The Food & Dining team offers a full catering service for conferences and events, from sandwiches to fork buffets and full dining to barbecues.
Excellent food during an event is important. Where possible, the team strives to use a selection of locally sourced, traceable, and sustainable ingredients, to showcase the best produce.
Catering can be delivered and served almost anywhere on campus for various events, from academic conferences to team away days. As well as in-house catering, delegates and visitors can also access food and drink outlets on campus.
Make a BookingPrivate evening meals and buffet options for events served after 5:00pm are available subject to availability.
We are happy to support private evening events upon request, offering a choice of standard dinner menus to suit your budget, as well as enhanced VIP menu options. All bookings are subject to availability.
Please contact us for more information.
You can purchase any of our stock items in bulk. Examples include:
Please contact the eat team for prices and if you wish to place an order.
Open every term-time weekday, University staff and visitors can use the Business Lounge as a place to work, network, and enjoy breakfast and lunch.
The Business Lounge
The University is committed to delivering an exciting choice of tasty, convenient, nutritional and sustainable food at a range of prices to enhance the student, staff and visitor experience. This policy covers all food outlets and food served on the University campus.
We follow five key principles:
To support continuous improvement in each of these five principles, we will in the 2024/25 academic year implement the following actions:
1. Choice
2. Safe
3. Price Range
4. Supply Chain
5. Engagement
The Food & Dining Team at Lancaster University is committed to delivering an exciting variety of food to enhance the student, staff, and visitor experience. We aim to produce nutritionally balanced, tasty, sustainable, and affordable food for the University community, making healthy eating easier.
We focus on producing seasonal menus for catered accommodation, conferencing, and events using fresh and locally sourced produce.
We aim to purchase our fresh ingredients from local suppliers to make the most of the best produce Lancashire and the Northwest region have to offer, following the customer’s desire for information about the provenance of their food and the growing trend for plant-based menus. To achieve these aims the University will adopt the following principles:
With full Allergen Accreditation across campus, suitable meals are always provided for all 14 allergens and other main food intolerances. Email eat@lancaster.ac.uk to request a copy of the Lancaster University Allergen Policy.
Please email eat@lancaster.ac.uk, or phone 01524 593260.
To place an order on behalf of an external company, contact us for support with issuing invoices.
How was your experience with Food & Dining? Please complete our feedback survey.
Bookings can be made 24/7 on the Spoonfed website. Timeslots available are from Monday to Friday 08:00 – 17:00. To order a delivery outside of the timeslots available, please contact the Eat team via email eat@lancaster.ac.uk to discuss alternative arrangements.
A cost code is required to make internal catering bookings. If making a booking on behalf of an external customer, please contact the Eat team via email eat@lancaster.ac.uk to arrange the booking so an invoice can be issued.
Any catering orders using a payment method other than a cost code are considered as external orders, even if placed by employees of Lancaster University. The Eat team will raise an invoice, and 20% VAT will be applied.
To place an order, email eat@lancaster.ac.uk with the following details
For bookings made by NHS Trusts, due to the nature of their finance system, we will also need the Account Payable code if applicable. We will require a copy of the Purchase Order document sent to us to confirm the delivery. The PO document should include your catering order number in description.
Menu can be found here Food and Dining - Lancaster University
You can log into your profile from the top right-hand corner of the Spoonfed website.
Cancellation charges
No charges apply for cancellations with over two full working days’ notice. See T&Cs for charges.
All prices and quantities are per person unless stated otherwise.
The minimum delivery fee is £10 per delivery slot. A fee will be added to reach the £10 limit to any orders under this.
Please contact the Eat team via email eat@lancaster.ac.uk to discuss alternative possibilities. Some menus will be subject to a small supplement.
You can add additional emails to your customer profile and confirmation will be sent to these email addresses.
Please specify the dietary requirements in the special requirements box when placing your order or next to individual items.
The Eat team requires two full working days' notice. For example, orders for a Wednesday should be placed by Friday at the latest. If a booking is made with less than two full working days' notice, a 20% additional charge will be automatically added by the team.
Jugs of tap water are available to add to your order for a small fee of £3. A jug of water is provided with 10 glasses. The fee covers the cost of delivery, collection, and washing of the glasses. For orders that already include orange juice, tap water can be added for no additional cost. In this instance, please reference your booking number to the Eat team via email eat@lancaster.ac.uk to waive the fee for additional tap water. Waiving the cost of tap water can be discussed on a booking-by-booking basis for orders of substantial sizes.
Tables, tablecloths, crockery, and cutlery are available to hire at a cost and subject to availability. Please contact the Eat team via email eat@lancaster.ac.uk to discuss.
Since Summer 2020, the University has restricted the use of external catering on campus and the local area. All catering must be booked and delivered through University Hospitality Services.
While most of the on-campus catering is already provided by our in-house team, we are committed to offering a wide range of options tailored to meet dietary, cultural, and budgetary requirements. The Hospitality team is happy to work with you to personalise your catering experience and ensure it aligns with your event needs.
In exceptional circumstances where external catering is required, prior authorisation must be obtained from the Eat team. This authorisation must be attached to the Purchase Order request.
To request authorisation, please email the Eat team with the following details:
Without this authorisation, external catering bookings will not be approved by Procurement.
Menus come with the amount of crockery ordered, for example; tea and coffee for 10 people will receive 10 mugs. For buffets, there will be some extra as standard to allow for any accidents or extra guests who may turn up.
Hot lunches will be served by a member of staff for up to 1 hour. Deliveries over 50 will be served at no extra cost if required.
Further staffing requirements should be booked in advance, additional charges will apply on an hourly basis for the total hours required.
Catering deliveries for fewer than 50 people will not be serviced as standard. If you require a serviced delivery for fewer than 50 people, additional charges will apply.
Canape orders include a staffed tray service for up to one hour.
A sale or return agreement allows you to receive good with committing to the full purchase. You will only be charged for what you use/ refunded for what is unused. It is your responsibility to ensure any unused stock is returned within 24 hours of your order. Please contact the Eat team for more information. Please note this option is not available for all orders.
The kitchen can produce a maximum of 30 x 11” pizzas every twenty minutes, for any orders above this number, the booking team will discuss multiple delivery slots. Pizza orders at peak service times may not be possible depending on business levels and use of external supplier will be authorised on such occasions
Click here to view hospitality terms and conditions. For more information, please contact the Eat team on eat@lancaster.ac.uk.
