Well Fed Employees are Building Better Companies!

With themed lunch menus, fresh-baked desserts and diverse food options at every corner, among other work perks, it’s no wonder that employees at giant tech companies are so happy and rarely go offsite for meals.

Companies like Facebook, Google and Dropbox are leading the charge in employee benefits with corporate culinary services. They offer employee cafes that provide breakfast, lunch and dinners on par with some of the best restaurants in the country. Their creative, in-house food programs are a testament to their company cultures, but the transformative effect these meals have on employee morale? Well, the proof is quite literally in the pudding…

The benefits of Providing Food Programs to Employees have been Proven to

• Improve team morale due to a higher percentage of teams eating together on a regular basis.
• Reduce the number of people leaving the office for meals, which alleviates disruption of the workday and allows employees to ease back into work mode faster. For example, a study by Staples showed that coffee and snack runs account for 2.4 billion hours in lost productivity in their U.S. stores each year.
• Encourage people to work longer hours. When employees don’t have to worry about rushing home to cook dinner or getting to the grocery store to meal prep for the next day, they are willing to stay later.
• Provide a sense of loyalty and appeal. When employees feel well taken care of, there is an automatic sense of respect and loyalty to not only stay with that employer, but also produce a higher quality of work. Not to mention, it’s a great work perk for recruiting top talent into your organization – USA Today reported that 48% of jobseekers weigh company perks – including the availability of free food – in their decision when looking for a new job.

So, in addition to worldly cuisine and mouthwatering meals, what are these companies really serving-up? Productivity, retention and morale.

And as an added business perk, according to an article by Inc.com, businesses can often receive a tax deduction for money they spend on employee lunches, and when you estimate the hourly pay rate of salaried employees who generally take one-hour lunch breaks, food programs suddenly prove to have a surprising ROI in comparison.

So, while a full-scale corporate culinary operation may not be an investment all companies can make, the positive effect it has on employees and the return on investment is definitely food for thought!

If you’re interested in learning more about a corporate culinary service program, Reach Out and we’ll respond as quickly as possible.