Corporate catering at a time of innovation
September 20 2022
Like companies, the foodservice industry must innovate to continue to appeal to employees and meet new expectations.
The health crisis, telecommuting, new eating habits or inflation, all of these changes threaten foodservice. To continue to appeal to employees and companies, it is vital to reinvent itself.
Number one in management solutions for catering, Adoria explains the new trends in this 2022 back-to-school season.
The challenges of corporate catering
Inflation, rising costs, shortages or even a health crisis, collective catering is more than ever under threat. To continue to exist, it must reinvent itself. At a time when telecommuting is depriving this type of catering of about 30 th customers, the challenge is to satisfy employees by responding to their desires as well as their needs. New technologies also have their role to play in helping to attract customers.
Meeting the needs of the younger generation
This is a major challenge, and the catering industry cannot ignore the arrival of young people on the job market. Their needs must be met, which means being able to eat at any time and anywhere. Traditional catering with hearty meals as in the past no longer appeals.
Today, the trend is towards healthy, organic and eco-responsible products. Innovation starts with what's on the plate. Corporate catering must above all be qualitative.
To seduce the new generation, several factors must be taken into account:
- A constantly evolving offer;
- Healthy products;
- Online or smartphone payment;
- More flexible hours;
- The speed of the services offered.
Diversification, an alternative for more security
The canteen-type dining room no longer suits employees. The change also involves the venue, which needs to be well decorated, comfortable and conducive to relaxation. To attract guests, concepts are flourishing. Food trucks, sandwich bars, salad bars and themed food kiosks are all the rage. The trend is for collective catering that is more fun and attractive than the old-fashioned canteen. For this, we do not hesitate to take up codes of commercial catering.
Personalized offers to satisfy companies
The new generation of workers wants to have a personalized collective catering. Online payment, home delivery or directly in the company (or even at the workstation) are interesting solutions to satisfy the new requirements.
Snacking and fast food are on the rise thanks to the speed of preparation and delivery; however, for young consumers, this should not be at the expense of the quality of the dishes.
Since the pandemic, the personalization of offers in corporate catering makes it possible to stand out from the crowd and build customer loyalty. The use of apps is a good solution to propose offers based on employee loyalty and tastes.
A multi-service corporate catering
To attract more employees at any time of the day, corporate catering is diversifying by offering several services: dishes, snacks, pastries, coffees, and even groceries and basic shopping.
All-in-one proves interesting since it will attract more employees to your restaurant.
Technological developments at the service of corporate catering
Online ordering, delivery, customer loyalty through an app, new technologies are also revolutionizing corporate catering.
To satisfy your employees, you can also set up a standalone connected fridge for a fresh and quality product offer, 24H/24 and at a lower cost.
The actors of the collective company catering are trying to reinvent themselves since the pandemic. Between new concepts, flexibility and speed, innovations are flourishing to meet the current challenges.
