Food flight
Back at the office? Your lunch options may be limited
For years, Sarah Torres ate lunch at her desk. “I’d say four days a week,” says Torres, 44. “It’s not like I was overworked. I’d eat and call a friend, or I’d eat and check out some YouTube videos. I just preferred staying in the office instead of going out.”
And with good reason, Torres says. Working in Manhattan, the paralegal says she could easily spend $100 a week on lunch if she chose to eat at nearby restaurants. “And I don’t have that kind of money,” Torres says. “So, I’d bring leftovers or a Lean Cuisine or something and I’d eat at my desk.”
Not anymore.
Torres has been going into work two or three days a week since August mainly because she prefers the quiet setting. “I have three kids, 14, 16 and 17, and if they’re not arguing with each other, they’re trying to argue with me, so it gets a little noisy,” she says. “At least when I’m at work, I can focus on my job and get things done.”
Although Torres says she’s only one of a handful of people in the office, her law firm has a strict policy about eating at the workplace. “They shut the kitchen down,” she says. “They took out the microwave and refrigerator, even, which seems a little ridiculous. But they’re serious about not eating at work.” New rules
Like many employers, Torres’ firm is following guidelines suggested by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which suggest employers “Close common areas where employees are likely to congregate and interact or enforce social-distancing protocols and use other methods to physically separate employees.” While some might consider the guidelines a bit excessive, Torres says she supports the move. “It’s smart,” she says. “People crowd up on each other in here or they leave food in the fridge that’s unwrapped. And now, that’s kind of gross.”
The state of California has similar restrictions, suggesting that all workplaces “close or restrict common areas, using barriers, or increasing physical distance between tables/chairs where personnel are likely to congregate and interact, such as kitchenettes and break rooms, and discourage workers from congregating in high-traffic areas such as bathrooms, hallways, and stairwells.”
Take it to go
Many employees who have returned to work either head out of the office for a quick fast-food meal or bring something simple to eat from home. “I’m back into making sandwiches,” says Monica Baker, an administrative assistant in Austin, Texas. “We have a refrigerator we can use but I’m using one of those insulated lunch bags because I’m not crazy about what people leave in our refrigerator.”
Baker does admit that she’s the person who is supposed to enforce the refrigerator rule. Because she’s only at the office two days a week, she says it’s difficult. “And to be honest, I have no desire to pick through people’s half-eaten burgers and cold cups of coffee to toss them,” she says. “It was nasty before COVID-19 but now, it seems like a hazardous material situation.”
Torres says she has a similar insulated bag and uses it to pack snacks, including fruits and vegetables. “I’m kind of grossed out in the office, to be honest, so my appetite is a little less pronounced,” she says. “I’ll walk around the block and eat some carrots or something, but I don’t really get hungry until I’m on my way home.”
Providing a safe space
Many employers are still figuring out the best way to approach meals at work, often being selective about which CDC guidelines they follow. Kevin, a Chicago-based stationary engineer who didn’t want his last name used, says he works at an office building in the Loop whose occupants use a variety of settings for meals. “There’s no consistent approach,” he says. “You find open boxes of donuts in some offices and closed kitchenettes in other offices.”
Kevin says he’s surprised some employers aren’t taking a more proactive approach to keeping their space as sterile as possible. “It’s tough to change people’s habits but you can’t give them the same options as before,” he says. “You have to throw in some restrictions.”
In the COVID era, safe access to meals at work is a matter of health, risk reduction and efficient operation. “COVID-smart, safe access to meals at work is possible,” says Sara Nash of ezCater, a corporate catering business in Boston, Massachusetts. “There are solutions that are flexible, affordable and easy to implement.”
To help maintain a safe eating environment at work, Nash offers the following tips for employers:
• Minimize contact with the outside world: Many companies are encouraging their employees to stay in the office once they arrive. Employees who venture out for lunch face long waits for reduced-capacity elevators, and potentially lengthy exposure at crowded restaurants. Recommend that your employees have food delivered and when possible, combine their delivered meals into a single group order.
• Avoid close contact among employees: You can’t eat or drink while wearing a mask, so social distancing in common eating areas is critical. Limit the size of groups, arrange common areas for appropriate social distancing, and stagger lunchtimes so fewer employees use break rooms, kitchens or other eating areas simultaneously.
• Provide an employee meal solution: Pre-COVID, companies provided food to employees and guests in support of specific meetings or events. Companies also ordered in or made food available on-site through cafeterias. Employers can offer safety delivered employee lunches, breakfasts and snacks as a perk. Check the menu
Carrie Stanislavski, a graphic designer in Chicago’s West Loop, says she likes to support local restaurants during her lunch hour but only if they make it easy for her. “Some places are staffing pick-up windows or stands outside the restaurant,” says Stanislavski, 28. “I love that. It’s very grab-and-go and I can appreciate that.”
Still, other places act like nothing’s different. “You walk in, get sent over to a waiting area that already had 10 people standing there and basically hold your breath until your food is ready,” she says.