Here we are! After 2 months, our cooperative EKİP is slowly starting the process of going “back to work”, we have a new website, new salads and even a pre-sales campaign on Fongogo but mainly we are starting to juggle with a different vocabulary like “future of food”, “automation” “sealed packaging”, “cleaning with rubbing alcohol” but mainly thinking about what will be the future of work delivery at work.
“As many other food providers, we cannot just restart business as usual, We need to think about what our customers (you!) will want when going back to work and what will be allowed.
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Let’s start with the good news. During lockdown many people have had to (re)learn the habit of cooking, either because most delivery services are closed, because they have more time, or because they want to cook together as a family activity. That means diving in on our Instagram for inspiration (or in our grandmother books) and shopping for vegetables (is this paksoy or fennel?) unknown until then. We are doing our best trying to stay healthy to boost our immunity (or just not to put on too many kilos). We eat local because there are only limited imports so this all fits perfectly the values of EKİP! Healthy, seasonal, local …and delicious. So far so good.
Now fast forward to going back to work.
What trends will we then see when it comes to ordering food at work for lunch? We can guess it will be safe and hygienic food to start with; we can provide that by following good prevention (uniform and mask) and good cleaning practices, avoiding the use of public transport for our staff, and checking their temperature on a daily basis. We can also review our packaging; the best option would be to go with vacuum packaging, right? But that would mean more plastic usage and this is so against what we want to represent. So, tell us, what will be more important for you? We can do whatever is required, we work in an agile manner, we are strong, we can adapt!
Now, the difficult part is thinking about how we will be all going back to work and why.
Some companies are implementing large technology upgrades to make sure they can measure the “healthiness” of everyone coming into the offices, others have just decided to keep their employees working from home. Somewhere in the middle, many companies are trying to cope, implementing some shift system, restricting food delivery, etc. Thinking further, if employees only have to come to work from time to time, why would that be? If we think that teams are more productive when building emotional capital and personal links (see this excellent article), then when they meet on a given day, having lunch together might be looked at as a “productive measure”.
As mentioned in the article of We Factory, we have seen in the last few years a trend towards food as corporate benefits, where companies are starting to hire chefs to prepare balanced meals for their employees, knowing that eating well is also key to boosting creativity and having happier and more engaged staff (see the article of HBR). So will the future of food show companies offering healthy meals to the employees “coming to work”? We hope that in this case, they will choose a regular delivery service like EKİP as one of their favourite options.
Another potential concern for us, because we provide healthy salads (check our menu here), we are hearing that some of you will not order salads any more, only warm, heated food. Most of our meals have roasted ingredients, and, by the way, we find it hard to believe that in the middle of a hot summer, at work, all you will want to eat is hot food knowing that here in Turkey there are so many choices of delicious and fresh vegetables!
So, how do you think the future of food delivery at work will be? Which trends will we see going forward in office lunches in Turkey? Will we adapt, change the way we eat, or will it be back to the usual 6 months later? For that part, we want to understand these changes. So do let us know your thoughts, comments, or suggestions.
And if you want to support our cooperative, you can buy some vouchers for our delicious salads on fongogo, register for our newsletter on our website or follow us on instagram.
