Melbourne Cup platters for the office: what to order and when

The Melbourne Cup is on Tuesday 3 November this year, and in Perth the race starts at noon. That timing decides the food. Most offices that stop for it do so just before lunch, so the platter needs to be on the table by late morning, cut that morning rather than the afternoon before. Here’s what to order from us, how much of it, and when to get the order in.

Cup Day is noon in Perth

The race is scheduled for 3pm in Melbourne. WA doesn’t run daylight saving, so that’s 12pm here. It isn’t a public holiday in WA, but plenty goes on around town, and Destination Perth keeps a list of Cup Day lunches and screenings.

For a platter, the time that matters is the delivery window. Our checkout offers a morning window (7 to 11am) and an afternoon window (12 to 6pm). Book the Tuesday morning window and the fruit arrives before the field jumps.

The catch is ordering on the day. Once it’s Cup Day, the online checkout no longer offers that morning’s window, so an order placed on Tuesday morning gets the afternoon window at the earliest, and that starts at 12pm, the same time as the race. Order by Monday 2 November for a Tuesday morning delivery or collection.

Which platter for how many people

We have three ready-to-order platters. Current prices and serving counts are on the platters page:

• Mini fruit platter, $29.99. Serves 4 to 6. Seasonal fruit, sliced (1.7kg) or in chunks (1.5kg). The one for a small team.
• Large fruit platter, $55. Serves 12 to 15. 3.5kg of seasonal fruit, sliced or in chunks.
• Large grazing platter, $95. Serves 15 to 20. Fruit, cheese and antipasto on one board. Phone the shop if you want to confirm what’s going on it.

Put together, those serving ranges cover most sweep tables:

People	What to order
Up to 6	Mini fruit platter
12 to 15	Large fruit platter
15 to 20	Large grazing platter
27 to 35	Large fruit platter and large grazing platter
More than 35	Talk to us through catering

If your headcount sits between two rows, go up a size. The serving ranges assume the platter sits alongside other food. If the fruit is the lunch rather than a side, allow roughly double. Our office morning tea guide has the weights per head if you’re building your own spread.

Fruit on the board in early November

Cup Day falls right where the spring board starts to change. The Wanneroo strawberries that arrived in October are still carrying the platters, pineapple is reliable year-round, and grapes and blueberries fill the corners. Watermelon is heading into its best months.

November is also when the first yellow nectarines and apricots come in. Manjimup cherries usually land late in the month, so don’t plan a Cup Day board around cherries. The 3rd is early for them, and the weather can move the first trays by a couple of weeks. The stone fruit calendar has the full run. If there’s a fruit you want on the board, or one you want left off, say so when you order.

Fruit and grazing on one table

Most Cup Day spreads work better with both: the fruit platter at one end of the table and the grazing board at the other. We build both in the shop, so a combined order leaves together and arrives on one delivery. If you want more on the grazing side, the cheese and antipasto counter is in the same shop and can go in the same basket.

Tax invoices are available on request, which helps if the platter is going on a company card.

Getting the order in

1. Order online. Add the platters to your basket in the shop, choose delivery or pickup, select Tuesday 3 November in the morning window, and pay by card at checkout.
2. Delivery. Platters go on the same local run as the rest of the shop, across 18 suburbs south of the river. The minimum is $30 before the delivery fee. Delivery is free to Mount Pleasant, Brentwood and Booragoon, and $10 to every other listed suburb. Leave a contact name, floor or reception desk so the driver isn’t hunting for you at 10.45am. The fruit and veg delivery page has the full suburb list.
3. Pickup. Collect from 76 Cranford Ave, Mount Pleasant, with no minimum spend. We open at 7am, so a platter ordered on Monday can be collected on the way to work.
4. Phone. For a custom brief, call (08) 9364 3417. A single mini platter can usually be cut the same day if you phone before 11am, which suits a small team that decides late.

For bigger jobs, give us more time. Ten or more platters need two or three days. For 50 people or more, we ask for a fortnight’s notice, which for Cup Day means getting in touch by Tuesday 20 October. We’ll give you a written quote through catering.