B E N C H M A R K I N G SURVEYS | DATA | INSIGHTS
SURVEY REPORT 1.5 Foodservice Operations January 2024
Proudly brought to you by 4xi Global Consulting & Solutions
Dear CRITERION Members, We are excited to share our latest and last survey report for 2023 – Foodservice Operations. Most of us certainly embrace the art of food and totally understand the importance of its spotlight in the overall workplace and employee experience proposition. Food brings people together and offers an opportunity and the space to build community, spark collaboration, and create casual collisions. Most organizations seek to offer a workplace that welcomes their employees and visitors with amenities that make a difference to their day. The higher arching goal for having foodservice onsite is typically to drive productivity, efficiency, and more satisfied employees. Of course, attracting and retaining employees is important, but now supporting return to office initiatives through building amenities impacts how employees view their employer and workplace. Foodservice Operations include various areas from cafes, barista bars, executive client dining rooms, pantry offerings, catering and more. Managing these areas can be quite challenging as in most cases you are managing a vendor partner who runs the service for your company. Then add the various impacts of COVID such as the challenge of managing these services within the hybrid workforce and it can feel daunting.
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This report provides insights into what others are doing within their foodservice operations. It reviews what services each company is offering and how their executives feel about spending in this area. The report also reveals what they see as their top challenges, which include: subsidy containment, consistency, staffing, vendor accountability, attracting employees back to the office and more. It also uncovers other areas such as what coffee brands others are utilizing, what they are doing with their pantry offer, whether they have an executive dining room, if catering or staffing has changed post COVID and much more. Having managed amenity programs for half my career at two large organizations I often felt like I was the only person at those companies that understood the ins-and-outs of managing foodservice operations. A large part of my job was educating the senior management team on how foodservice within the corporate world worked. Even how the subsidy works, with the offset of catering sales, which till this day, is a challenge for most of us to explain. I hope the data from your membership of CRITERION has helped in managing some of these areas at your organization and that by seeing what others are doing and having these reports at your fingertips can help you feel less daunted and more empowered.
This report includes:
Top five highlights of the findings
Narrative summary of the results
Visual view of the results per question
Respondents’ comments on various questions
4xi considers it a privilege to have you as a CRITERION member. We will work diligently for you to continually conduct surveys on pressing workplace experience topics. Additionally, we will deliver timely results, so you have a tangible report at your fingertips to help in your decision-making process which in time will hopefully help you build your new normal. Thank you for your support and ongoing membership. Wishing you all a wonderful and safe New Year! The next survey will be coming soon!
Sincerely,
Ann McNally
Ann McNally Practice Lead CRITERION Benchmarking 4xi Global Consulting & Solutions e: annmcnally@4xiconsulting.com p: (732)677-9060 w: www.4xiconsulting.com
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TOP
HIGHLIGHTS
utilize local guest restaurants as part of their offer.
0% do not offer catering for free as part 5% of the return-to-work strategy. benchmark against the street with 4% local food tours annually. 23% are at or striving for zero subsidy. 1 0% charge for coffee in the pantry. This survey had 30 respondents.
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RESULTS SUMMARY
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RESULTS SUMMARY Most of the organizations in this survey manage and offer various foodservice operations. The respondent’s foodservice areas include cafes, pantries, micro markets, self-checkout areas, executive dining rooms, catering, vending, water/hydration, coffee barista bars and branded licensed retail outlets.
96% of respondents have an onsite café.
50% of the respondents’ foodservice offer has not changed post COVID
96% said they remain open on Monday and Friday.*
70% offer guest local restaurants as part of their offer.**
70% use local suppliers.
* On those Monday and Friday slower days some of the firms have reduced the offer to manage the costs: however, some have maintained the same level of service with reduced staffing. You can find all the comments under the question in the specific survey question results area of this report. ** Some offer guest restaurant offers weekly, monthly or as part of their diversity and inclusion events.
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A
standout challenge in the question regarding your top 3 challenges was attracting employees back to the office which stood out among many respondents. Other challenges included staffing shortages, increased labor costs, the impact of costs overall, consistency in their offer, employee expectations, and a growing refocus on subsidy levels and control. In the area of catering:
53% have decreased catering post COVID
23% remained the same, and 20% increased
57% answered they do not offer catering for free as part of their return-to-work strategy. However, 37% do offer free catering.
47% have executive dining of some form
When asked what you see in the foreseeable future, the answers ranged from:
Increased robotics technology
Innovation to drive efficiency and the consumer experience
Employee engagement
Employee sentiment measurement tools
Customer engagement through technology
New automation to drive efficiency for quicker lines
Some other key highlights included:
Only 10% of respondents plan for commodity increases and fluctuations, where 83% leave this to their vendor to manage.
53% of respondents said that their employees do not view foodservice as an entitlement, however 26% responded that they do, and 20% said they were unsure how their employees view the foodservice.
86% of companies do not charge for office coffee in their pantry, however 10% do. There are several options offered through the office coffee programs listed in detail in the specific survey question area. Regarding how often the pantry is checked throughout the day, 33% check one time per day and 16% check four or more times.
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HIGHLIGHTS OF THE RESULTS
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Services Highlighted 97% 90% 47% 33%
have a café
have an executive dining room
have a barista bar
have retail licensed food outlets
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Post COVID Changes in Offer Overall Despite all the news of COVID disruption, 50% of respondents said that not much has changed, many keeping their doors open to maintain access to the same level of services and experiences.
11%
reduced their offer
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increased their Access to the remainder of this report is exclusive to CRITERION Members only. offer somewhat
JOIN NOW 13%
increased their offer significantly
13%
have made some changes.
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50%
have not changed much