Getting Social and Staying Safe While Eating Lunch in the Workplace

hen they’re back in the office, people want to eat with their coworkers. Safely, of course. At KitchenMate we recently surveyed 65 professionals across the GTA to learn more about their food preferences and expectations when they eventually return to the office. 

First off, we wanted to understand whether having food options available even mattered to them.

So we asked about the importance of having safe, nutritious and affordable lunch options available in the office building. 

81% of respondents said having great lunch options available was important to them and 56% said it's important to company culture.

Only 11% said it wasn’t important at all and only 3% said it didn’t matter to company culture.

Next, we wondered whether or not people would still be interested in eating with coworkers.

And we asked whether they expected to eat with a few colleagues or by themselves. 

64% said they would most likely eat lunch with others, while only 36% said they would most likely eat alone. 

Finally, we wondered whether people would prefer having a cafeteria in the building, catered lunch served family style, individually packed meals, or a meal card with a $10 allowance to use outside the building. 

The most common top choice was individually packed meals served within the building (33%).

While the most common bottom ranked option was catered food served family style (46%).
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Most Preferred Food Experience 

33% Individually packed meals served within the building

30% Meal card with a $10 daily allowance to use outside the building 

18% Cafeteria in the building 

18% Catered food served family style
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Least Favourite Food Experience 

46% Catered food served family style  

24% Meal card with a $10 daily allowance to use outside the building

19% Cafeteria in the building

11% Individually packed meals served within the building

When employees return to the office, most people still want safe, nutritious and affordable lunch options available.

They still want to eat with coworkers if possible, but they’d much prefer individually packed meals over catered lunches served family style. 

In short, they want to connect over food with their colleagues like they used to, as safely as possible.