How the value of corporate catering is changing

It is another aspect of welfare that has seen its intrinsic and non intrinsic value grow in recent times. Corporate catering has become a key factor for companies that want to increase employee satisfaction and engagement. An operation that goes beyond the intrinsic value of the essential service provided but touches on the wellbeing of workers because offering them a healthy, balanced lunch break in line with their needs improves the quality of life in the company across the board. These are some of the aspects touched upon during the work "Feeding well-being. The value of company catering' which took place in the Cirfood district with the aim of bringing out all aspects of this welfare factor in a changing world.

Also presented was the Ipsos research for the Cirfood district Observatory "Lunch break: habits and needs of people at work", which investigated trends and needs during the lunch break. It emerges a worrying lack of time that affects one worker out of two and has an impact on stress levels with repercussions on wellbeing and health. Eating lunch at the workplace can become a strategic lever to improve well-being, says 76% of people according to whom company catering represents a concrete tool for well-being, quality of life and socialisation. At the same time, the survey reveals that 58% of those who work and do not have a company canteen would like to see the introduction of the service, a figure that increases to 67% among those under 35, because of the benefits it brings in terms of practicality and convenience (71%), taste, quality and respect for a balanced diet (48%). "In recent years, corporate catering has seen an important development, the result of people's renewed attention towards healthy nutrition and, at the same time, towards welfare services that know how to hold together wellbeing, socialisation, work-life balance and sustainability - comments Alessio Bordone, Group chief sales officer Cirfood -. Every day Cirfood serves more than 100 thousand employees and, from our observatory, it is clear that it is increasingly crucial to design customised services that are able to improve the well-being and satisfaction of different types of users, bringing to the company restaurants, which we manage every day, a concept of evolved catering, which integrates quality, safety, consultancy services and digital solutions, necessary to guarantee an experience that is able to meet the needs of those who live in the companies'.

"The quality of the workplace, in the beautiful factory, is a fundamental productive and competitive factor. The company, in fact, is a community of people who find themselves in a system of shared values and interests. And so the issues of environmental and social sustainability, safety, inclusion, luminosity and, in general, wellbeing and welfare are essential cornerstones of a corporate culture that positively characterises made in Italy and is a fundamental factor for growth and development," emphasises Antonio Calabrò, chairman of Museimpresa and Fondazione Assolombarda.

The Ipsos research reveals the behaviour and habits of workers: a strong focus on health and wellbeing (62%), i.e. a preference for light, healthy meals, for sustainability and ethics (67%), preferring local products that respect animal wellbeing and the environment, for taste and the culinary experience (58%), for economy and practicality (49%) and that recall tradition and Italian-made products (46%). From the point of view of trends in food tastes, the research also reveals preferences for ethnic cuisine (62%), poke (48%) and healthy proposals. The research also shows how the factors: cost of the meal (90%), naturalness of ingredients (89%), healthier and more balanced diet (86%), time-saving (86%) and sociability at mealtimes (69%) drive the needs during the lunch break. "Nourishing the future is Cirfood's vision, our way of doing business, it means nourishing the well-being of the hundreds of thousands of people who sit at our tables every day," says Chiara Nasi, president of Cirfood. "In the corporate catering sector alone, we cook 30 million meals every year, out of a total of 100 million, and there are 100 thousand workers we serve every day with culture and professionalism.

"According to Cerved data, in 2024 the contract catering market recorded 4.9 billion euros, almost 5% compared to the previous year, 2024 closed with +4% compared to 2019, before Covid, with a total of 817 million meals served in 2024," recalls Bordone. And the B&I segment, the corporate segment, is the one that has driven growth in recent years, despite the 3.6 million smart workers still present in Italy today, returning to weigh a third of the market after it had weighed less than a quarter in 2020'.