veterans. Use that spelling on the invitation, the sign and any message on a cake.

What time should an office Veterans Day lunch start?

The day was first planned around a short pause at 11:00 a.m., the hour the World War I armistice took effect. An office in the Eastern time zone can hold a pause at 11:00 and serve lunch at noon. The national ceremony at Arlington starts at 11:00 a.m. Eastern, which is 8:00 a.m. on the Pacific coast, so a West Coast team that wants to watch it live does it over breakfast.

What is the difference between Veterans Day and Memorial Day?

According to the VA, Memorial Day remembers the people who died in military service. Veterans Day thanks all who served honorably, in wartime or peacetime, and the VA says it is largely intended to thank living veterans. That makes Veterans Day a good day to host the veterans on your own team.

Do offices close on Veterans Day?

Federal offices close. When November 11 falls on a Saturday, the federal day off is the Friday before, and when it falls on a Sunday, the Monday after. The VA notes that private businesses decide for themselves, so check your own holiday calendar.

Should we hand out poppies on Veterans Day?

The VA says the red poppy is a Memorial Day tradition in the United States, not a Veterans Day one. For an office Veterans Day lunch, leave the poppies for May and keep the table simple.

Where can we order from veteran-owned restaurants?

Our veteran-owned catering page lists the veteran-owned kitchens in the Zerocater network by city. The page also notes that those kitchens are busy on November 11, so ask early whether they are catering that date.

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