I've been doing the planning for semi-regular planning meetings for several years here in Ithaca, and I've gone through a number of the local catering options for casual working breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. Out of the variety of options I've tried, the most helpful and tastiest has been the Ithaca Bakery. The Ithaca Bakery offers a number of catering options; we mostly go with cold sandwich platters, with salads and desserts, for lunch and dinner meetings, but they also offer hot meals. And they're good at catering for any hour of the day - they can do bagels, muffins, and coffee for breakfast, or barbecue for lunch, or hot entrees for dinner. One of the best things about working with the Ithaca bakery has been their awareness of the variety of dietary preferences in the world - the group I work with includes vegans, vegetarians, and people with various food allergies. Most of the catering options in town are able to deal with one or two of those preferences, but they only have a few (or even just one) regular vegetarian option. I can call the Ithaca Bakery, remind them about the dietary restrictions in question, and get a sandwich platter with multiple options for everyone on the team. And I can do that without having to carefully order everything myself; I can just hand over our general preferences and let them do whatever they think would be appropriate. Sometimes there's a small extra charge for difficult items (gluten-free sandwiches, for example), but it's usually not much, and it's worth it to be able to feed everyone in the group quickly and easily and without having to do the work myself.
When you talk about Ithaca, NY you can't really mention food without talking about Ithaca Bakery. Also known by it's alias, CTB, or Collegetown Bagels, Ithaca Bakery has come to be known as an institution within Ithaca. They have several locations, all serving the finest bagels in Ithaca. Alongside the bagels you've got all manner of desserts, sandwiches, coffees, specialty drinks, etc. After being a customer for a very long time, I finally reached out to Ithaca Bakery to cater a smallish event I was holding. The event was a breakfast time meeting. We ordered a selection of bagels, croissants, cheese platters, some fruit trays, and juice and coffee. The quality of the food was never in question, it's good. You can expect the exact same quality as you would get by walking into one of their stores. What's really nice about Ithaca Bakery catering is the fact that they supply you with everything you'll need. The food is packaged on platters, that are all disposable. They'll bring the cups, plates, napkins, silverware, butter, condiments, table cloths, etc. Everything is is all disposable, so when you're done, just toss it all in the trash. If you're looking for an affordable and quick catering job, look no further than Ithaca Bakery.