Welcome to the world of contract catering in London: where employees require the proper food to fuel their best work. At Fooditude, we have the privilege of catering for ambitious tech companies. Though we can’t always name names, we are proud to be feeding some of the most innovative teams in the world.
This article delves into the ins and outs of Fooditude's delivered corporate catering for tech companies. We'll cover why an exceptional level of service is needed, why a flexible catering model is required in a hybrid office space and how food creates a culture of camaraderie. So without further ado…
What is Different About Corporate Catering for Tech Companies?
Menu Planning
Regularly updating and diversifying our menus takes the fuss out of team lunch orders by providing buffet-style, varied lunch choices with an extra eye for dietary requirements or preferences. All organised between our tech team and a designated catering manager.
Delivery
By taking away the stressful, mounting overheads of an on-site kitchen service, we deliver from our centralised kitchen to the office door. Ensuring fresh, timely meals that can be altered to fit hybrid workers on the fly.
Full Service
We take care of every angle. Effective shared food experiences boost your team in high-speed roles, but why stop at lunch? Alongside delivered-in catering services, we offer beautiful platters for corporate events, meetings, food pop-ups and party services.
Flexibility
The best part of working from a centralised, off-site kitchen is our ability to maintain agility and adaptability. This is integral for tech companies that employ large teams at varying levels of in-office and hybrid work models. Our virtue is that we are designed to cater for fluctuating headcounts day-to-day.
The Reason Why For Exceptional Office Food Services
If you’ve been in the market for a workplace foodservice, you’ve heard it all before. After all, which catering company wouldn’t say they’re leading the way for the best food and service? Case in point, Foodles claims that it offers “the smartest (and most delicious)” perk for your team. Whilst Genuine Dining says it has the “best people, serving the best food, having the most fun”.
We won’t dispute our competitors’ claims, they likely do a good job. However, we find the claims of ‘most delicious’ and ‘best food’ somewhat subjective. Because deliciousness is in the taste buds of the eater – some people don’t like marmite!
In our experience feeding workplaces since 2005, we know that our tech clients want something more than a contract caterer that claims to be the ‘best’. They need well-balanced and varied menus, good communication, food celebrations for important events in the year and quality that they can depend on.
So, at Fooditude, we focus on becoming partners that can be trusted to deliver exceptional food and service, every mealtime. Because we know what it’s all about: supporting employees to be at the top of their game, whilst supporting workplace managers to do their best work.
Catering for Hybrid Teams & Flexible Headcounts
As workplace dynamics evolve, catering services must adapt to hybrid and flexi-working habits. This is particularly important for the flexible working environments in tech companies, with no two days being the same. To do this, catering operations must prioritise:
- Smart Attendance Solutions: Using innovative systems to recognise and forecast upcoming challenges and solutions for predicted headcounts and attendance. These solutions even factor in transport delays and data trends that may uncover issues that are quicker to fix.
- Tailored Approach: Building relationships between the caterer and client is vital. Understanding the characteristics and quirks of a company helps caterers tailor bespoke menus, eating routines and solutions for the best experience.
- Account Management: To build this tailored approach, excellent account management is key. To fit the eb and flow of fast-paced tech companies, having a personal account manager in place allows open communication. Having this strong connection between client and caterer means issues can be resolved and last-minute changes handled swiftly.
Workplace Catering: It's About Supporting Success
How can tech companies support their employees to succeed? It’s quite literally a million-dollar question for tech companies. A good meal offering supports workplace wellness, team cohesion and engagement. Whilst foodservice isn’t the only answer to supporting employee success, it amplifies the support a company already provides to its teams.
So how does a food offering support an atmosphere of innovation within a fast-paced tech company? It’s about bringing it back to basics – taking teams away from their desks to the lunch table, to break bread together. Shared experiences are where the conversations flow and connections are made.
The phenomenon of social eating is widely accepted within our social lives: we go on dates at restaurants and eat together as families in our homes. Why should it be any different with our colleagues?
The Barriers
However, the power of food to make us feel more connected and energised is something that hasn’t been fully realised by companies that aspire to be innovative. The hard truth is often ignored: eating a Deliveroo takeaway or a supermarket ‘meal deal’ at a desk for 15 minutes during lunch is bad for the employee and bad for business.
If you’re a company that aspires to have a winning company culture: employees taking short lunch breaks, alone, with subpar food isn’t going to hack it. A more substantial foodservice is required to energise teams.
Our Solution
On the flip side, Fooditude has helped teams to walk away from rushed and antisocial lunches to make the most of mealtimes at the workplace.
Our buffets of cooked-from-scratch meals, accompanied by fresh salads and sides, never fail to create an environment where people stop to take a proper lunch break. At client canteens, we are always proud to witness happy and social mealtimes. Maybe it’s something to do with the ritual of eating at a table with proper tableware?
Or it could be that when caterers serve quality food, people will take time to enjoy it. Whatever the answer, making an event out of daily lunch service brings teams together to take a proper break, let their guard down and enjoy each other’s company.
With wellness and socialisation taking centre stage during your team’s day in the office; they have a better connected and energised experience. Fooditude isn’t just about what people taste during their lunch breaks, it’s equally about what it makes employees feel when they’re at the office.
Making Working With Us Easy As Pie
Throughout the whole process of feeding workplaces, we ensure that it’s easy for our clients to work with us. We have dedicated managers focused on customer experience and ensuring clear communication with the client lead.
There’s no need to place orders, from food to snacks to drinks, because we can take care of it all. We put everything in one monthly invoice, making it easier for you to manage. And for special menus, from Thai New Year to Halloween, we will help promote them across your internal channels.
With less hands-on work for the client, they return the time to focus on other areas of their work. We’ve designed our operations to make our client’s lives simpler (and tastier).
Shared Goals For A Sustainable Future
We find with our tech clients, they genuinely care about their impact on the planet and local communities. The Fooditude Team goes the extra mile to tackle the negative environmental impact of every meal served. With employees now more aware than ever about the urgency to tackle climate change, it makes sense that their lunches should be made with people and the planet in mind.
So, when it comes to implementing sustainable action, Fooditude can talk the talk. But can it walk the walk? Here are three of the main characteristics that make us a more sustainable caterer:
- We are committed to reaching ‘Net Zero’ by 2040
- We’ve got accreditations that you can trust: Fooditude is certified by the Planet Mark. And, we’ve also achieved a 3 star Food Made Good rating by the Sustainable Restaurant Association (that’s their top rating!).
- Our menus are packed with good ideas and fresh ingredients. Our chefs source surplus ‘rescued’ fruit and veg from Angry Monk and we favour local and seasonal ingredients in our food. Plus, 80% of options on the menu are vegetarian or vegan.
We could talk until the cows come home about the actions we’re taking to make Fooditude into a more responsible business. Check out our sustainability page to learn more about our sustainability journey.
Taking Mealtimes To The Next Level
Fooditude is proud to feed hundreds of tech workers across London businesses. We are there to make working days more exciting with our wide range of catering services. For the most part, we provide our clients with delicious cooked-from-scratch buffets, like in this week’s menu here.
But we’re also there for our clients whenever they want to spice things up with a special occasion with a food pop-up or a party. On top of that, we also serve oh-so-tempting platters for corporate meetings. And we can also take over snack and drink pantry services.
This brings us on to our final point; tech companies in London choose Fooditude because we take care of all their needs: from sorting staffing to consulting on food programmes, to celebrating special occasions throughout the year.
For example, many of the tech companies we work with have a large cohort of American employees, so we help to make them feel more at home by serving a special Thanksgiving menu every year (with all the trimmings).
It’s A Wrap!
Fooditude is a 360° catering service, meaning that we take care of the whole process for our clients. Because it’s our job to take sustainable action and focus on employee wellness. We are here to make our clients jobs easier with a vibrant and energising foodservice.
Tech companies operate in a fast-paced and competitive industry. In the blink of an eye, the market can change. That’s why tech workplaces need to ensure that teams are on top of their game.
As a contract caterer, we see our role beyond simply feeding people. So we are helping tech companies reach peak performance by ensuring their employees eat well and socialise well at work. Because when teams feel happy, included and nourished: they are all set to make amazing things happen.
See how Fooditude can transform your office canteen
Discover how Fooditude can feed your workplace with fresh, fun and vibrant menus.
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