Fuel profits with food & experience

Imagine buying a Ferrari, or any other expensive car for that matter, building an exquisite garage and then filling it up with the cheapest, most horrible petrol... stupid right?

Yet that is what organisations continue to do. The people that work for them, their prized and treasured assets, are their Ferrari, the garage is their new agile and fully integrated workplace and the cheap nasty fuel is the food served from canteens, vending machines and coffee shops in these buildings.

 The future of work, space optimization, workplace of the future and so on. FM service delivery companies have been pushing these buttons hard for a number of years now and to their credit, and with a little nudge from WeWork, they have transformed workplace environments to the extent that many feel positively unrecognizable to those that I corporately grew up working in.

 The challenge that these organizations face, even now, is actually then translating this into a more positive experience for the occupants. Whether you use Leesman or any number of other softer metric measurements the things that used to let 'experience' down continue to let it down.

One of them is service and one of them is food. Why?

 There are a number of consumer trends that are directly influencing consumers view of workplace. After all, a retail experience, a restaurant experience, a food delivery experience, an uber drive experience, a hotel experience, an adventure experience all have one thing in common.

 The consumer no longer believes that it’s O.K for their workplace food to be crap because it's at work. They no longer feel that the workplace is somehow detached from the rest of their life. A deeper look helps us understand why

A New Normal

What makes for good food, what characterizes a great experience? A look to the casual dining market gives us some clues.

 Less than 5 years ago the top attributes for a good evening out with friends were 'Good quality food', 'healthy options' & 'variety from special menu items'...... how things change. These are all now seen as a minimum standard, essential for a good night out. To make it great you need 'Live Music' or 'A new venue or environment'... the boom in food halls, similar popups (I hate that word) and other disruptive (I hate that word too) food offers is testament to this.

 So surely, the fancy new open designed, light flowing in cafeteria space is the answer? Wrong! The food on the plate is not even the answer. To win with workplace food you need to deliver value beyond the plate. Employees expect an experience, they expect theatre, they expect positive disruption to their normal experience and they expect their employer to care, to care what they eat, to help them choose well to understand them, their lifestyles and their preferences.

Different DNA

If you are reading this and you are a facilities manager or an engineer by trade then apart from wondering what I am talking about you are probably also indifferent and unmoved by these thoughts. Moreover, that is ok. You were wired that way. You fix stuff. It breaks and you fix it. You are happy when it is quiet. You like it when you can 'walk the floor' and no one says anything to you and you do not spot a carpet stain or a scratch on the elevator door. Actually, you are happy when you are so busy fixing stuff you do not have time to do a floor walk!

I am exaggerating to make the point, but not by as much as you may think.

 What does it matter? As long as the restaurant ovens works and the lighting is good and that leak in the corner that happens sometimes has a bucket under it then we're all good right? No!

 The occupants, the people who call this building their 2nd place are used to shopping experiences, hotel experiences, inflight experiences, restaurants experiences and digital experiences delivered by people with different DNA. Hospitality folks, people who can cope with things not working properly as long as everyone is smiling, those who actively seek and anticipate needs. It doesn't make them better people (they'd struggle to change a car tyre) they're just different and it's these people you need to deliver an experience

 Convergence, Convenience, Community & Contribution

The four C's are directly influencing your client employee’s views of workplace experience. If you understand what this is and why then you are already ahead of most of your peers. This is passing people by and it’s directly impacting staff absence through sickness and turnover rates and it's costing billions of dollars each year.

This isn't a western problem, an eastern problem, a sector problem or a workplace problem - it's a societal challenge and its Gen Y and Gen Z and it’s not tomorrow - it's today.

 Convergence. There is a meeting in the middle and not in a good way. Everything is becoming somewhat just OK. Every single food sector has seen premiumization the consequences of which are that nothing is feeling amazing in the workplace everything is just OK which in terms of workplace experience is not good enough.

 Take a gourmet burger. No longer are these the fancy pants gourmet joints. Man! I can order a gourmet burger from all manner of bars and hang outs. Or how about a latte. A bucket of it from Starbucks, a hand crafted with a swan in the foam or something dumped from a vending machine. It is all OK; it is all a latte right?

Employees expect more, more innovation more experience

 Convenience. Go to any tower block, in any city at lunchtime and Deliveroo and UberEats drivers frantically trying to figure out who was desperate enough to want the soggy pile of brown bag in their hands before they get a parking ticket have replaced the 1980s smokers.

This is NOT a lifestyle choice. People do not actually want to eat soggy lukewarm food. However, they want choice and they want it when they want it and they want to order it from their phone. No prizes for figuring out the answer on this one, but you will be amazed at how little has been done on this. Research shows that mobile ordering and collection of the delivery actually reduces productivity and time at desk by MORE than leaving the premises. Makes you think.... or it should.

 Community. Smallish word, massive implications. From flexitarians, conscious consumerism, healthy eating, mental health awareness our younger employees don't just pay this lip service, they really do give a crap. Away from the office that translates into more random acts of kindness, more interaction with brands, more volunteering, more vegetarians and vegans, more recycling. The difference in the workplace is that they expect their employer to not only support these choices but also lead and make them effortlessly part of the corporate culture. Inclusivity and diversity does not make sure the annual report has the right representation of race and gender in the photos. The expectation now is events, engagements and social clubs that encourage and facilitate a celebration of diversity. Even to the point of including those that don't want to be included - that is true inclusive culture.

 Contribution. Don't just tell me what's going on, actually even to ask me what I think isn't enough anymore. I want to be included in corporate choices; I want to be asked what i feel, not what I think. I want my contribution to be useful, impactful and recognized.

 This does not mean a committee to decide which food provider to use but it does mean that being included in the experiment, not the result of it. It means discourse it means learning sessions it means immersive experiences. It means sharing ideas and contributing to big plans and projects.

What now?

Food, service and experience have a massive role to play in improving productivity, reducing absence and reducing turnover rates. Here's five things to start off with

1. Stop trying to turn FM trained people into hospitality people. They hate it and they're rubbish at it.
2. Make sure you're part of the food program development with your client. It needs to be long term, aligned to corporate values and fully supported
3. Stop thinking that by designing beautiful spaces and optimizing the space that wasn't used well before that you've done the job - you haven't
4. Invest. Whatever your client chooses to invest in a strong food led experience program they will make ROI within 12 months. This is NOT a cost. It's a wise investment.
5. Figure out your measure and stick to it. Occupancy satisfaction maybe, Leesman possibly, ideally absence, productivity & turnover rates.

Email me at [email protected] to find out more about how we support all this happening. Globally.

Thanks to Michael Gividen of Torch B2B for inspiration and collaboration