Blog
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All the world’s a stage
(And other random Shakespeare references to prevent ourselves from going slightly crazy)
As we drag into the winter of (our) discontent, we thought we would write about life before the C word, partnerships and what goes on behind the scenes.
What we do is more than food for people at work. It is about how their workspace flows. It is about the space they go to in their downtime, somewhere to eat, meet and be seen.
The floorplate space that catering spaces take up, in real estate terms, are a huge cost to organisations. Their investment into this space is an investment in staff wellbeing. A well-appointed catering area with well thought out seating, spaces to have casual meetings and a café environment to work in is a huge asset and a huge deciding factor for employees when they are choosing where to work.
When we first meet clients, they are at varying stages of decision making and how to move forward with catering for their people.
Some clients are settled in to their building and happy with their catering space, they are just looking for a new partnership. Or perhaps they are not, but they are being told they must tender, and this is our opportunity to turn their heads. Alas, nothing will come of nothing. This is an exciting opportunity for us to understand the culture of an organisation.
Others are moving building or refurbishing their offices, and these projects have only increased for GDC over the last few years. Yes, even though Covid-19 times, we are still working with clients on building moves and refurbishment of existing spaces. To be or not to be, that is the question? People surely do want to get back to work, to shared ideas, we are social beings, after all.
These are also exciting opportunities to work with a fascinating array of talented people. Architects, kitchen designers, furniture specialists, equipment specialists, interior designers. We get the chance to be part of the roots of the project, analyse conceptual drawings, use our expertise to propose flow layouts, recommended equipment, food concepts and then eventually we don hard hats and PPE and get on site.
Since becoming a caterer we have all learnt more about food and people yes, but also about amps and plug sockets and plumbing requirements and what will trip out the power and what will not. And we never go anywhere without a tape measure. There is always a space for a marketing board to measure or working out whether a multi-deck will fit.
When people ask what we do, sometimes, it is easier just to say ‘food for people at work’ but really, we are much more than that, we live and breathe foodservice. Whilst we have seen better days, office life will come back, and we will be great again.
Sorry for the random Shakespeare references, it is just one of those days.
#letsgetbacktowork