How Frictionless Food Experiences Save Time, Money, and Resources

Time is money. When time is wasted in a business, money is lost and can never be recovered. In many ways, getting ahead of the competition in most markets comes down to little more than uncovering how to be as productive as possible in the time you have available.

With an eye toward efficiency, we can look at frictionless food as a tremendous opportunity to streamline your operation. To learn more about how delivering a seamless food experience to your employees can better your business as a whole, take a moment today to get in touch with InReach. Our friendly and knowledgeable team will be happy to help you understand what an upgrade to your food service plan can do for your company as a whole.

What Is Frictionless Food?

The term “frictionless food” refers to the experience of having easy access to food and beverages in your building. So, when one of your employees needs a snack, for example, they are able to find something quickly without leaving the property so they can get back to work. It’s one thing to have some food and beverage options available on-site; it’s another thing to deliver them in a frictionless manner so that work isn’t interrupted unnecessarily. 

There are a number of ways that InReach can help you achieve your frictionless food goals. For example, we can establish a micro market in your office where employees can walk through, purchase whatever they wish quickly, and get back to their desks. Something similar can be achieved with an open-concept office pantry. Alternatively, we can make healthy vending machine snacks available in smart machines so employees can buy snacks and drinks using touchless, cashless forms of payment while they are walking from one part of the building to another.

Whatever the specifics look like, the goal is the same—to make it as easy as possible for your people to get the food and drinks they need to perform at a high level all day long. InReach has mastered the art of convenient food and beverage service in an office setting, so you will have the right partner for the job when you contact us for help.

How Time Savings Add Up

It’s easy to overlook just how much time can be wasted during the day when trying to find the snacks or drinks needed to keep working efficiently. Sure, each individual outing to get something to eat or drink might not take long on its own, but there is a cumulative effect that can be quite powerful in the end.

Imagine, for example, that someone in your office has to spend 15 minutes tracking down a snack, and they do that twice per day. That’s half an hour lost each day, for a total of 2.5 hours each work week and roughly ten hours per month. How much more could that person have accomplished in the month if they were able to work for ten additional hours? This is rough math, of course, but the concept is easy to understand—lost minutes quickly add up to lost hours, and productivity overall takes a hit. 

The numbers look dramatically better when frictionless food is available in your office. If someone can just walk through an office pantry on the way to a meeting and grab something, for example, they may take essentially the same amount of time to get to the meeting as if they hadn’t grabbed a snack. The time spent in pursuit of food or drinks can be cut down as close to zero as possible.

Staying Fueled Throughout the Day

Saving time is great, but that saved time is only going to be productive if your people are properly fueled up and ready to keep working. If they are experiencing an energy crash due to a lack of calories—or perhaps caffeine—they won’t be getting much done, even if they are technically sitting at their desks. 

Of course, with frictionless food readily available, that’s not a problem. If you have noticed that some of the people in your office seem to struggle to keep getting things done as the day wears on, solving that problem might be as simple as making sure they have access to the food and drinks they need to thrive.

An Unintended (But Important) Benefit

With all of the focus on making frictionless food available to keep your people fed and ready to work, there is another unexpected benefit that may get lost along the way. The places in your office where the food is presented to employees, whether in the form of a micro market, office pantry, or vending machines, will quickly become social hubs that lead to impromptu conversations and can kick off healthy, lasting relationships.

Many offices are structured by departments, and the people in those departments rarely interact socially with those from other groups. That’s just kind of how office life works in many buildings. But it doesn’t have to be that way. You can bring down the barriers between departments through these shared food spaces, and stronger ties between everyone in your company will start to form. In the long run, you might find that the social aspect of your food service program has just as much of an impact as the actual snacks and drinks themselves.

Improve Overall Employee Well-Being

Employees who feel physically and mentally healthy are far more likely to be productive and successful in your business. There are countless variables that need to be factored into well-being, but one of them is having access to the kinds of snacks and drinks that make them feel good throughout each day. Even if it’s a small thing, knowing that there is a tasty snack waiting for them in the micro market when they finish a project or get done with a meeting can be a bright spot.

There is also something to be said for the positive message that is sent when you invest in your employees. Taking the step to make sure frictionless food is available to them will signal the value that you place on the happiness of your employees. They will notice that you are investing in their well-being, and it always feels good when employees know that the owners or managers in their organization are truly committed to meeting their needs.

Get Started Today

At InReach, we love helping companies optimize the food services they offer to their employees, making things more convenient and tastier than ever before. That process starts with you reaching out to us so we can learn more about your business and the needs of your employees. From there, we can create a customized solution that may include a smart vending machine, micro market, or other features that will address your pain points and bring to life a frictionless food experience that your people will love. Call today to get started!