Group orders and party catering

Call ahead · Tue–Sat 15:00–23:00

Souvlaki is good party food. It is eaten with one hand, it does not need cutlery, and a plate of skewers with a bowl of tzatziki in the middle of a table works better than most catering. But a counter that grills everything from raw needs warning before twenty people arrive, so this page is about what to have ready when you pick up the phone.

Start with a phone call

There is no group-order form on this site and no catering department, because there is no head office to run one — Olympian is one owner-run grill on South Pattaya Road. Group orders are arranged by talking to Yannis: +66 86 061 8843.

Call during opening hours, Tuesday to Saturday, 15:00–23:00, and if you can, call at the quieter end of the evening rather than in the middle of a Friday rush. You will get a proper conversation instead of a distracted one.

What this page will not do is quote you a minimum order, a notice period, a per-head figure or a delivery arrangement for your condo. None of those have been set in writing, and inventing them would be worse than useless — you would plan around a number we made up. Ask on the call and you will get the real answer.

Have these six things ready before you dial

A grill cook can settle almost any question about a group order in one short conversation, provided you arrive with the right information. Write these down first:

Headcount. Actual number of eaters, and whether they are hungry adults or a mixed group with children. “About twenty” is fine; “a party” is not.
Date and day. Remember the shop is closed Sunday and Monday, so a Sunday party cannot be catered from this grill at all.
Time you want the food ready. Not the time your party starts — the time you want to be holding the food. Nothing before 15:00 is possible.
The pork / chicken / vegetarian split. This is the question that always comes up, and it is covered below.
Assembled or components. Do you want pita wraps built and wrapped, or the meat, bread and tzatziki kept separate so people build their own? This changes everything about how well the food holds.
Collection or delivery. Say where the food needs to end up. Whether Yannis can deliver to a condo, villa or hotel is a question for him rather than for this page.

If you also want extra tzatziki by the tub, or anything that is not on the standard board, raise it on the same call rather than assuming.

Why a grilled-to-order counter needs warning

Nothing here is pre-cooked. There is no warming tray, no bain-marie and no vertical spit with meat already committed to the fire. When an order comes in, the skewers go on the grill, and the grill has a fixed surface area.

For one or two people that is barely noticeable. For twenty it is arithmetic. Twenty portions is several grill loads back to back, and the shop is also serving whoever is standing at the counter and whatever is coming through the app at the same time. A big order dropped in unannounced at 19:00 on a Saturday either takes a very long time or interrupts everyone else’s dinner.

Given notice, the same order is straightforward. Yannis can prep for it, sequence it around the rush and have it ready when you said. The same quality standard that makes the food worth ordering is the reason it cannot be produced instantly at volume — the owner page explains that trade in more detail.

What scales well for a group

The single most useful piece of advice on this page: for a group, order components rather than finished wraps.

Plates and skewers travel and serve better. Grilled meat off the skewer holds its texture, sits happily on a platter and can be eaten with a fork or with bread. A tray of souvlaki, a stack of warm pita and a bowl of tzatziki in the middle of a table is genuinely better party food than twenty individually wrapped pitas — and it lets people take what they want.

Pre-assembled wraps do not wait. A Greek souvlaki pita is soft unpocketed bread that has been oiled and warmed on the grill; sealed up with hot meat and cold yogurt sauce, it softens within minutes. Twenty of them stacked in bags for half an hour before anyone eats is the one way to make good souvlaki disappointing. If you want wraps, have them built at the last possible moment.

Tzatziki on the side, always. It keeps the bread dry, it stays cold, and people put on as much as they want. For a group it is also the cheapest way to make the spread feel generous.

The same logic in more detail, for ordinary delivery, is on the delivery page.

The pork, chicken and vegetarian split

Every group order comes down to this, so decide it before you call rather than during.

Pork is the traditional meat for souvlaki and it is what most people who know the dish will choose. Chicken is the alternative and it is the one that matters for anyone at your table who does not eat pork. There is also one vegetarian option, made fresh at the counter — ask on the call what it is and how many can be done.

Two things to be honest with your guests about. First, Olympian is not a halal-certified kitchen, and pork is cooked on the premises — so if you have Muslim guests, read the dietary page before you invite them to a souvlaki party, and ask Yannis directly about grill surfaces and utensils. Second, the traditional Greek sausage is usually a pork sausage, so treat the Pita Sausage as pork unless you have asked and been told otherwise.

Practical rule: get a firm count of who will not eat pork before you order, add one or two, and give Yannis the split as three numbers rather than a description.

The window, and what is not possible

The shop runs Tuesday to Saturday, 15:00–23:00. Everything has to happen inside that window, which rules out a few popular party slots:

Inside the window, Tuesday to Thursday early evening is the easiest time to land a large order, simply because the counter is quieter than a Friday or Saturday night.

Make the call

Ring +66 86 061 8843 during opening hours with your headcount, date, time and the pork/chicken/vegetarian split, and say whether you want it assembled or as components. That one call settles it.

If you would rather see the food before you commit a party to it, come down first and eat one. The shop is street-front on South Pattaya Road in front of Tony’s Fitness — the location page has the map — and you can put your questions to the person who would be cooking for your group. For a smaller order there is always Grab Food. And if something here is still unanswered, try the FAQ.

Frequently asked questions

Do you cater parties and group orders?

Group orders are arranged directly with the owner by phone: +66 86 061 8843. Call during opening hours, Tuesday to Saturday 15:00–23:00, with your headcount, date, time and the pork/chicken/vegetarian split.

Is there a minimum order for a group?

No minimum has been set in writing, so ask on the call rather than trusting a number from a web page. We would rather you got the real answer from the person cooking.

How much notice do you need for a big order?

Ask when you call. What is certain is that a counter grilling everything from raw needs warning — twenty portions is several grill loads, and an unannounced large order at peak either takes a long time or holds up everyone else.

Can you deliver a group order to a condo or villa?

That is a question for Yannis rather than for this page, since it is not something we can promise on his behalf. Raise it on the call and say exactly where the food needs to arrive.

What is the best thing to order for a crowd?

Souvlaki plates with warm pita and tzatziki served separately, so people build their own. Pre-assembled wraps soften within minutes, so they are the wrong choice for anything that has to wait.

Can you cater a Sunday party?

No. The shop is closed Sunday and Monday, and there is no lunch service on any day, so everything has to fall inside Tuesday to Saturday, 15:00–23:00.