Planning food for a team working at an ExCeL exhibition starts with a distinction: taking colleagues out to a restaurant is not the same arrangement as having food supplied for consumption inside the venue. Before choosing dishes, decide where the meal will happen, who can leave their duties and whether your plan depends on permission from the event organiser or venue.
This guide helps exhibition teams working around ExCeL London and the Royal Docks choose between those routes. It does not set out current ExCeL catering policies or confirm permission for any particular event.
Start with where the food will be eaten
| Proposed arrangement | What you need to resolve | First enquiry |
|---|---|---|
| The team leaves the exhibition and eats at a restaurant. | Whether colleagues can leave, restaurant availability and whether the meal fits their duties. | Your team lead, followed by the restaurant. |
| Food is supplied for a stand, backstage area or other space inside the venue. | Which catering arrangements apply and whether an external supplier is permitted. | The organiser or designated venue contact. |
| Someone collects food elsewhere and brings it back inside. | Whether bringing in and consuming that food is allowed under the applicable arrangements. | The organiser or designated venue contact. |
Collection is not automatically a workaround for catering restrictions. Buying a meal away from the venue does not establish that it can be brought onto a stand or served to colleagues there. If the intended eating location is inside, clarify the rules before ordering.
When off-site dining makes sense
A restaurant meal is worth exploring when the people attending can genuinely step away together. For exhibitors, that means resolving stand coverage and handover responsibilities first. For crew, the useful question is whether the agreed release from duties is reliable enough to make a reservation practical.
As a hypothetical example, an exhibitor team might prefer dinner after its duties are complete rather than trying to leave together during the exhibition. That could make the meal a shared break rather than another shift to coordinate. It still needs a confirmed restaurant arrangement and a realistic allowance for leaving the site and travelling.
Off-site dining is less useful if colleagues must remain available at short notice or cannot leave their posts. In that situation, ask about the permitted on-site meal arrangements rather than treating a restaurant reservation as a solution to a coverage problem.
Separate the needs of each audience
- Exhibitors: decide who maintains stand coverage, when each person is released and whether one sitting or separate groups would work better.
- Crew: establish who can confirm meal breaks and what happens if work runs later than expected.
- Organisers: distinguish a staff social meal away from the venue from food supplied as part of the event. Direct permission questions to the responsible venue or event contact.
- Visitors: a restaurant enquiry will usually be the relevant starting point for a meal out. Do not assume the arrangements for an exhibiting team apply to your visit.
A team meal request should identify its purpose clearly. “Dinner for colleagues after their exhibition duties” gives a restaurant a different brief from “food for our stand”.
Resolve venue questions before seeking on-site supply
If you want food inside the exhibition, ask your organiser or venue contact these questions and keep the response with your event arrangements:
- Which catering policy applies to our event and the space we occupy?
- May we use an external food supplier, and is written approval required?
- Are there different requirements for individual packed meals, a group order or food offered to guests?
- If external supply is allowed, what access, handover, packaging and waste requirements apply?
A supplier’s willingness to prepare food does not establish venue permission. Equally, permission does not establish that a particular supplier can fulfil the request. Confirm those two matters separately before committing.
Make an off-site restaurant enquiry specific
Zzetta is an independent stone-oven pizzeria, established in 2018, at 110 Barking Road, Canning Town. For a proposed off-site team meal, ask about your date, group size and preferred timing; do not assume seating, service hours or availability.
You can review the menu as a starting point for the conversation. Zzetta offers Halal, Vegan and Gluten-Free options from one flame-fired kitchen. Discuss specific ingredients and suitability with staff for each person’s requirements. Those options do not establish that every dish is halal or that food is allergen-safe or suitable for coeliac disease.
Ask how the restaurant would handle a changing headcount, separate arrival groups and payment arrangements. Explain any firm departure requirement rather than assuming a meal can fit between two duties. Plan travel separately using current information for the actual journey.
Get a Quote with the right brief
For team catering enquiries, start with the Catering Hub. For an off-site restaurant meal, make the dining location explicit when you Get a Quote on WhatsApp or phone Zzetta. You can adapt this enquiry:
“We are an exhibition team working at ExCeL and are considering eating at your restaurant, not having food supplied inside the venue. Our proposed date is [date], with [number] colleagues and a preferred arrival of [time]. Our duties finish at [time], and we need to leave by [time, if relevant]. Dietary requirements are [details]. Please confirm whether you can accommodate the request, suitable options and the arrangements needed before we commit.”
Zzetta – Soul Fired Pizza · 110 Barking Road, Canning Town, London E16 1EN · 020 3904 7074 · WhatsApp +44 7852 272312 · ciao@zzetta.co.uk