Work and Office Dining Trends Ready-2-Eat Take-Away Take-Out

Apple, Microsoft, Boeing, and JC Penny’s corporate office have long established corporate dining rooms and cafeterias.  Even today visitors gush at the quality visceral display and meal options employees can avail themselves of. Today more and more those options include meals and meal components targeted for home consumption.

Employees working late, or simply working long hours on a project are more and more stopping on their way out of the office by either the corporate dining room or cafeteria and picking up a meal to take home and feed the family with.  Here are a few trends from 2014 Trendcorporate that they will be seeing:

Allergy sensitivities: Gluten-free offerings were hot in 2013, and will continue to be popular.  Although few people are actually allergic to gluten, many people perceive gluten-free choices as healthy.  Non-wheat options, such as rice bowls, quinoa, and buckwheat are popular, because choosing gluten-free does not necessarily mean avoiding carbs.

Vegan and Vegetarian Choices: More consumers are looking for meatless options, at least some of the time.  With the popularity of “Meatless Mondays,” flexitarians and others looking to make healthy choices will seek out these options.

Fresh and local: Locally-grown produce and local sourcing of meat continue to be important to employees.  As vegetables take center stage in a variety of meals, the variety and quality of vegetables become more important.

Healthy Eating Backlash:  Not everyone is looking to make healthy choices, so full fat options will remain popular.  To makes those indulgences worthwhile, some employees will be looking for real cheese, fresh breads, and other “real” ingredients.

New flavors: Trend experts suggest that diners will continue to be interested in ethnic and street foods, particularly in sauces and dips.   Pickled and sour foods, such as Kim chi and other pickled vegetables, are expected to become more popular in the workplace.

Foodservice Solutions® specializes the Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat Fresh Prepared Food niche aka the Grocerant niche.  www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a brand leveraging integration strategy