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As a workplace leader, deciding between cafeteria vs catering vs delivery for your business may seem like a daunting task. It’s important to understand that there is no one-size-fits-all meal service program, and your work culture, office dynamic, and staff size will all influence your choice. Some businesses even decide to combine solutions for different events or days.
Each of these options gives your team quality food to enjoy. In this blog, we will explore each of the food service solutions and the pros and cons of using each.Next, we will explore the factors you should consider when making the right decision for your workplace.
Understanding what each office catering vs cafeteria and cafeteria vs delivery option means helps you confidently make the right choice for your staff.
This flexible, modern café solution is powered by local restaurants and supported by technology. With this model, you support small businesses in your community while creating a workplace cafe that makes great food accessible every day. You can enjoy fresh, never-boring food with rotating menus, which gives your team something to look forward to. We estimate the amount of food you’ll need, so we reduce food waste, and when we do have extra food left over, we donate it to local food banks.
This solution helps our restaurant partners achieve profitability while expanding their reach and connecting them with businesses that require food services. By choosing this option, you believe in your community and want to support them while giving your staff delicious food.
Whether drop catering or onsite staffed and served popup restaurants, catering offers an employer-paid food program that understands your food preferences, staff allergies, and restrictions.
There are a few catering options to choose from:
You can customize your catering needs based on your team. Please note that what works best for your workplace may change over time, and we can make adjustments as needed.
Office lunch delivery brings individual meals to you for easy distribution to your team. This food at work solution offers elevated boxed lunches from local restaurants. Employees can place their own orders and pick from different restaurants every day. All orders are delivered together.
Your staff will enjoy this option as it brings variety and exciting choices to them every day. This virtual food hall of sorts allows them to mix and match cuisine from the day’s menus from independent local businesses.
You also get to know your driver and ensure they have access to your building so they can deliver food directly to your office doors at the same time every day.Best of all, when you choose between cafeteria vs catering vs delivery, a customer service team will handle any questions from your team members.
With individual order delivery, each team member orders on their own by viewing items on an app or online. They can select from an average of four to eight restaurants daily. You can pay a flat rate per order or a daily flat rate.Gratuity is included in your delivery cost. You can also choose to pay for all or a portion of your employee’s meal.
This daily rotating restaurant program offers your staff a way to interact with restaurants on-site. We schedule these indoor food truck events far in advance.As you use this program, we will learn about your employees’ favorite restaurants and create an ongoing schedule. Your staff is kept in the loop with daily menu emails. They can also view the week’s lunch lineup on the app or a customized web page we build for your company.
The restaurant will set up, serve, and sell lunch to your employees for a period of time, usually two hours, and then clean up. Meals are affordable, usually just$8-$10. Each serving is made to order, but it is not cooked on site.
When you’re weighing out your options between cafeteria vs catering vs delivery, you must weigh the advantages and disadvantages of each.Each business will have different wants and needs, which influence your final decision.
Best for a business focused on employee well-being and workplace culture, as it offers a consistent environment to dine and interact with colleagues. For workplaces expected to serve 1,000+ meals per week.
This is a daily, reliable meal service offering food variety and the ability to enjoy local food culture. Best of all, it has a strong cultural impact on your local community. For the bottom line, it’s a cost-effective meal solution.
This solution requires volume to justify the cost and in hybrid models, cafeterias can be unprofitable on low population days (e.g. Fridays). How can hybrid cafeterias be cost effective? Light up stations during busy days and close them on quiet days. For example, Fridays could be a barista bar and a micro market,Mondays can also include a grill, and on Wednesdays you can add a visiting local restaurant to your cafeteria.
Works well for those who want customizable menus tailored to a budget or specific dietary needs that are handled by a catering team.
This option is great for meetings, events, and hybrid schedules. You get the opportunity to enjoy a large variety of local restaurants regularly. Enjoy a customizable online ordering system within your budget. It’s a flexible and specialized service for your staff and their dietary needs.
Best for businesses that prioritize convenience and flexibility and want to offer many daily food options. For workplaces with30-50+ meals sold per day.
This flexible ordering system accommodates different schedules and works well for smaller teams or mixed schedules. It gives employers the ability to subsidize a portion of their staff’s lunch. The delivery brings exactly what each employee wants each day, so there is no food waste with this option. It can accommodate any staff size easily.
Best for a workplace that is focused on building community and morale and wants a flexible food solution. For workplaces anticipating to sell 50+ meals per day. Possible for 200 people onsite with a$5 daily subsidy or for 1,000 people onsite without a subsidy.
It’s a fun, unique, low-lift food solution that’s great for hybrid environments.It’s also an added perk to retain talent, as employees love having this work benefit. It shows that their employer cares about them. Productivity increases as you bring food to your staff, lessening the time they’re off-site for lunch.
When you’re considering the right food service solution for your workplace, you should consider these six factors:
Pantry: For a small business with 20 or less people expected on a Monday and a $6 per meal budget, coffee and snacks may work best.
Delivery: While a business with 50 employees or more onsite on a Tuesday may benefit best from delivery.
Popup: Perhaps Wednesday is a team meeting, so all employees must report to the office who have 70 or more employees now. A Popup would work great as it builds community, especially for teams that don’t work together in the office daily.
Catering: For companies that have client meeting days, sayon Tuesdays, and want to offer affordable food options, catering may work best.
Still unsure? Try the Fooda Food at Work Calculator, a decision-support tool that allows you to input your budget per person per day and an expected number of staff to service (per day, which benefits a hybrid work model), to give you an estimated weekly budget.
Fooda is a workplace food program that offers all these food solutions under one roof.We’re redefining workplace dining with daily meals from local restaurants. It was created by logistics professionals whose goal was to bring excitement to the workplace while supporting the local community. Today, we offer a range of services to meet the food service needs of employers of all sizes across theUnited States.
Our technology-enabled services are combined with affordable and convenient on-premise food services, including cafeteria management, food delivery, ongoing catering, coffee, pantry, and other food services. Each of our programs involves the use of local businesses and is designed to help you support your community’s local economy.
We help businesses to combine our solutions to fit their needs, whether cafeteria and catering for events, or food delivery on Fridays. We can also regularly make changes to your program as we understand that your needs may change.
There is no one-size-fits-all food service solution. The best one depends on your workplace cultural goals, the size of your staff, your budget, and other office dynamics.Unlike generic food service providers, Fooda offers all these models, whether office catering vs cafeteria or cafeteria vs delivery. We are your trusted advisor to choose the proper foodservice mix for your needs.
Explore Orange by Fooda Services, Fooda Catering Services, Fooda Delivery Services, and Fooda Popup Services to make the best decision for your food service needs.
To learn more about bringing local businesses inside your cafeteria, check out our video.
To learn more about our services or to get a professional recommendation for the solutions that will best benefit your business, contact us here.
