Get next week's office event groceries ready to order
Every Thursday we read next week's office calendar, size a grocery list to each event's headcount, and post one-click carts to Slack for approval.
Instacart
Google Calendar
Slack BotOperationsHR & PeopleMeeting WorkflowsDaily DigestsEvery Thursday at 9am, look ahead at next week's team events and have the office grocery order ready before anyone has to think about it. Run this on a cron trigger at 9:00am every Thursday in the office time zone. Thursday timing is deliberate, it leaves lead time to get an order placed before the following week starts.
Start with the Google Calendar List Events action against the shared office calendar. Pull every event from the coming Monday through Friday. Expand recurring events into individual instances so each occurrence is judged on its own, and include attendee details so headcount is available.
Decide which events actually need food by reading the title, description and attendee count. All-hands meetings, client lunches, onboarding days and team offsites are in scope. Regular 1:1s, external video calls, personal holds and focus time blocks are skipped. Use judgement on anything ambiguous, leaning on what the title and description say about whether people will be in the office together around a meal.
For each qualifying event, build a shoppable list with the Instacart Create Shopping List Page action. Size quantities to the confirmed attendee count, meaning people who have accepted rather than everyone invited. Cover a spread that works for common dietary needs, including vegetarian, gluten free and non-dairy options. Line items use line_item_measurements and only the supported units: each, lb, oz, g, kg, ml, L, cup, tbsp, tsp, gallon. Apply health filters such as VEGAN, GLUTEN_FREE and ORGANIC where they help match the right products. Set expires_in to roughly 14 days so each link stays live comfortably through the week it covers, and name each list after the event it belongs to.
Post the results to the office operations channel using the Slack Bot Send a Message action, with one block per event showing the event name, the date, the headcount and its one-click Instacart link. The office manager reviews the blocks and places the order. Do not try to purchase anything: the Instacart Developer Platform can only create a shareable list page, never place an order, and the human approval step is the point of the workflow.
Call out any event that has no attendee count set on its own clearly marked line, so someone can confirm numbers before ordering rather than guessing. If nothing next week needs food, post a short note saying the week looks clear instead of staying silent.
What does this prompt do?
- Looks ahead at next week's shared office calendar every Thursday morning and picks out the events that actually need food, like all-hands meetings, client lunches, onboarding days and team offsites.
- Skips the meetings that do not need catering, such as routine one-on-ones and external video calls, so you are never ordering lunch for a phone call.
- Sizes every list to the confirmed headcount and includes vegetarian, gluten free and non-dairy options, so everyone at the table has something to eat.
- Posts one block per event to your office operations channel with the date, headcount and a one-click shopping link, ready for the office manager to review and place the order.
What do I need to use this?
- A Google account with access to the shared calendar your team books office events on
- An Instacart account, with grocery delivery available in your office area
- A Slack workspace and the channel where your office operations updates go
- Event invites with attendees actually added, since headcount is what sizes the order
How can I customize it?
- Change the day and time it runs, for example Wednesday afternoon if your store needs more lead time
- Adjust which kinds of events count as needing food, such as adding board meetings or dropping offsites
- Set your own dietary spread and portion rules, like extra coffee for morning events or a bigger vegetarian share
FAQs
Does this actually buy the groceries?
What happens if an event has no attendees added?
How does it know which meetings need food?
Can it handle dietary restrictions?
How long do the shopping links stay active?
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Set this up once and every week's team events arrive with a headcount and a ready-to-order cart waiting for your approval.