An office move isn’t just a change of address — it’s an opportunity to enhance your team’s dining experience. If your previous setup included a costly cafeteria or limited nearby restaurant options, now is the perfect time to explore fresh, flexible solutions for how your team eats at work.
After all, the only thing shifting faster than workplace food costs is employee preferences. Today’s workers want convenience, variety, and meals that fit their needs, without added hassle.
That makes your office move the perfect chance to upgrade employee meals, too. Explore flexible, high-quality business catering solutions that match the way your team works (and eats).
New office, new food choices
More than a change of scenery, an office move is an opportunity to revamp how your team eats. Many workplaces struggle with expensive, underused cafeterias, limited restaurant options, or a lack of dedicated space for team meals. Sticking with the same approach can leave your employees frustrated and disengaged.
Modern business catering solutions solve these challenges by delivering meals employees actually want to eat, while creating moments that bring them together. Options like employee meal programs and catered team lunches make food more accessible and enjoyable, giving teams the flexibility to connect, collaborate, and chow down.
By rethinking meals alongside your office move, you can build a workplace where food fuels more than just productivity — it strengthens culture and brings teams together effortlessly.
Workplace food needs (and costs) are changing
Though in-house cafeterias were once a workplace staple, rising costs and changing work patterns have many questioning if they’re still worth the investment. An office move is the perfect moment to rethink whether a cafeteria still fits your team’s needs — and budget. So, is the golden era of the cafeteria beginning to tarnish?
The numbers say it all: 80% of cafeteria decision-makers report cafeterias take up over 5,000 square feet, and 40% spend over $1 million annually on operations. More than half believe they’re too costly to maintain, making traditional cafeterias a growing liability in today’s economy.
Hybrid work has only amplified these challenges. Over a third of companies now operate on hybrid schedules, and 90% of employees are on-site just a few days per week. With unpredictable attendance, half of decision-makers report excessive food waste, while 61% struggle to justify the cost of cafeteria operations.
Modern business catering solutions, such as recurring meal plans like Relish by ezCater, offer a smarter investment. For instance, a 100-person office using a $15 per meal stipend with Relish costs $360,000 per year, far less than the $650,000 average outdated cafeteria expense.
Employee food preferences are also shifting
Even as workplace food needs evolve, free meals remain a powerful perk. They don’t just feed employees, they bring people together. According to ezCater’s Food for Work Report, 81% of hybrid workers say food motivates them to come to the office, and 71% would even adjust their schedule for a free meal.
But cafeterias are no longer the go-to solution: 70% of employees prefer meals from local restaurants over cafeteria food, and 37% want healthier options. That likely explains why 53% want restaurant deliveries at work — variety and quality matter more than ever.
For companies planning an office move, this shift is an opportunity to upgrade workplace meals with business catering solutions that engage today’s workforce. Here’s how to do just that.
Align your office move with the right meal program
The right workplace food solution should balance variety and cost while keeping employees fueled and satisfied. Consider these three tips to align your office move with the right meal program.
Consider dietary needs:
Food isn’t one-size-fits-all. One in 10 adults has a food allergy, while others follow gluten-free, vegetarian, or religious dietary restrictions. Offering diverse meal options ensures everyone can enjoy what’s on the menu.
A flexible business catering platform that allows employees to select their own meals through features like group ordering makes it easy to accommodate different dietary restrictions without extra hassle.
Think about hybrid work schedules:
With attendance fluctuating throughout the week, rigid meal programs can lead to waste and unnecessary costs. Offices with hybrid teams benefit from business catering solutions that scale up or down based on demand.
Recurring meal programs like Relish by ezCater keep food costs predictable while ensuring employees always have access to fresh, high-quality meals.
Set a realistic budget:
Before committing to a meal program, compare cafeteria expenses with alternatives like meal stipends, catering, or group orders. Many companies find that a more flexible approach reduces overhead post-office move while still keeping employees fed.
Factoring in employee preferences also boosts engagement with the meal program, making your investment go further. Breaking down the cost savings and setting a realistic budget can help secure leadership buy-in and demonstrate the long-term benefits of a new workplace food solution.
Beyond the cafeteria: smarter meal solutions
Aligning your meal program with your team’s needs means exploring versatile, cost-effective workplace food solutions. Recurring employee meal plans like Relish by ezCater offer predictable costs and easy customization — ideal for hybrid teams that require convenience without the overhead of a full cafeteria.
Take NorthPoint Development, for example. After an office move, the Kansas City-based company replaced its cafeteria with Relish, saving 35% on lunch costs while feeding 300+ employees daily. Instead of family-style trays and wasted leftovers, employees now pick their own individually packaged meals. The result? Less waste, lower costs, and happier teams.
Other workplace food solutions include marketplace ordering, where an admin places one order, but employees pick their own meals, and concierge catering, a full-service option for larger teams or special events. With the right business catering solutions, you can ditch cafeteria inefficiencies as part of your office move.
Make meals part of your office upgrade
Why not make mealtime as efficient as the rest of your office move? A new office is the perfect time to rethink employee meals. So, say goodbye to your old office (and cafeteria) and hello to a new era of cost-effective, customer-approved business catering with ezCater.
Explore our corporate solutions today to get started.
