Group Lunch Ordering: Spreadsheet vs. App

Many teams still use spreadsheets, shared docs, or even paper to collect group lunch orders. It's familiar, it's free, and it works... sort of. But is it the best approach?

The Spreadsheet Method

The typical spreadsheet workflow looks like this:

1. Create a Google Sheet with menu items and prices
2. Share the link with your team
3. Everyone adds their name and order
4. You manually calculate totals
5. You place the order and front the payment
6. You chase everyone for reimbursement

Spreadsheet Pros

• Free (if you have Google Workspace or Excel)
• Familiar interface for most people
• Highly customizable
• Works for any restaurant

Spreadsheet Cons

• Manual data entry prone to errors
• No payment collection built-in
• Someone has to front the entire cost
• Formatting gets messy with many orders
• Have to recreate for each restaurant
• No consolidated order summary for calling in
• Time-consuming to set up properly

The Group Ordering App Method

With a dedicated group lunch ordering app like LunchLink:

1. Create an order and add the restaurant menu
2. Share a link with your team
3. Everyone picks their items and pays immediately
4. Get an auto-generated order summary
5. Place one order with the restaurant

App Pros

• Payment collection is automatic
• Never front the bill yourself
• Clean, formatted order summary
• Save restaurants for future use
• Real-time visibility into who ordered/paid
• Mobile-friendly for participants
• No setup time for each order

App Cons

• Need to add menu items (first time only)
• Requires Stripe for payments (optional)

Head-to-Head Comparison

When to Use Each

Stick with Spreadsheets If:

• You're doing a one-time order and have time
• Your team is tiny (3-4 people)
• You don't mind fronting money and chasing payments
• You need complex custom calculations

Switch to an App If:

• You organize lunches regularly
• You're tired of chasing payments
• You want payments collected automatically
• You have 5+ people ordering
• You value your time

The Verdict

Spreadsheets work, but they create extra work - especially around payments. If you organize group lunches more than occasionally, a dedicated app saves significant time and eliminates the biggest headache: collecting money.

The best part? LunchLink is free, so you're not trading one cost for another. You're just trading manual work for automation.