Food lies at the heart of everything we do, from milestone events like weddings to cozy movie nights with your best friend. So wouldn’t it be nice to work at a company that values food and togetherness as much as you do?

Well, companies like that do exist. NorthPoint Development, a Kansas City-based commercial real estate operating company, is one example of a people-focused business that provides employees with free daily lunches. 

“At NorthPoint Development, they just put our people first. Everyone is a big family here,” explains Melissa Allinder, Office Operations Manager. “Our culture has changed drastically because lunch is an easy thing for us to gather for. Food is core.”

But to ensure that food remains a core part of the company, NorthPoint needed a simple, cost-effective solution to provide personalized lunches for its hundreds of employees. That’s where Relish by ezCater comes in. 

The challenge of ordering lunch for 300+

Planning a family dinner and accommodating 10-20 people’s dietary needs is stressful enough. Now imagine organizing daily lunches for over 300 people. It becomes a full-time job, with the responsibility of contacting multiple vendors and keeping track of employees’ requests. 

And that’s what the team at NorthPoint was dealing with. 

“When I used to order food in the past, I’d have to call the catering company, figure out how much food we need, how many people we have, and decide, how much would be enough,” says Philecia Hoeppner, NorthPoint’s office coordinator. “I’d be calling days ahead to make sure there was going to be enough food, and when they’d arrive, I’d have to help them set up if they didn’t have enough people.”

Many of the vendors NorthPoint used were not always equipped to deal with such large, frequent catering orders. Nor could they offer personalized options. 

“Once we moved into this new office and kept growing, our number of vendors who could come here and cater diminished,” explains Allinder. “We were limited to catering options, and it started to become stagnant. It really provided a struggle for us to find caterers that could handle 250-300 people on a Monday or a Tuesday.” 

Employees quickly became tired of eating the same few meals every week and asked for more variety. As front desk coordinator Harrisen Bush recalls, this was an urgent need for people with dietary needs.

“We had lots of employees express [that they] literally cannot eat the lunches provided because of x, y, z. That really was a pain point of ordering the big catering.”

Besides the lack of variety and personalization, the paperwork was a nightmare. Allinder and her team had a pile of 50-60 receipts that they had to reconcile each month — in addition to their other daily responsibilities. The lack of a proper invoicing process combined with the limited meal options meant it was time for NorthPoint to look for other options. 

Making the switch to Relish by ezCater

NorthPoint had previously discovered ezCater when searching for vendors, and they regularly used ezCater’s built-in lists of nearby restaurants willing to cater such large gatherings. It helped dramatically cut down the time spent calling and confirming orders with vendors.

 

However, there was still one challenge: It was still hard to order the right amount of food. NorthPoint was ordering family-style meals, meaning they had to figure out how many people would be in the office that day and organize complete orders for hundreds of people. With Relish, all those logistical issues disappeared. 

“When we found out that ezCater had Relish as an option, we were like, well, obviously, this is so much easier,” says Harissen. “It allows the employees to pick what they want.”

As Allinder puts it, “It’s no longer a team of two people deciding what we’re going to have for lunch every week. Everybody gets to choose their own meal. It’s their decision.”

A corporate cafeteria alternative  

Post-COVID, there’s been a noticeable decline in the number of companies who choose to operate their own in-house cafeterias, and NorthPoint is one of them. 

“When we moved into our new building, we looked into remodeling the existing cafeteria, but due to cost and overhead, it seemed more logical to continue on the path we were going. Finding Relish by ezCater saved us from having to renovate the space, hire staff, handle state licensing and more. 

“There are so many things that go along with having a cafeteria. If your oven breaks down or your water isn’t working, you don’t have lunch to serve your employees. And there’s so much food waste with it too. Our food waste has gone down tremendously with Relish.”

Seeing benefits across the board

The benefits of switching to Relish go far beyond providing customizable food options and saving on a kitchen remodel. Here are just a few examples of how NorthPoint was able to benefit.

Money savings and waste reduction

Ordering personalized meals for employees at NorthPoint headquarters — and its satellite locations — seems like a costly endeavor, right? Wrong. 

With Relish, NorthPoint has been able to cut back its monthly lunch expenses by about 35%. And those savings don’t come from ordering simpler or cheaper food. On the contrary, NorthPoint employees are now able to personalize their orders and get exactly what they want every day — without wasting leftovers or using large amounts of pans, trays, aluminum containers, and place settings.

“Relish has eased that [concern] because we don’t have to worry about the portion size,” says Allinder. “We’re saving money and saving food costs because we’re not having to order as much.”

Hiring incentives

How many businesses can say that they offer catered meals — not once in a while, but every single day? Not many. That’s why NorthPoint’s daily lunches via Relish have been a huge draw when hiring new employees. 

“When I was first looking at NorthPoint, the fact that they had free lunch was a huge selling point for me,” explains Bush. “I was like, heck ya. Free lunch? I’ll take it!” 

Bush is just one of many employees that have chosen a career with NorthPoint because of the many perks. As Allinder puts it, it’s a “jaw-dropper” for job candidates. 

Customer support

Organizing office lunches can be a logistical headache, especially when dealing with multiple vendors. Office managers have no team to help them address delivery hiccups or last-minute changes, and everything falls on their shoulders. 

But not with Relish. 

“Relish is a lifesaver for a multitude of seasons, but one reason is that we have a support team behind us,” said Allinder. “If we ever do have an issue or a problem, they’re there with a quick response, and they get the job done.”

Time-saving solutions

Complex tasks like organizing catered events take time — time that could be better spent on more urgent tasks. However, Relish uses an app-based platform that simplifies the entire process and saves everyone time. Hoeppner understands this well. 

“Since switching to Relish, [from] calling, setting up the food, to them arriving…I bet I’m saving 4-5 hours a week.” 

Allinder is also saving time with the financial side of things. Instead of sorting through those 50+ receipts each month, she just uses the biweekly invoice from Relish to track and record company spending.

Simplicity and personalization

Relish has simplified personalized lunches for NorthPoint. Everyone is responsible for going on the app, selecting what food they want, and noting any specialized requests. It’s that simple. And because everything is accessible on each employee’s phone, they can easily cancel their daily order if they can’t make it into the office for whatever reason. 

“Knowing that I have an option for lunch every day makes it easier for me to be here,” says Bush. “It takes one thing off my plate in the morning. I don’t have to get [food] ready. I don’t have to spend the extra money on groceries.” 

Make company-wide catering simple with ezCater

“Relish is amazing,” Allinder says. “It’s a time saver for all. With Relish, anytime we may have an issue that may arise, they’re on it. Super fast, super responsive, efficient, and just amazing. You guys have saved our lives.” 

ezCater can also become a lifesaver for your company. Whether you want to choose from the over 100,000 available vendors or order personalized lunch options through Relish, ezCater can help. See for yourself how ezCater simplifies office meals and offers corporate solutions.