It isn’t just the blueberry smoothies with a hint of mint that has made Lee Murphy, managing director of Wirral-based the Accountancy Partnership, glad to be back in the office after lockdown. But it helps.

Murphy has introduced a ‘smoothie day’ and a free lunch once a week to ensure the rest of his 70-strong team is as eager to trade in some home comforts for hybrid working. “The smoothie makers like to test out their new flavours on us. I go for ‘blueberry charge.’ Everyone else says it’s too minty so I can grab myself a couple,” Murphy says. “The staff love the smoothies and going to the breakout areas for lunch where the caterers come in and serve.”

Enriching hybrid working with bagels and beer

Free breakfasts including bagels, cereal and vegan pastries are also on offer to employees of Stafford-based PR firm Stone Junction. Again, the aim is to entice sometimes reluctant staff into a hybrid working model. 

“Before Covid, we only provided the standard drinks, biscuits and fruit at work,” says founder Richard Stone. “But we wanted to do more. In fact, we had a relaunch session in a local craft beer and wood-fired pizza place. We took it over for the day, gave our staff a branded beer and presented our back to the office policy. It’s a minimum two days a week for us.” 

According to the most recent Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures 37% of people were still working from home – either full-time or in a hybrid manner – as of May this year; the information and communication, and professional scientific and technical activities have the highest proportions of remote workers. 

This relatively high number matters to senior leaders. A recent YouGov poll for the BBC found that 50% of them believed that workers continuing to work at home were likely to harm creativity and collaboration. Yet, the ONS says 85% of home workers want to use a hybrid model in the future.

It’s therefore not just quick-thinking SMEs using food and drink to build a more comfortable environment for hybrid workers.

Investment group Fidelity International is offering a free breakfast for a week to returnees as well as candy floss and popcorn carts on specific days, with banking giant Goldman Sachs giving staff free lunch and ice cream.

The approach seems to be working with Murphy saying that all his employees are now back to the office.

“We’re creating a nice place for them to come to as they readjust to commuting again,” he says. “It feels like a home-from-home experience rather than just eating a meal deal at your desk.”

Stone says one of his staff loved his pizza event so much that they withdrew their resignation. “She had only joined a month after lockdown so had never been to the office before. When she saw what we offered and how the team were together she decided to stay,” he adds.

It’s about feelings, not just food

Dan Silverman, co-founder of co-working provider Spacemade, agrees that free food is more than just getting people through the door and back behind their desks. Covid has made employers see their staff differently. They are individuals with their own concerns, stresses and ambitions. He says food, drink and catering can play a crucial role in helping transform the hybrid working experience.

“It is interesting that the restaurants and bars are full, but offices aren’t. If you want people to come back you must create an atmosphere where people can get together, socialise and network,” he says. “Employees are not the homogenous bunch that some employers believed. They want human interaction and if you can’t offer that then why come? You can centre a lot of this around food and beverage offerings.”

Spacemade, which has sites in London, Leeds and Bristol, has doubled down on its catering offerings since the pandemic. “We’ve brought in some of the best coffee operators around, have an Italian eatery in our Leeds office and given discounts to members of our workspace,” he says. “It is about personalisation and giving staff what they want. That could be putting oat milk in our coffee machines in London rather than normal milk or cooking classes or cocktail making for members who want to learn something new. We see it as beneficial.”

Business benefits on the menu

Those benefits can be improvements in productivity as people get away from their desks for an hour to go to an office café or catering room and come back refreshed. Improvements in engagement and team building are also on the menu.

Indeed, some employers purposefully get people from different departments to sit down together at lunch and discuss life, work or new solutions to project challenges.

If you want people to come back you must create an atmosphere where people can get together, socialise and network. Employees are not the homogenous bunch that some employers believed. They want human interaction and if you can’t offer that then why come? You can centre a lot of this around food and beverage offerings

“Having an area for staff to come together and eat is crucial post-Covid. Employees want opportunities to connect and bond. There is more value being placed on relationships and making work purposeful and meaningful,” says Catrin Lewis, head of global engagement & internal communications at employee engagement group Reward Gateway. “A café is somewhere the chief executive can come and mingle with staff and talk about life away from work. Or it can be a better atmosphere to take a client rather than a sterile meeting room.”

Lunch hours can be enriched with learning opportunities like seminars and talks while staff munch away. This changed relationship between offices and food can also help with retention and recruitment. 

“In the local area, people are finding out and talking about what we are doing on the food and drink side and how we look after our staff,” says Murphy. “We are hiring every month and the smoothies, and the free lunch are things we put in our recruitment parks and our website.”

A long-term commitment to lunch

Employers however need to make a long-term commitment to free or subsidised food and drink and sparkly new cafes and treat days. Lewis warns: “It can’t be short term. If a company just does it to get people back in from home, then it feels a bit like a mousetrap. Why take it away if you have shown you can do it?”

Silverman says employers have received the message. More companies will be looking to replace canteen food with local cuisine. He says: “Yes, it’s more work. At our sites, it feels more like running a hotel at times like a business! But we enjoy it. Employers need to ask themselves can they genuinely do this over the long term or is it something we can outsource and still get the benefits from?”

Murphy certainly seems committed to the long term. He knows that a free meal isn’t the only thing on the menu for hybrid workers. Flexible working, having their voices heard by employers, mental health support, diversity, equality and inclusion and getting the attention and pay they deserve as new ways of working become embedded.

But food and drink can play a significant role.

“We did a survey of staff about what perks they liked, and smoothies came out on top,” says Murphy. “Office slides were another option, but we haven’t installed them yet.”

Let him build up his energy with another blueberry smoothie first.

Do you think food plays an important role in developing the employer brand? Why?

Absolutely. Food is a universal need. Everyone has it in common so it has the ability to cross all boundaries. It may seem like something that’s easy to overlook, but when you really think about it, food helps drive community, in the workplace and out. By providing food, or a subsidy for food – especially great food – you help foster the community you want at work. You break silos, bring people together and ultimately demonstrate that you care about your people. 

How does Just Eat for Business' strategy capture the hearts and minds of employees at the companies with which it works? 

Food is at the heart of what we do, and it’s what we’re passionate about. We believe that great food speaks more than words could. We let our product lead the strategy and know that when teams see the food, speak with the account managers, and meet the food partners that help deliver it, it’s all the strategy we need.

What are the ways in which its flexibility and creativity can create bespoke solutions for all businesses?

We work with our clients to provide a full-spectrum offering for whatever our clients’ needs may be; whatever their way of working is. We believe that great food can bring people together; it’s the great equaliser, the social glue that helps break down barriers and helps facilitate organic social interaction. That’s why it’s important for our variety of services and products to also help facilitate this. Whether businesses are fully back in the office, working completely remotely or adopting a hybrid approach, our service provides parity to all. 

What kinds of challenges do you foresee might arise with hybrid working models?

The pandemic has undoubtedly changed the way we work. After almost two years of uncertainty, most businesses have started to find their feet, with hybrid working becoming more the norm. That being said, even hybrid working poses its own sets of challenges, specifically, the 'hybrid divide.' With individuals working at home, in the office or remotely, those casual office interactions can be more difficult to conjure up, and businesses need to make sure they’re providing parity to the employee experience regardless of where their people are working. 

How can Just Eat for Business work with companies to create a more effective hybrid working model?

During the pandemic, we were able to quickly pivot our offering to cater for at home workers, delivering meals and treats to teams while they worked remotely, but what was at first a quick fix has actually turned into a huge focus for us as a business. Now, with businesses adopting a hybrid working model, we’re continuing to work with our clients to provide a hybrid food solution for their employees.

Alongside this pivot, we have also focused on assessing the environmental challenges that comes with this new approach to catering; prioritising zero-friendly delivery solutions, eco-friendly packaging partnerships and offsetting carbon emissions with ClimateCare. Our hybrid solution also helps our clients order responsibly to reduce their food waste by providing right amount of food for the number of employees in the office at any given time, while also allowing their remote employees to enjoy the benefits of subsidised food while working from home. 

What makes Just Eat for Business special? How does it differentiate itself from other in-office hospitality offers?

We make it easy for your teams to order great food for any occasion at home or in the office. If you want food for your teams, we'll get it for you, whether they're at home or in the office. You can decide if they pick their food, you pick, or somewhere in between.

We provide access to the best restaurants and caterers direct to your team, at home or in the office. We do this through the innovative use of data and technology to get great food to your people. Our intuitive platform, dedicated account management, and directly accessible customer care takes all the effort out of getting good food for your business.

We’re different in that we’re built for business first. We provide the best curated food partners from local heroes to high street favourites. We couple this with dedicated account management that is always on hand to help you get the best food.

To find out more, visit Just Eat for Business.

Setting up a business in Exmouth Market, London made sense for self-confessed lunch afficionado Charlie Johnson.

The founder of graduate recruitment firm BrighterBox settled on the location because of the wide cultural range of cafes and restaurants in the area. 

“You can get anything here from Ghanaian curry to Vietnamese dishes,” he says. “I love it here and so do my team, even before we recruit them!”

Indeed, Johnson says a ‘trick’ of his own recruitment strategy is to invite a top-drawer candidate for a coffee at precisely 11am for a final interview. “We take them to a café in the area, chat and then ensure that we finish at 12pm,” he says. “The reason is that by this time the lunchtime buzz and smells are beginning to build around the market. The candidate feels the excitement and it has always sealed the deal.”

How food can help engagement and marketing

Lunch can also play a part in retention with Johnson offering his staff a ‘free lunch Tuesday’ where they all dive into the market together for a meal from one of the local food stalls paid for by the company.

“It is something our team can look forward to. Their faces light up when they know it’s Tuesday and they tell me it is their favourite day of the week,” Johnson says. “It doesn’t cost us a lot, but it is a pro of working here. We catch up with each other, bounce ideas around and if it’s a nice day sit down in the local green. It has helped strengthen relationships amongst team members and it is something we emphasise when we recruit.”

Hugo Warner, founder of co-working space the Fisheries also believes food and drink can help recruit and retain top talent. Indeed, he describes his monthly drinks social for members – a mix of businesses and solo workers – and free weekly home-cooked lunches every Wednesday as his number one marketing tool.

“During the pandemic I kept hearing that people would never go back to restaurants again and I found that depressing,” he says. “We created a massive dining table for our lunch and in fact it’s been so popular that we have three sittings a day! We put people from different companies in different spots, so you have to talk to strangers. Mobile phones are banned because it is all about social interaction.”

He believes it has helped it attract more businesses to its workspaces.

“It really helps our brand because it is immeasurably linked to these food and drink events,” he says. “At some events we allow our members to bring guests. It really spreads the word, and we get loads of memberships as a result. In fact, we are talking to a FTSE 100 company at the moment about converting some of their office space into a Fisheries. Employers should realise that old-fashioned canteens are miserable places and staff don’t want them anymore.”

Is food really that important when choosing a role?

Food can be the way to a person’s heart, so the saying goes. But can it really be so pivotal in improving a company’s brand and reputation to the extent that a talented candidate would choose that gourmet-loving business over another?

Kelly Drewery, business psychologist at Talent Glue Business Psychology, says offering free food such as fruit bowls or subsidised healthy lunch options are valuable because they show that an employer cares about people’s wellbeing.

Research she has published on workplace wellbeing and retaining talent indicates that those fruit bowls are attractive for over a third of workers. 

But like the apples, pears and bananas, they are only a part of a wider bunch of office benefits. She found that banter with colleagues, having technology that meets their needs, natural daylight, having access to flexible working hours, and trees and plants in the office are all important factors in staff retention and recruitment. 

“In-office food catering is a beneficial part of the offering, but there are other bigger ticket items for employers to get right to attract and retain people,” she says. “Social contact, technology and flexibility have been some of the main things that have been missing for many people during the pandemic.”

Of course, it can be argued that free or subsidised lunches can, as Warner has found, lead to that much needed human contact we have all been missing. It can also, as for Johnson, be something which can be used to help people return to work flexibly. 

“We are doing three days in the office in which we have the free lunch day and a wellbeing day where we might go to a juice bar or do some exercise,” Johnson says. “A lot of our staff are young and living in house shares. They want to come to the office and these offerings help lift morale and saves them money.”

Other benefits to consider

But there needs to be more on offer than just food and drink.

“Everyone loves a free lunch,” says Julie Cameron, managing director of Drive Engagement. “It’s a ‘nice to have’ and they do help with engagement and at least short-term happiness. But they can also sometimes feel a bit gimmicky. Employers should be looking for something which is going to keep your employers there for the long term.”

For Cameron, that means ensuring employees feel trust from their employer, have autonomy about what they do at work and get involved in and how they look to fix projects and challenges. Health, wellbeing and diversity are also longer-lasting benefits for the employer brand. “That will keep people in employment longer,” she says.

Warner agrees that people looking to stay in a job or looking for a new job are unlikely to jump on a train for an hour commute just for a free sandwich. But again, insists that food and drink can be more than a ‘nice to have.’ It can make a huge difference to how companies are workplaces are perceived. 

“Particularly post-pandemic why would anyone walk into a horrible corporate atmosphere anymore?” Warner says. “We’ve had partnerships born out of our free lunches, two relationships – and those are the only ones I know of – and loads of friendships. If someone is having a rubbish day, they can get away from their desk, come to the lunch, get some human contact, and be treated well. The FTSE 100 company told us if all their offices were like ours everybody would be coming in!”

Focusing on employee engagement and wellbeing, the team at Brainlabs wanted to find a way to continue providing food perks to its remote working teams when the Covid pandemic forced offices across the UK to close during national lockdowns.

Brainlabs began working with Just Eat for Business in November 2020 by ordering Pantry Packages for its employees to enjoy while working from home. Insisting on making food fun, interactive food boxes such as DIY burger kits from Dirty Bones, pizza-making kits from Pizza Pilgrims and cupcake decorating from Kute Cake were popular choices and helped Brainlabs employees feel connected to their colleagues in an isolating time.

The team had such positive feedback about the at-home food boxes, that Brainlabs continued ordering Pantry Packages for clients, even after employees began returning to the office. 

Food has the power to bring people together, it can be a catalyst for conversation and engagement

Once their offices reopened to employees, the Brainlabs team sought a flexible catering solution that offered a variety of options to suit its teams’ different needs, whether they were working in the London or Manchester offices or still working from home. Just Eat for Business’ variety of services offered an ideal hybrid solution which helped Brainlabs offer great parity of benefits to all their employees, all under one easy invoice. 

Since 2020, Brainlabs has increased its orders from ad-hoc at-home Pantry Packages to daily use. With restaurant partners that suit different budget requirements and sustainability criteria, Brainlabs order daily buffets for breakfast and lunch, meeting foods, celebration day treats, seasonal items, Pantry Packages as well as Just Eat for Business gift cards for employees and clients, taking advantage of Just Eat for Business' truly full-spectrum service. 

With the employee experience being so important to the Brainlabs team, it wanted to use food in the office, and at home, as a way to connect employees and help them retain their social bonds throughotu the pandemic.

In the office, communal lunches occur on different floors so people are encouraged to take time away from their desks to recharge and refresh. And since using Just Eat for Business, office manager Poppy Bryanton has noted a marked improvement on company culture and employee satisfaction. The ability to maintain budget requirements, while also providing a hybrid solution under one simple invoice has saved Bryanton a lot of time on admin. Additionally, having a dedicated account manager to help with suggestions as well as troubleshoot any queries that come up has generally made her day-to-day much easier. 

Food has the power to bring people together, it can be a catalyst for conversation and engagement and by working with Just Eat for Business, not only have Brainlabs been able to invest in the quality of service, local suppliers and favourite restaurant partners that they want to support, but are also giving back to their employees and investing in their own company culture.