Cinco de Mayo Catering

On May 5, 1862, an outnumbered Mexican army beat a French force at Puebla. That is what the date records. It is not Mexico’s independence day, which falls in the autumn and sits under Hispanic Heritage Month catering in September.

In Mexico the fifth is largely a Puebla observance, parades in that state and a working weekday most everywhere else. It grew into a national event in the United States, starting with Mexican-American communities in California. The version your team knows is an American one. That changes how you order it, not whether you do.

Poblano means from Puebla. Mole poblano, the slow sauce of dried chiles, seeds, spices and a little chocolate, comes from the same city as the battle. It goes over chicken or turkey, holds in a chafer for hours, and portions cleanly.

Cemitas are the other Pueblan order: sesame rolls layered with Oaxaca cheese, avocado and papalo. They are built to be carried, so they box well for a split room. Our Cinco de Mayo restaurant roundup found a Chicago kitchen named for them.

Then order the taco bar, because the room wants a taco bar. Order it from a Mexican kitchen and let it be good. Mexican catering for the office carries the sizing math, and kitchens listed by Latino ownership shows who is cooking near you.

One rule, then we will move on. Decorate the room however you like, but nobody dresses up. No party-store sombrero, no stick-on mustache, no serape worn as an outfit. Those are costumes of a person, and that person is often standing in the lunch line.

The budget improves for it. Props are the line item nobody remembers by Thursday. Put that money in the kitchen, and where the meal came from carries the message on its own. If you do want the room decorated and the drinks planned, our office fiesta planning guide covers both.

Mexican restaurants run full dining rooms on the fifth, and a catering order competes with that service. Book a week ahead, longer for a specific kitchen or a mole that needs a day of its own. The fourth and the sixth are quieter, and a kitchen will often say yes faster to either.

Drinks settle themselves. Skip the office margarita debate and set out aguas frescas, hibiscus and tamarind and cucumber lime, plus a jug of horchata. One caterer sends them with the meal. The number here is unremarkable, $12 to $20 a head.

CaterAi takes a headcount and a date and returns the kitchens that can still take the fifth. The spring and summer catering calendar has what comes next.