Come to work for a 'pub lunch'

16 January 2009

Caterers will be offering more pub-style lunches and other high-street meals as businesses curtail a lot of outside entertainment, thanks to the ‘credit crunch’.

The trend started during the December festive season, said Graham Sims, group managing director at Eurest Services, part of the Compass Group. Many organisations were having their Christmas meals in-house this year.

Sims, who was speaking to FM World, also predicted a shift to a later lunch time, 1:30 to 2PM, especially for single people, as they consumer what will become their main meal of the day. This would save money by not cooking a large meal at home in the evening.

The result means more pressure on catering firms to provide reasonably priced meals with good service, improving quality and fresher food, all a time of financial pressure.

"Companies recognize that their staff are facing increased pressure right now, be it financial, personal or business," said Sims. ìThey truly want to look after them and improving catering is one of these ways."

Sims was speaking after the recent publication of their bi-annual eating at work report. Britain is more than ever a nation of ìdesk dinersî, according to the report, where the average lunch break away from the desk is 29 minutes.

The report noted that 63 per cent of workers are eating more fresh and less processed food than they did a year ago. Also, what they are eating is becoming more or a concern, said Sims, a confessed desk-diner. Half of men and 65 per cent of women – especially if they are under 55 years of age - are now reading product labels more carefully than they did a year ago.

The coming year will be tough for caters to maintain services in face of increasing quality and price pressures from clients and rising food costs. Larger caters have buying power on their side to keep their costs down. But medium to small firms may struggle, he explained. "I predict there will be bit of rationalisation in the coming year."

This is also a time when FMs should do their due diligence on prospective suppliers to ensure that they will be around in six months, he said. There’s been a move towards clients looking to wrap up their catering with more than one FM service rather than outsource specifically. This has tended to favour larger suppliers who can offer such services as cleaning, security and reception along with their catering.

The full Eurest Services survey is available for a free download on their website.