Working Lunch

Corporate foodservice builds healthful choices, ethnic flavors and efficient service as competitive advantages.

This article first appeared in the 15 October 2006 issue of Restaurants & Institutions (R&I).

R&I is the USA's leading source of food and business-trend information and exclusive research on operators and restaurant patrons. Editorial coverage spans the entire foodservice industry, including chains, independent restaurants, hotels and institutions. To find out more about R&I,visit its website here >>

By Kate Leahy, Associate Editor

On any given work day, employees at Calamos Investments ponder a lunch menu ranging from heart-healthy soups to salads, sandwiches and made-to-order pizzas baked in the pizza oven at the investment firm's Naperville, Ill., cafeteria.

While that scene isn't wholly unusual for a corporate dining facility, two things make Calamos' employee experience different. For starters, their foodservice is run by Chicago-based Phil Stefani Signature Restaurants, a Chicago multiconcept operator better known for its independent restaurants than its in-house operations.

What's more, lunch is on the house at Calamos Investments.

"The payback is in networking and in attracting talent," explains Nancy Ross, Calamos' director of facilities. The perk also results in the majority of its 380-person staff staying on premise for lunch.

Yet this literal free lunch, a significant soft cost that the company already has plugged into its 2007 budget, is an anomaly in the landscape of corporate dining as the number of companies willing to subsidize employee meals dwindles. Meanwhile, competition from quick-service, fast-casual, and casual-dining restaurants as well as supermarkets with quality prepared foods ups the competitive ante for lunch-rush dollars.

"The lack of subsidies has brought some people to consider eating outside as an option. But what's really changed is the quality of options. What's changed is the education of the consumer. People are much more savvy about good food. They're that much more sophisticated," says Gary Crompton, executive vice president of Philadelphia-based Aramark's business services division.

Faced with this challenging corporate-dining climate, several operators are going to great lengths to offer increased menu innovation-especially in the realms of ethnic foods and authenticity and efficiency in service and technology.

Points for Authenticity

Ethnic foods, which have loomed large on college campuses, also have become more in demand in corporate foodservice. But critical to its success is authenticity: Chow mein doesn't cut it.

"If you're going to do Vietnamese, it has to be strictly Vietnamese. If you're going to do Latin American, you do Cuban, you do Colombian," says Christian Fischer, corporate executive chef for Lackmann Culinary Services in Woodbury, N.Y.

Not only do ingredients have to be spot on, presentation must be seamless. After Fischer brought in trained Japanese chefs to man sushi stations at select Lackmann corporate accounts, sales increased significantly. Diners perceived sushi made by Japanese chefs as more authentic.

Demand for Indian and South East Asian foods is escalating, spurred by a combination of shifting demographics as well as a growing number of diners with adventuresome palates. By responding more quickly to trends than can chain restaurants, corporate foodservice is using menu innovation as a competitive edge.

At Charlotte, N.C.-based Compass Group, The Americas Division, which posted a 14% growth in its B&I segment for the first half of 2006, in-house brands evolved from client demand that couldn't be met by national chains.

In developing Dosa Delhi, a proprietary fast-casual Indian concept, Compass brought on Indian culinary instructor Sukhi Singh for recipe development to ensure menus, from ingredients to finished dishes, were authentic. The crÁªpe-like dosas served at the operation lend themselves well to the evolving American palate.

"It's hand-held, vegetarian, and it has a high flavor profile," says Susan Weller, Compass director of retail support. The result is a concept that has shown success in college dining as well as at high-tech companies with a young and ethnically diverse employee base. It also is a cuisine not readily available at restaurants.

Sodexho also is looking carefully at Indian flavors. The Gaithersburg, Md.-based contractor collaborated with Chef-restaurateur Suvir Saran for Festival of Lights, a fall promotion where Indian menus coincide with Saran's visits to sign his new book, "Indian Home Cooking" (Clarkson Potter, 2004).

"Indian food is right at the edge of becoming much bigger here in the United States," says Bill Mitchell, senior director of national program development for Sodexho corporate services. "We really want to be responsive to trends."

As seen with Festival of Lights, bringing outside chefs into corporate dining is one way to retain an edge over nearby restaurants. Palo Alto, Calif.-based Bon Appétit Management Co. has been bringing regionally or nationally recognized guest chefs into select dining facilities for four years. The effect is one that shows clients a dedication to quality and innovation, and also enables the foodservice staff to build culinary skills. Executive Chef Joe McGarry, who oversees 24 Bon Appétit corporate cafes, says the guest chef series has helped him and staff hone their culinary talents. "It makes our chefs better," he says.

Healthy Helpings

But there's more to corporate dining than the need for innovative menus. With healthy eating an ongoing concern, operators hoping for multiple visits need to provide nutrition information as well as healthy options. In this case, information could provide the power to lure business from employees who are concerned with diet and health.

"The biggest single trend is in healthful eating," Aramark's Crompton says. "It brings loyalty and participation." At Aramark, kiosks and online menus supply dietary information, as well as marketable slogans such as "10 under 10," which represents 10 items with less than 10 grams of fat per serving. Crompton also notes that items immediately recognized as healthy, such as grilled fish and fresh vegetables, are essential.

And health is a strong selling point. "When we feed your employees healthy food, they're going to be more productive," says Rob Resnick, executive chef for Redwood City, Calif.-based software company Oracle Corp., a Bon Appétit account. "The client is very satisfied that we're moving in this direction."

Resnick also hopes to extend his influence from what employees eat at work to what they buy to take home. By working with local farmers who participate in Bon Appétit's Eat Local Challenge-promoting locally sourced foods-he has organized a farmers market on the Oracle campus to bring area produce to employees.

Quality products go into providing healthy options, and more foodservice contractors are responding to the growing market for organic produce. In straight profit-and-loss environments, organics may have an edge as they allow operators to charge more per item. "People are more inclined to spend money for higher-quality goods," McGarry says. Client education remains critical, and companies such as Bon Appétit and Lackmann tout local and organic ingredients on menus and signage.

"I think [organic] will become a necessity," Fischer says, but he notes that implementing such offerings has been easier at colleges than with B&I clients.

While competition remains tough in the B&I segment, there is a silver lining. As corporate dining gets to be more sophisticated, clients such as Calamos Investments are seeing the benefits of providing foodservice, using a free lunch carrot to lure and retain talent. On the foodservice end, it means going after companies receptive to the benefits of an on-premise foodservice operation. It also means acting more like a self-operating program that truly understands a client's culture and culinary needs.

"I don't look at it as the cafeteria business anymore," Fischer says. "I go in feeling like I'm part of their family."

Convenience Truths

High-quality food is a necessary selling point, but tech-savvy convenience, seen with delivery, cashless sales and flexible hours, remains king in gaining more "stomach share."

• All hours: Clients with a larger number of employees eating around the clock need access to food in nonpeak hours. "With a carefully scripted selection of grab-and-go items, you can cover all your bases," says Dave Hoemann, vice president of marketing and creative services for Compass Group. This includes microwavable items, ready-made sandwiches and salads, and yogurt parfaits.
• Catered care: Taking a stab at the home-meal-replacement market, Sodexho is rolling out catering programs designed for employees to take home for after-work entertaining. The company is especially focused on providing holiday side dishes, desserts and breakfast items at competitive prices.
• Go cashless: At Sodexho, cashless purchases often lead to higher check averages. And the company has seen cashless purchases increase upwards of 30%. Bon Appétit also is rolling out a new debit card account that can be managed online.
• And if you can't beat them, join them: Aramark purchased Seamless Web, an online delivery-services company that allows more than 1,000 business clients to order delivered meals from restaurants in the New York region.