As we welcome the new year at ADC, the world is buzzing with the energy of fresh beginnings. It鈥檚 exciting to embrace the promise of a clean slate and the collective motivation to improve our lives. However, that initial enthusiasm can often lead to unrealistic expectations that are not sustainable in the long run.

The good news? It doesn’t have to be this way. With a few strategic shifts, you can build sustainable habits that fit your lifestyle. Here is your 5-step roadmap to building habits that last.

1. Focus on 鈥淐rowding In鈥�

Traditional resolutions call for “all-or-nothing” energy, which often leads to burnout. Instead of focusing on what to cut out, try the concept of 鈥渃rowding in.鈥�

Ask yourself: “What can I add to this meal to make it more nourishing?” That may look like adding fresh fruit to your breakfast for extra nutrients, a side of roasted vegetables to your dinner, or a glass of water with each meal.

Choosing abundance and variety over deprivation and restriction allows satisfaction to outweigh the need for rigid rules.

2. Movement as Celebration, Not Punishment

Movement can and should be enjoyable! It鈥檚 a way to celebrate what your body can do and find activities that you actually look forward to.

If the gym isn’t your thing, try something new! You might find joy in a long walk with a podcast, a dance class, or a 10-minute stretch in your living room.

When you shift the metric of success from calories burned to how much energy and clarity I gained. Fitness becomes something you look forward to rather than another task on your to-do list.

3. Honor Your Body鈥檚 Unique Needs

The media often suggests that a quick fix is right around the corner. This one-size-fits-all approach cannot account for individual variation. Your needs change daily based on your sleep, stress levels, and hormones.

Practice listening to your body signals in the moment. By recognizing whether you need movement or rest, you can adjust your day based on intuition rather than a strict schedule.

4. Celebrate the Middle Ground

Living a healthy life does not require perfection. By working towards consistency, you make small changes that become a lifestyle.

Wellness is about the big picture. You can enjoy the nutrient-dense meals that nourish you and the pizza nights that bring you joy. One meal or one skipped workout doesn鈥檛 derail your progress. It is simply a part of living a well-balanced life.

5. Prioritize the Restorative Pillars

Sometimes, the most productive thing you can do for your health is to slow down. We often forget that our bodies need rest to recharge and stay healthy.

Whether it鈥檚 aiming for an extra hour of sleep, taking a few deep breaths when things get hectic, or putting your phone away a little earlier at night, these small moments of calm are just as important as what鈥檚 on your plate or your workout schedule.

The Takeaway

This year, let鈥檚 flip the script and replace fixing ourselves with caring for ourselves. Remember that health is the sum of what you do most of the time, not all of the time. Lasting change happens through small, consistent steps and a lot of self-compassion.

When you prioritize how you feel, wellness becomes a sustainable practice rather than a seasonal chore.

What is one small, nourishing addition that you plan on making to your routine this week?

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You’ve probably experienced an upside-down work environment in one way or another since COVID-19 arose in 2020. You may have had to switch your employees to remote work or use new safety precautions in the office, both of which can hinder regular social interaction.

Thankfully, COVID restrictions have eased considerably, and employees are returning to in-person work again. However, many workers have grown used to working from home over time. In fact, choose to work remotely even if their office is available.

Despite the popularity of remote jobs, in-person work and human interaction benefit health and wellbeing in many ways. If your employees are hesitant to return to work, we’re here to provide some insight into how this can be healthy for them mentally, emotionally and physically.

Read on to learn six significant benefits of going back to an in-person work environment. By expressing these benefits to your workers, they may start to see the value of going back to the office regularly.

1. Opportunities for Socialization

The opportunity to socialize is a significant benefit of returning to in-person work. Humans are social animals by nature and genuine conversations and friendships are valuable aspects of everyday life. However, the 2020 lockdown took away many regular opportunities to socialize with others. As a result, many have forgotten the joy and fulfillment of socializing with others.

While remote work provides some opportunities for socialization through virtual meetings and phone calls, this simply isn’t the same experience as real face-to-face conversation. Going back to the office creates opportunities for coworkers to catch up on each others’ lives. Along with filling the need for regular socialization, this gives us a true sense of community, belonging and acceptance.

2. Improved Productivity

While some remote workers find it easy to work from the comfort of their home space, others may experience daily distractions from children or pets or have a workspace setup that makes it difficult to focus on the task at hand. Additionally, some remote workers may struggle to disconnect from work at the end of the day, especially if they relax in the same environment they use for work. Without being able to separate from work and recharge, they may find their job productivity and performance decreasing.

Working from the office can make it easier to keep work life separate from home life as employees physically and mentally leave their work at the office. The office also tends to have fewer distractions, increasing employees’ ability to focus. Concentrating on their work at the office and leaving it behind at the end of the day often leads to a significant productivity boost over working from home.

If you’re looking for other ways to boost employee productivity, an in-person environment offers many opportunities, such as implementing a coffee bar or installing a vending machine.

3. Health and Wellbeing

Returning to an in-person work environment can enhance mental health and wellbeing. As mentioned above, social interaction is a fundamental human need. When we’re deprived of this 鈥� as many were with COVID鈥� we experience unhealthy feelings of loneliness and isolation. Over time, this can lead to .

When employees work together in person, they’re fulfilling a natural desire to socialize and be in the company of others. This socialization can help combat social isolation, improving workers’ mental health and well-being.

In addition to mental and emotional health, returning to work can benefit physical health as well. Companies can provide their workers with:

• Healthy food and dining options: Employees may be hesitant to return to the office if they have limited healthy eating options there. You can help overcome this hesitation by ensuring access to healthy and nutritious food at the office.
• On-site fitness accommodations: Many people got used to exercising at home when many gyms and recreation centers closed during COVID. On-site access to fitness equipment and accommodations offers your employees an equally convenient exercise option.
• Comfortable, ergonomic work equipment: Since COVID remote work first began, many employees have invested in improving their home office setup. Ensure that a return to the office won’t mean a downgrade in comfort and support.

4. Career Development

Being surrounded by fellow employees and watching them work is a helpful way to learn.

Even if we’re not always aware of it, we grow in the workplace by observing our coworkers’ behaviors. Additionally, everyone brings their own unique skills, personalities and talents to the table, stimulating creativity and allowing workers to bounce ideas off one another. However high or low you are on the corporate ladder, you have a lot to offer your coworkers.

This observation and collaboration contribute to career development and learning. While you can certainly develop your career in a remote position, it’s easier to watch, learn and model new skills in an in-person environment, where you can see what’s happening directly in front of you.

5. Face-to-Face Collaboration

When your employees return to the office, they’ll experience more face-to-face communication, allowing more transparency and productivity to explore more creative ideas.

Face-to-face collaboration typically aids in brainstorming and teamwork. While some messages are easier to send via email or discuss in a quick video call, it’s often more effective to hash out important topics through in-person meetings. And with these face-to-face conversations, you won’t have to worry about potential technical glitches.

Face-to-face brainstorming sessions also give you a better view of body language and nonverbal behaviors. That awareness helps people understand each other better so they can get their work done more efficiently and creates a stronger synergy than virtual meetings.

6. Work Perks

By returning to work, employees can once again experience the perks they missed while they were away. Your office perks might include:

• Complimentary coffee and tea for workers.
• A comfortable breakroom with snacks.
• Gift card and ticket giveaways.
• Company lunches.

If your workers have these fringe benefits to look forward to, they may be more motivated to come back to work.

Get Your Employees Excited About Being Back in the Office

After reading through these return to work benefits, we hope you feel more confident about bringing your employees back to the office. Implementing more advanced corporate dining services is a great start if you’re looking to boost team productivity and excitement towards work.

At 日本高清 鈥� a division of American Food & Vending 鈥� our team of hospitality and culinary experts can transform your workplace caf茅 to create an advanced dining experience for your employees.

We tailor our innovative dining solutions to suit your business’s unique needs. We provide mobile ordering, quality chef-inspired menus and ingredients, authentic and nutritious cuisine options and exceptional customer service to help your workplace adjust to this new normal. If you want to reflect your company’s values and positive work culture in your corporate dining program, learn more about what our business dining solutions can do for your workplace!

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You want your students to develop healthy lifestyle habits so they will go on to be healthy adults. Their choices in snacks and beverages now could impact the rest of their lives. This is why it’s essential to promote healthy snacks while providing access to food at your school.

The Benefits of Having Vending Machines in Schools

When it comes to placing vending machines in schools, statistics show that the advantages outweigh the drawbacks. According to one study, most schools surveyed had vending machines, and was a good determination of how healthy the students were eating. This means that you can use your campus vending machines to promote health.

Getting a vending machine brings more benefits than just providing healthy food. Here are the four most significant advantages of vending machines in schools:

1. Improving Students’ Focus

Students require enough sleep, water and quality food to stay focused on their schoolwork and classes. Some students lack access to healthy food to keep them feeling full. If you provide them with additional food options, they are less distracted by hunger and can stay focused more easily throughout the day.

They will appreciate having access to quick, healthy snack options when:

• They’re feeling hungry in the mid-afternoon slump.
• They need to eat something after gym class before taking an important exam.
• They lack enough time to eat breakfast and find it challenging to stay focused in the early morning.
• Their home lacks healthy snack options, making it difficult to concentrate on homework.

2. Boosting Employee Morale

Getting a new vending machine can also benefit your teachers and other staff. Healthy vending machine options are good for your employees too. Your staff will appreciate having access to affordable food products during busy times.

When your faculty are happier, they also strive to do their best work, improving your students’ performance and giving your school could have better outcomes. Showing your employees that the administration supports them with this kind gesture is one way to boost their morale and encourage them to prioritize their goals.

Employees that will enjoy the vending machine include:

• Teachers: Your teachers can use a vending machine to get snacks between classes or coffee for grading sessions without having to leave the campus.
• Non-teaching workers: A vending machine could save staff a trip off-campus when someone needs a bottle of water or a coffee to provide the energy for staying caught up on work.
• Guest speakers and substitute teachers: With the right vending machine, temporary staff and paid guests will view your campus as a welcoming place with modern amenities.

3. Easy Access to Healthy Food

The tendency to sell unhealthy snacks and students’ attraction to such items have long been problems with vending machines. Vending machines have a reputation for serving cheap junk food, packs of gum and sodas, but if you stock healthy vending machine snacks, you can make a difference in the eating habits of your school’s students and faculty. Instead of cookies, potato chips and candy bars, stock low-calorie vending machine snack options of high nutritional value.

Healthy snack options for vending machines include:

• Milk
• Nuts
• Yogurt
• Dried fruit
• Veggie fries
• String cheese
• Bottled water
• Protein drinks
• Hard-boiled eggs
• Carrots paired with low-fat dip
• Fruit snacks made with real fruit

Providing these snack and drink items can teach students to eat healthier. It can also help them feel like they are making better choices for their health and putting what they learned in class about healthy eating into action. Fruits and vegetables are especially desirable as snack items for children and teens, and these can feel like luxury items when they are difficult for students to find elsewhere.

4. Providing for Extracurricular Activities

Students who need to stay after school for additional hours have longer days and an increased need for adequate nutrition. They might also have fewer opportunities to get food off campus because of the time constraints of their busy days. Team practice sessions or club meetups make having access to a vending machine that much more important.

Participating in extracurricular activities and special events is fun and rewarding for students, but they can also cause students to feel burnt out, especially if they don’t have access to freshwater or enough time to get an affordable meal. Vending machines offer a modern convenience to students and staff involved in additional activities outside of class. Some of the many advantages for students who participate in your school’s extracurriculars the most actively include:

• Affordable prices: Compared to other options, vending machine food is often the most affordable for students to buy as their own after-school snacks. You can work with local businesses to limit the costs of your vending machine items and stock higher quality snacks than students would find at a convenience store or gas station.
• Additional product options: You can stock other helpful products for students along with the snack options. For example, being able to purchase extra pencils or household sanitary products can be a big help for students preparing to leave on a long field trip.

Vending Machines With American Food & Vending

The first step to ordering vending machines stocked with healthy products is choosing a partner who understands your campus’s needs and can provide what you’re looking for. When you partner with American Food & Vending, you receive the following benefits:

• The most advanced technology: We use VendMAX reporting and tracking software, so we will know when to restock your machines. Our vending machines also conserve energy with Energy Star technology and use energy-efficient LED lights.
• A healthy snack program: We rely on the Amerifit healthy snack program to provide various specially-marked healthy options.
• Dependable services: Our technicians keep your vending machines well-stocked, so your staff can concentrate on their daily responsibilities without doing more work.
• A focus on your goals: Whether you want to include vending machines in your cafeteria, staff break room or school club, we can provide the products and number of vending machines you need.

See the Advantages Yourself With American Food & Vending

Are you looking for a vending machine service for your K-12 or college campus? We can provide the leading brands for healthy snacks and beverages, so your students will stay happy and healthy. Contact us if you are interested in making a valuable change for your institution, whether you are starting out with your first vending machine or you would like to switch to our services.

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What Is Sustainability?

You’ve likely heard the term sustainability before, but do you know what it means? Many people mistakenly believe that sustainability means the same as environmentalism, but there’s more to it than that. Sustainability is about finding balance and allowing the planet and all the resources it contains to remain available for future generations. These practices focus on meeting the needs of the future while continuing to meet the needs of daily life.

Sustainability can apply to a single resource. For example, bamboo falls under the category of a sustainable resource because it grows quickly, easily and can be re-planted. Many also consider sustainability an overall concept when talking about environmentalism and the health of the planet. Global sustainability includes three main tenets that should remain balance:

• Environmental sustainability: Likely what first comes to mind when discussing sustainability is the environment. This includes natural resource replenishment and management and keeping all ecological systems in balance.
• Economic sustainability: True sustainability also includes facets of the economy like financial independence and the ability for all humans to meet their needs with a secure source of income.
• Social sustainability: Sustainable global systems also ensure people can meet their basic needs with fairness and equity. Health, workers’ rights, respect for cultural differences and protection against discrimination are all considered.

Sustainability may have slightly different definitions and motivations for different groups of people, but what it comes down to is the viability of our planet and all of the systems it contains. It’s about how we will leave the earth for the next generations.

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Why Sustainability Matters

Sustainability is an essential concept for everyone to understand and has applications across all industries. In fact, the reasons behind the importance of sustainability are quite simple 鈥� if we do not embrace sustainability practices, broadly and globally, life as we know it on earth simply cannot continue. There lives a genuine threat that the planet will run out of natural resources like fossil fuels, clean water and air, lumber and plants to eat if sustainability efforts don’t persist. A lack of sustainability also leads to mass species extinction, irreversible climate change, and other dangerous results that may have a ripple effect throughout larger ecosystems.

When we take these consequences into account, it’s easy to see why sustainability is so important for everyone. Whether it’s one individual, a household, a small business or a giant corporation, we can all make changes that focus on increasing sustainability. Implementing more sustainable practices helps to ensure that life can continue on our planet for many generations into the future. It also ensures that the quality of our environment in the present is protected.

As mentioned before, sustainability goes beyond just environmentalism. Sustainable practices have many other benefits too, including:

• Improved health through better air and water quality
• Social and cultural awareness and protections
• Energy efficiency and cost savings
• Reduced consumerism

The importance of sustainability can’t be stressed enough. If you want the planet to continue supporting life, making sustainability changes should be a top priority.

Sustainability in the Food Industry

Sustainability practices and priorities can look different for different types of businesses and industries. So, what does this mean for the food industry? The food industry is massive and involves growing and producing food, transporting, preparing, packaging and disposal. The food industry is responsible for a considerable portion of the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions globally 鈥� possibly . In an industry this large and impactful, there’s lots of room for improvement and even small changes can make a huge difference.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the areas of the food industry that are ripe for improvements in sustainability:

• Agriculture: It takes a lot of energy, time and resources to grow your food. The agriculture portion is generally the most energy-intensive and produces more greenhouse gasses than other parts of the supply chain when you look at the food production industry as a whole.听Water pollution is another common problem for agriculture, as chemicals used for fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, and animal waste can leach into groundwater and runoff into water sources. Water used for irrigation is often not used effectively and goes to waste.
• Manufacturing: In today’s modern world, much of the food we eat is further processed. This process of turning raw foods into frozen, canned and otherwise packaged foods uses up a massive amount of energy, water and other resources. Manufacturing also generates a lot of food waste due to improper or inefficient temperature controls, gaps in supply and demand and, aesthetic variations in produce.
• Packaging:听A lot of resources go into packaging food. Unfortunately, packaging for food products is necessary to get foods to the consumer safely and effectively, while preserving freshness and quality. However, so much of the packaging used is not produced from recycled materials and is not recycled after use, but instead ends up in landfills.
• Distribution: Much of the food we consume travels a great distance to get to our stores, homes and restaurants. Certain ingredients and finished food products even travel across the globe before getting to the consumer. Airplanes, ships and semi-trucks all transport food and distribute it. These transporters consume fossil fuels and other resources. Storing food in warehouses and grocery stores also consumes large amounts of energy to keep foods at safe temperatures for the consumer.
• Disposal: At the end of the food industry’s life cycle is the disposal of waste. Grocery stores may have fresh foods they don’t sell that go to waste. People buy foods, don’t use them in time and then waste the food. Additionally, all of the excess packaging of processed foods gets thrown away, contributing to a big problem of food disposal waste and single-use materials that end up in landfills or as litter and pollution.

It’s easy to see that the food industry negatively impacts the environment, but steps many in the food industry are taking steps to improve sustainability efforts. Here are some strategies that make a big difference in this industry becoming more sustainable:

• Water conservation:听Several steps in the food supply chain can benefit from water conservation, especially in agriculture. Irrigation of crops can not only use up lots of water but much of it is wasted through evaporation. Many farms are using drip irrigation systems rather than sprinklers to prevent water loss to evaporation and conserve more water for the crops that need it.
• Organic farming: Many of today’s industrial-sized farms utilize more modern techniques like chemical fertilizers and pesticides to boost food production. However, many farms are turning to organic farming to help with sustainability efforts. Organic farming doesn’t use any chemicals but instead uses natural pest control and fertilization methods. It also may focus on water conservation and crop rotation for naturally healthier soils.
• Energy and fuel conservation: The machinery used for food production and manufacturing can significantly drain fuel and electricity sources, not to mention the vehicles used for transporting and distributing food products. Transportation and logistics teams are choosing to use more efficient modes of transportation to save on fuel and energy and transport goods more effectively. New technologies in this sector, such as dual-temperature vehicles, mean that food products can be transported more quickly and efficiently, reducing the need for multiple trucks to each destination.
• Switching to less farming-intensive foods: Certain foods require more land and resources to produce the same amount of food for the consumer. Meat-based products, especially beef, are incredibly resource-intensive for farms, requiring far more land, water, crops and other resources to produce. Even eggs and dairy are very resource-intensive. With a new focus on plant-based products, farms are shifting gears to create these more sustainable sources of food. This shift to plant-based also aligns with the ever-growing consumer demand for more plant-based products. It’s a win for the animals, the environment, producers and consumers!
• Better packaging solutions:听A large percentage of food packaging simply ends up as waste, so anything to reduce this is helpful. Many companies are switching to food product packaging that contains sustainable materials. A lot of companies now use recyclable packaging or packaging made with recycled materials. This shift helps reduce the amount of waste that ends up in landfills.

Looking Ahead at the Future

The farther into the future you look, the more crucial sustainability in the food industry becomes. Food sustainability is of the utmost importance to support life on earth for future generations. Without food, humans cannot survive, and the larger the global population grows, the more food we need to sustain life. You must make changes now towards a more sustainable future.

The world’s population currently sits at around 7.7 billion, and it’s . This exponential growth in population over the next few decades will seriously tax the food industry, which already struggles to effectively feed the world sustainably. A growing demand for more food products means more land used up for agriculture, more natural habitat destruction, more emissions and pollution, more packaging waste and other issues too.

While all of this sounds a little dire and scary, it doesn’t have to be. Making changes now will help ensure the sustainability of the food supply for the future and make improvements in the present. This process is something that requires a multi-pronged approach.听Individual businesses and corporations can make changes in their processes to help promote sustainability. Leaders in the industry can also work with governments and lawmakers to enact policy changes to ensure industry-wide changes.

Additionally, more organic-focused companies are making their way into the industry. More companies are offering completely organic food options, while others tackle the growing food waste issue and get would-be-wasted food to people who need it. The emergence of new businesses with a sustainability mindset in the food and industry can help reshape the food industry to focus on more sustainable practices.

Consumer demand is also a powerful tool that continues to shape the food industry. A growing number of today’s consumers value sustainability and actively seek out organic, plant-based products and have more environmentally friendly disposal and packaging options. In essence, these consumers vote with their dollars and demand more sustainable products.

Choosing American Food & Vending

At American Food & Vending, we understand the importance of sustainability in our industry. We are proud of to a clean environment, healthy eating, sustainable food sourcing, and limiting waste. Our innovative eco-friendly solutions include a wide range of initiatives that keep sustainability at the core of everything we do.

We know that food waste is one of the biggest problems in our industry, and so we promote smaller batch cooking to minimize waste. Proper food disposal, composting and inventory management also contribute to solving this issue. We participate in a program that re-uses spent cooking oils into biofuel to ensure we make use of every component we use in the food-making process.

Our company focuses heavily on reusable materials. We use recycling programs and re-use materials to help cut down on waste. We promote the use of washable china, sustainable cutlery, and reusable to-go containers to cut down on disposable waste. Our company also works with our suppliers to provide local, in-season ingredients whenever possible, building partnerships with suppliers who share our eco-minded and socially responsible values.

We also strive for energy conservation in all facets of our food distribution and preparation and are constantly improving the process to waste less. We also encourage the promotion of educational and community events that support sustainability, such as local harvest events. The 日本高清听menus typically promote a low-carbon diet, along with Meatless Mondays, and strive to educate the end consumer on the benefits of a more sustainable diet.

Our mission is to bring culinary excellence to the table while using safe and sustainable foods to deliver a fresh meal that’s good for you and the environment.

Make the Shift to Sustainable Food Services with American Food & Vending

Interested in finding out more about what we do and how we can help your organization? Our full-service hospitality and food services are used in a wide variety of settings and always strive for the best in sustainability practices. Contact us today to see how we can help you shift towards providing more healthy, sustainable food options to your organization.

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As the old saying goes, “You are what you eat.” There’s a reason this statement is still around 鈥� it’s true. The days when you have something fast, salty and greasy, you probably feel bogged down and tired afterward. The days when you have something a bit more healthy, you’ll likely feel more equipped to take on the rest of the workday.

Employees and management teams alike can benefit from discovering healthy eating strategies as part of a balanced diet to improve office life for everyone at your workplace.

The Benefits of Healthy Eating in the Workplace

The benefits of practicing good nutrition and diet in the workplace extend far beyond personal health benefits. Of course, everyone can stand to eat healthier to lose a few pounds or reach various health-related goals. But eating healthier in your workplace can have some of the following effects, which can take everyone’s workdays to the next level:

• Increased productivity: Eating healthier at work can help everyone achieve a greater level of productivity throughout the day. Everyone knows the feeling of eating junk food at work and feeling less productive for the rest of the day. When you eat healthier meals and office snacks at work, you could keep your productivity levels higher to achieve all your work tasks in the most productive manner possible.
• Higher morale: A recent study showed that can increase one’s satisfaction and happiness in life. Every employer and employee should want to harness the potential benefits of eating more fruits and vegetables for improving mood at work. Even if you love your job, it’s completely normal to feel some burnout once in a while. You can resist burnout and boost your morale at work when you practice healthier workplace eating.
• A more collaborative workplace: Eating healthier and promoting healthy eating at work can also help your workplace become more collaborative. People will start encouraging each other to eat healthier, and many workers may start eating healthier in the office together. These practices can carry over into regular work time, helping your team to work better together than ever before.
• Better and more sustainable energy levels: When we eat, our bodies convert food to energy 鈥� but different foods provide different effects. Carb-heavy foods usually provide an immediate boost in energy, but the lethargic crash is soon to follow. Processed meats and high-protein foods usually offer more sustained energy, but our bodies work harder to get those nutrients. Eating healthier at work can ensure you get the nutrients your body craves for easy, sustained energy for higher productivity.

Before Getting Started

Before launching a workplace health promotion strategy, you need to make sure you’re doing it the right way.听One of the first things you can do to achieve your goal of fostering a healthier work environment is to take voluntary employee surveys about their health-related goals. You can then use the answers to the questions to take the next step toward creating a successful healthy eating program for you and your employees.

Here are three important questions you should ask in your survey:

• Are you interested in a healthy eating program, and why? This crucial question gauges the interest your workforce has in participating in a healthy eating program. The “why” takes it a step further, so you can find out your employee’s unique needs and what they would want to achieve through the potential health program.
• Do you want general information or a more involved program? This question lets you know the extent to which your program should reach. If most of your employees want general information so they can take their health into their own hands, then a more involved program may be unpopular. But if a majority of your workers want a program they can actively participate in, then you can feel confident offering them a program that satisfies that need.
• Do you want a seasonal or a year-round program? The answers to this question will help you know when you should offer your health program. There are pros and cons to seasonal and year-round programs, so determine which type your employees want most and why.

Besides taking an employee survey, you can also conduct employee health screenings and risk assessments. Doing so provides the following valuable insight:

• You’ll have a better idea of the state of your employees’ health situations.
• You’ll be able to see how your health strategy is performing over time and if it is helping your employees gain positive results.
• You’ll better know any adjustments or changes you need to make to your health food strategy to make it more effective.

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8 Ways to Promote Healthy Eating

Once you’ve taken the preliminary steps, you’ll be ready to start implementing your workplace’s healthy eating strategy. You want your new plan to be as successful as possible, so be sure to incorporate the following eight tips to help you promote healthier eating in your workplace.

1. Conduct Educational Campaigns

Once you’ve started your healthy eating campaign, one of the best ways you can promote it and help it reach its fullest potential is by educating your workforce. Some of your workers may be unaware of the benefits of proper nutrition and diet in both their personal lives and their work lives. Others may have an idea of those benefits, but they lack the urgency to make the decision for healthier eating.

With the right educational campaigns, you can bring more of your employees on board for your healthy eating program. Send out educational newsletters, conduct healthy eating lunch and learns and even offer special, hands-on cooking classes to help your employees gain the knowledge they need to achieve a healthier diet.

2. Make It Easy

You want to make sure eating healthier in your workplace is easier for everyone. Some people may have zero issues packing a healthy lunch the night before work or avoiding the nearby drive-thru on their lunch break. For others, these positives steps can be quite difficult, especially if they’ve been participating in unhealthy habits.

Encourage more people to participate to make the change easier and more appealing to the people who are having difficulty getting started. You can also make it easier by offering healthy snacks or even a meal plan to your employees so they can always have easy access to healthy, nutritious food.

3. Make it Clear

Your healthy eating strategy needs to be clear and easy to follow for everyone in your workforce. The last thing you want is for some of your workers to miss out on all the benefits of healthy eating because the program was too confusing for them to find success.

Healthy eating may be a new practice for many people, but it can also be an enlightening experience. The goal of your program should be to show people that healthy eating is more than easy 鈥� it’s worth it. Clearly lay out what your employees must do to participate in the program, and be sure to let them know the clear results of how healthy eating can benefit their lives.

4. Provide Incentives

Everyone loves some extra motivation to help them reach their goals. You can give your workforce the extra motivation they need to eat healthier at work by providing some incentives. Here are some examples of incentives that could work for your team:

• Extra paid vacation time for achieving new health and wellness goals
• Company trips for achieving company-wide goals
• Tiered incentives that give people incremental goals, like eating healthy foods for a week to receive a free meal at work the following week

5. Provide & Promote Lunch Breaks

Earlier, we mentioned making healthy eating easier for your employees. Taking that concept a step further, you can help your employees eat healthier at work by providing and promoting lunch breaks for them. Doing this gives you a say in what your employees eat and when they eat, helping you make sure they’re eating healthy foods and that they have enough time to do so.

Carve out some time in the workday for your employees to enjoy a healthy meal away from their desks. You can also provide lunches on occasion, offering the best food for work, including plenty of fruits and vegetables. This will help bridge the gap between healthy eating and work lunches in your employees’ minds.

6. Offer Group Activities & Challenges

Another great tip for improving participation and success rates is to offer group activities and challenges to your employees. These will give your employees the opportunity to work together to achieve shared and individual goals. Activities can include cooking sessions, occasional lunch and learns and even afternoon walks. In terms of offered challenges, you can have your employees go beyond their goals to achieve even healthier eating habits and have prizes waiting for them on the other side.

7. Bring People Together

As you can tell from this list of tips, many of the best solutions for promoting your health food plan involve communal activities. People love taking new steps together, and the same is true of eating healthier at work. What may seem hard for an individual is much easier for a group that shares similar diet and nutrition goals. Make sure people can participate in challenges, engage in educational opportunities and eat lunches in groups to instill a more unified bond among your workforce.

8. Offer Awards

Awards are powerful ways to let people know they were successful and that you’ve recognized their hard work. Consider offering special awards to individuals and teams who show superb growth on their journey toward eating healthier and feeling better at work.

Prizes like gift cards, new fitness technology and even paid cooking classes are great ways to encourage people to join in your new health program. Offer these prizes based on employees reaching personal or group goals or for showing excellent leadership in what it means to eat healthier at work. These awards can inspire more people to join in and improve their workplace eating habits.

Changing for a Better Future

Eating healthy can help more than how you and your employees feel at work. It can affect how you feel at home and in all other areas of your life. Choosing to eat healthy means you’re ready to change for a better future 鈥� one in which you can experience the following health benefits:

• Better heart health
• Reduced risk of cancer
• An overall better mood
• Improved gut health
• Improved memory functioning
• Healthy weight loss
• Easier diabetes management
• Stronger bones and teeth:
• More restful nights

You are what you eat, and eating healthy foods ensures your body gets the essential nutrients it needs to fight disease and keep your body and mind functioning at peak performance levels. But perhaps even more importantly, eating healthy now gives the next generation a better example to follow. If you and your employees can show the children in your life how to eat healthily, then they will, too 鈥� paving the way for a better future for everyone.

How 日本高清 Can Help

Partnering with a can help your company launch a successful healthy eating campaign for your workforce. 日本高清 is the solution you’ve been looking for. We offer healthy dining solutions for businesses looking to offer their employees better food options to enhance their lives both at work and at home.

Our online menus offer nutritional information so your employees can always know what they’re putting into their bodies for every work meal. We also offer the Amerifit app, which lets users scan items so they can clearly and easily see more information about the available food options. We also put an emphasis on superfoods and fresh harvest options so your workers can get the essential nutrients they need, fresh from the earth, freshly prepared by our chefs.

We also provide business dining marketing solutions to engage with your workforce. This solution can raise awareness for healthy eating in the workplace and help your employees feel more involved with the new changes toward eating healthier meals at work.

Contact 日本高清 Today to Experience the Fresh Difference

If you’re ready to take the next step toward a healthier and happier workforce, choose 日本高清听as your business hospitality partner. We set ourselves apart from other companies by offering comprehensive dining solutions to meet your food-related needs. And with our strong emphasis on healthy foods, you can feel confident that your workforce is getting the nutrients they need to stay productive, energetic and positive throughout the workday.

Contact us online today for more information or to reach out to begin the process of partnering with us. We look forward to serving you!

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When choosing a college, the dining hall has a significant impact on a student’s decision. Many colleges use their dining halls as recruitment tools to portray how they meet students’ needs. If you want to know why students may avoid campus dining halls and ways to encourage them to eat on campus, continue reading!

The Real Reason Students Aren’t Dining on Campus

Often, college students purchase expensive meal plans before they even step foot on campus. So, why do many avoid dining on campus? The answer lies in a few distinct reasons.

Long Lines

Walking up to the campus dining hall and seeing a long line would turn away even the hungriest of college students. Long lines are one of the biggest reasons students aren’t dining on campus. When students are in a rush between classes or crave a quick snack before heading to the library, seeing a long line can dash all their plans and drive them to seek other food options.

Lack of Diversity

For a first-year college student’s first week of college, the novelty of choosing and purchasing their own meals makes them excited about dining on campus. Without a parent to tell them they can’t have ice cream for breakfast or to eat their vegetables, they’re liable to take full advantage of on-campus dining. However, after a few weeks, the novelty wears off.

Along with warnings about the “Freshman 15,” college students may quickly tire of the same options day after day. Students will look to other options for their meals if the dining hall has a limited selection and offers almost no or few diverse choices. Even the pickiest of students want a bit of change in their diet.

Restricted Meal Times

Many dining halls maintain scheduled meal times that don’t always work with student’s needs. Having set breakfast, lunch and dinner meal times can make transitioning between menus and meals easier, but it’s less convenient for students who need dining options 24/7. With classes, sports practice, clubs and studying, college students are on the go at all hours, so they need dining options that don’t restrict their schedule.

Lack of Healthy Options

Another major factor in why college students don’t dine on campus is the lack of healthy options. Chicken fingers and french fries or pizza and soda are good comfort foods, but they can be heavy as everyday options. Most students want healthy dining options that will fuel them to study and perform their best.

While most dining halls have salad bars, incorporating more healthy options into the regular menu can get students to eat on campus more. Having fresh produce available and crafting delicious, healthy meals are a must.

Price Point

Going to college incurs enormous expenses, and campus dining is no exception. Meal plans can be costly, so if students don’t think they’ll find the options they want on campus, they may forgo buying a meal plan altogether. Even if they do purchase one, the high price of meals and food items may prevent them from dining on campus.

Food insecurity is another issue college students face at surprisingly high rates. Among community college students and four-year colleges, students face food insecurity at a听, respectively. For dining halls to combat this serious issue, having healthy, affordable options is a must.

Environment

More often than not, college students work while they eat. A busy, loud dining hall isn’t conducive to studying or doing work, so they may forgo on-campus dining to choose a quieter cafe or library. Additionally, having no clean surfaces for laptops or outlets to plug in devices is a significant hindrance to eating on campus. The dining hall should serve as both a meeting place and a study environment to fulfill all students’ needs.

6 Ways to Encourage Students to Dine on Campus

When thinking about how to encourage students to dine on campus, it’s essential to keep their needs and lifestyle in mind. College is a unique experience, and regular work hours don’t necessarily exist on campuses. Students need dining options that are reliable, flavorful and nutritious on a schedule that works for them.

1. Provide Round-the-Clock Options

One factor in the reliability of on-campus dining is round-the-clock options. Since college students work and live according to very different schedules than the average person, they need food options that suit their lifestyles. From early morning breakfasts before swim practice to late-night study snacks, providing opportunities for 24/7 dining is essential.

According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS),听听are traditionally between 8 a.m. and 11 p.m. However, some students are active through the night due to studying, activities or social engagements. If the dining hall closes at 8 or 9 p.m., some students are left without reliable food options, and they may not be able to afford to eat outside their meal plan.

Even if the main dining hall has to close, keeping campus dining open throughout the night in some capacity gives students options for whenever they need a meal or a nourishing snack.

2. Create Food Experiences

Food doesn’t have to be boring. College students are eager to try new things and expand their horizons, so offering food experiences can enhance their dining hall visits. In addition to providing healthy options around the clock, dining halls can keep students engaged and provide opportunities for connection by:

• Celebrating diversity with a festival including foods from around the world.
• Inviting students to suggest their favorite dishes for a student-choice meal.
• Offering up raffles and prizes for students to participate in.
• Hosting special events for holidays and important school days.
• Supplying students with free food during exams.

Like with most gatherings, centering events around food can bring people together. Creating food experiences for college students can open many doors and even make them more likely to dine on campus.

3. Meet Student Service Expectations

Another key factor in encouraging students to dine on campus is meeting their service expectations. Today’s college students grew up in a technology-filled world. They’re accustomed to having almost anything available at their fingertips, which is why they may not be satisfied with set menu options. Build-your-own and do-it-yourself stations are essential in drawing college students into the dining hall.

Allowing students the option to decide what goes on their plate will make them more inclined to eat on campus. Additionally, these interactive stations can offer unique experiences for college students to try new things. While build-your-own stations may take longer to navigate than other stations, students will certainly take advantage of the opportunity to interact with their food.

4. Be Smart with Serviceware

Serviceware can be a considerable expense 鈥� and a huge mess during peak hours 鈥� but it’s necessary. Not everyone has the time to sit and eat, so dining halls have to provide options to-go. However, these options can lead to a lot of waste. College students are often听, so it’s smart to keep the planet in mind as you design your dining hall experiences.

Some ways to be smart with the necessity of serviceware include:

• Providing recycling bins around the dining hall.
• Using compostable to-go containers and silverware.
• Posting educational materials about how to recycle properly.
• Discouraging the over-use of plastic and food waste.

5. Evaluate Lines

The BLS also found that out of the 24-hour day, college students spend only one hour on eating and drinking. If they only have one hour to purchase food and eat it throughout the whole day, it means they’re likely going to forgo a long line and either skip their meal or buy a small snack somewhere else.

Evaluating lines and making efforts to cut down on wait times during peak hours shows students you’re working to meet their needs. College students need to have the proper nutrition to perform at their peak throughout the day. Reducing their wait time in lines can ensure they’re able to fuel themselves properly.

The best strategy for reducing lines is tracking the busiest hours throughout the day. Most colleges have a few different class lengths, but peak times frequently occur in the middle and at the end of the day. Be prepared during these peak hours to streamline the process 鈥� for example, placing menus in prominent locations can ensure students are ready to order when it’s their turn, cutting down on wasted time.

6. Maintain Diversity

Today’s students are more diverse than any other generation, and they’re looking for diverse food choices. About听听say they’re more likely to eat in their dining hall if more varied options are available. Today’s college students represent one of the most diverse classes in history, and they want their food to reflect that. Offering numerous dining hall menu options, such as authentic dishes from regions in Asia, Europe, South America and Africa, will draw more students into the dining hall.

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Creating a Comfortable Campus Dining Atmosphere

On top of offering fresh, healthy and diverse food choices, college students expect dining halls to maintain an atmosphere conducive to their life on campus.

Location

The best place for a dining hall is right in the middle of campus. Rushing to and from class, college students seek food options that are convenient for their daily schedule. They may only have 15 minutes between classes to grab a snack, so having dining options that are centrally located to their classes and activities is essential.

Additionally, when students return to their housing at the end of a long day and prepare for a night of studying, they want options close to them. Having dining halls in or very close to dorms is an integral way of getting students to choose to dine on campus.

Visibility

Visibility in dining halls is a safety and a social concern. Interrupting sightlines can mean security and other staff can’t see if an emergency is taking place, and it also makes the space feel closed off. To ensure students can interact with each other, opt for open-concept dining and maximize sightlines so seated students can see the room around them. More visibility will also make it easier for dining staff to assess the numbers in the hall and operate lines effectively.

Style

Since colleges can’t redesign their dining hall facilities every year, the best style is timeless and classic. Designing the space with college students in mind means focusing on flexibility and convenience, but that doesn’t mean it has to be purely functional. Colors have an important impact on our psychology and mood, and they’re an essential design element.

Incorporate colors such as:

• Red:听To stimulate or excite 鈥� it also has the added benefit of promoting metabolism.
• Yellow and orange:听To reflect happiness and creativity and promote mental activity.
• Green:听To promote nature and freshness 鈥� green tends to lend the feeling of a healthy lifestyle.
• Blue:听To evoke a feeling of freshness and calm.
• Black:听To portray a level of sophistication or elegance.

Adaptability

A dining hall must adapt to the needs of all students. Some may want a quiet study area, while some might want to gather with friends and others may need special considerations like allergy or accessibility options. Including allergen-free zones, accessible design and a variety of seating and table options make the space adaptable to the needs of all students, which will encourage them to eat on campus.

Variety in Seating

Having a variety of different spaces for students will encourage them to spend time in the dining hall. Students often have to find any available corner to study, especially if library space is competitive. While most restaurants want to turn tables over, dining halls have a different objective 鈥� providing seating options for students to gather and study is essential in drawing them in.

Technology Support

Providing technical support is also crucial to draw students in. Since students use personal laptops and tablets to study and watch shows on the go, design the space to have enough available outlets and reliable internet connection. In addition to wall outlets, successful spaces have innovative technology like tables with individual power sources and phone charging stations. Providing the necessary support for students can encourage them to dine on campus.

Excite Students With On-Campus Dining Solutions From 日本高清

日本高清 is a boutique hospitality partner operating on college campuses. We provide unique culinary experiences that meet students’ needs by implementing quality and innovation into our hospitality services. Priding ourselves on our fresh, nutritious and customizable meal plans for college campus dining halls, our commitment to excellence shines in everything we do.

Students will love dining on campus with our innovative technology solutions that make wellness and payment options easier than ever before. We have a passion for great food and we customize our services to the individual needs of our clients. To enhance and refresh students’ on-campus dining experience,听contact 日本高清 today.

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What can’t you see?听That first student you passed is thriving academically, while his roommate is struggling to pass two of his courses. Another student skipped dinner yesterday to pay rent, and their classmate is worried about how she can afford to replenish the empty pantry at her apartment.

Does your institution have听starving college students? Statistics say yes. As shocking as it may seem, it is likely that at least听听silently, and numbers are on the rise nationwide.

By implementing strategic resources to address听hunger on campus head-on, university leaders can create a food-secure campus and provide life-changing support to their students. Discover how you can help below.

What Is Food Insecurity?

More than听听do not know where their next meal will come from. A recent听听projects that food insecurity levels may grow to 42 million by the end of 2021.

Food insecurity is听a person or family’s inability to obtain enough nutritious food for each household member to live a healthy, active life. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) identifies听:

1. Food supply听is the physical availability of food, determined by stock levels, net trade and level of production.
2. Food access听is the ability to access or financially afford food, from the market to the household.
3. Food utilization听is the variety, quality and nutritional value of ingredients and preparation practices.
4. Food stability听is听the听consistency听鈥� or lack thereof 鈥� of stable access to a nutritious, energy-fulfilling food supply.

Even if a person’s food intake is adequate at the moment, they can still be considered听听if that access is unstable or temporary. Economic factors, political instability, climate and weather conditions can have a seasonal or unexpected adverse effect on food security.

Food insecurity can be a听听and occurs due to a variety of factors, including:

• Low income
• Employment instability
• Disability and health
• Ethnicity and race
• Community safety

From there, food insecurity can range in severity. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) separates food security into听:

• High food security:听A family with high food security can easily access and afford nutritious food for every meal, for every member of the household.
• Marginal food security:听A person with marginal food security may occasionally feel anxious about having enough food in their home but generally experience few, if any, changes in the regularity of meals or quality of food.
• Low food security:听Households with low food security may not go hungry or reduce food intake but may choose to partake in low-quality meals lacking in diversity. For example, they could have food for every meal but opt for simple, less nutrient-rich options due to affordability.
• Very low food security:听Individuals with very low food security disrupt their eating patterns, reduce food consumption during meals, eat poor-quality foods and may not know where their next meal is coming from. Reduced caloric intake and lack of nutrition can result in stunted growth, wasting, weakness and poor health.

More College Students Experience Food Insecurity Than You May Think

Food insecurity is an invisible condition on campuses all across America, and it affects more of your student population than you may realize. A staggering 1 in 3 college students faces food insecurity, and many do not have access to federal food programs and other forms of assistance to provide relief.

The most extensive annual assessment of basic needs security among college students, the recent听听from听Temple University’s Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice examined responses from nearly 86,000 students at over 100 institutions.听In the 30 days preceding the survey, at least 48% of students in two-year institutions and 41% of students at 4-year institutions reported experiencing food insecurity. Approximately half of all students surveyed said they worried about running out of food and couldn’t afford to eat balanced meals.

Every day, college students do their best to improve their lives through education. For at least a third of those enrolled, normal academic pressures are complicated further by the overwhelming stress of insecure housing and meal access. For the听听who face hunger while learning, choosing to pay for tuition or pay for food is a challenge that makes it difficult to balance school, work and health.

And the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the hunger problem. With quarantine orders affecting the operation of institutions and companies across the country, many students temporarily or permanently lost their jobs or had work hours reduced, significantly affecting their income.

At a time when the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) services would benefit them the most, students were unable to meet the 20 work hours per week to be eligible. Some states responded by implementing a听听so more learners could qualify, and听.

The pandemic may have lasting impacts on student hunger, making it all the more crucial for institutions to provide long-term food security solutions.

Why Are So Many College Students Experiencing Food Insecurity?

While numerous factors predispose the higher education student population to the risk of food insecurity, some students are more vulnerable than others:

• Minority students:听Minorities听have a听听both during childhood and in college.听Black students听are听听than their white classmates.
• First-generation students:听Many low-income first-generation students enroll in community colleges, and they are at risk for food insecurity. At least听听are food insecure, compared to 45% of those who have at least one parent who attended college.
• Housing-insecure students:听College students who cannot afford stable housing often also lack financial resources for food. Students who struggle with housing consistency experience听semester-to-semester听changes in resources as they attempt to provide for their basic needs, resulting in a听roller coaster of听food insecurity one semester and housing insecurity the next. At least 30% of the #RealCollege survey respondents听from four-year institutions reported housing and food insecurity within the previous year.

In addition to these risk factors, college students must also navigate increased education pricing, inflated living expenses and economic shifts. The cost of going to college has risen significantly over the past two decades. Here are just a few reasons why students struggle to afford food:

• Tuition prices:听Adjusting for inflation,听听over the past decade. As the cost of higher education has grown, so has听, leaving many to wonder how they will afford living expenses before and after graduation. Even with part-time or full-time jobs, the rising costs of housing and tuition contribute to financial instability and food insecurity.
• Meal plan prices:听On average, colleges and universities charge about $4,500 鈥斕�� for a dining contract providing three daily meals for a typical academic year. That’s far more than the听听average a single person spends on food, meaning undergraduates spend at least twice that on campus. Many institutions require students living on campus to buy meal plans. Some students cannot afford housing and transportation costs to commute, locking them into a financial meal plan commitment they may not be able to sustain.
• Inconsistent food availability:听Students can have meal plans and still encounter times when food is unavailable. Even on a well-resourced campus with multiple dining locations, low-income students struggle to find affordable food听. Food services often close over spring break, during holidays and between semesters. If students don’t have access to a car during breaks to pick up meals or don’t have the means to purchase them, they may have no choice but to go without.
• Family responsibilities:听Over the past 20 years, the line between “traditional” and “nontraditional” students has blurred significantly. No longer are campuses filled with students fresh out of high school with few family obligations or work commitments.听听years old. Students include young single parents, millennials caring for older parents and individuals learning a new career later in life. More than听听in addition to working toward their educational goals.
• Ever-rising living expenses:听When adjusted for inflation, young adults have only seen a听. Housing, rent and utility costs have skyrocketed. As the staggering increases in living and education costs continue, making ends meet becomes increasingly difficult for today’s students.

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The Impact of Food Insecurity on College Students

To think critically and perform well academically, students need energy 鈥� and a lack of nutritious food deprives them of that energy. When students go hungry, they lose their ability to focus in class, retain knowledge from studying, complete assignments effectively and perform well during tests.

The impact of food insecurity on health and academic performance is long-lasting, affecting students during their college years and after graduation.听The adverse effects of food insecurity reach far beyond hunger alone, including:

• Poorer psychosocial health:听A recent study indicates the harmful effects of food insecurity on students’听听hinder their academic performance.
• Anxiety and depression:听Students with low food security are听听to experience depression than their food-secure peers.
• Worse overall physical health:听Food-insecure students听听and their meals are usually nutrient-poor. Food insecurity decreases healthy physical activity on campus and disrupts sleep patterns. When students are deprived of regular nutrition, their energy levels, sleep and physical health suffer.
• Inability to purchase textbooks:听More than half of all food-insecure students report they cannot purchase required books or other course-required materials.
• Lower grade point average (GPA):听Studies examining food insecurity among community college students show that food-insecure students are听听versus a higher GPA (3.5-4.0). Institutions must recognize the link between underachieving college students and food insecurity.
• Higher dropout rates:听At least听听plan to drop out entirely. For students experiencing hunger or housing instability, those factors harm their academic performance, and听.
• Increased debt:听Students who cannot afford food and tuition may choose to take out additional loans, which accumulate interest and lead to high loan payments after graduation. The burden of higher fees can lead to financial and food insecurity after college, continuing the same condition the student tried to avoid.

What Can Colleges & Universities Do to Battle Food Insecurity on Campus?

Colleges and universities can take a variety of steps to ensure everyone on campus has access to nutritional food, including:

1. Evaluate Food Insecurity on Campus

Institutions don’t know their students are food insecure, and leaders cannot fight a problem they aren’t aware of.听Many administrators think food insecurity is an uncommon exception at their campus. It is common for low-income students to live off-campus or opt out of meal plans because they cannot afford them, and college administration is exposed only to those who can afford to eat on campus.

While K-12 schools collect data and track how many students qualify for food assistance, universities and colleges may not. Higher education administration must make a conscious effort to evaluate their vulnerable students by using financial aid records and other available data to assess populations most at risk for food insecurity.

2. Adjust Accessibility to Food

Work with听hospitality providers听to address gaps in food coverage during breaks, when food-insecure and low-income students are most at risk for hunger. Keep dining halls and other meal solutions open and accessible for students during semester breaks and holidays. Explore solutions that work best for your student body and food providers and set up programs that promote food security.

3. Allow Meal Donations

Make every purchased meal point count. Consider implementing a program to allow students to share meal points or donate unused meal swipes from their plans to classmates in need. For example,听听works with institutions to develop easy-to-use meal-sharing solutions, helping more than 130 colleges serve over 2 million nutritious meals to date.

4. Establish College Food Pantries

Establish campus food pantries that operate with discretion, dignity and sensitivity 鈥� open-access rules allow any student to take advantage of the provided resources without required proof of income. Stock campus food banks with perishable and nonperishable goods and make them accessible year-round.

Co-founded by the Michigan State Student Food Bank 鈥� the first campus-based food assistance program in America 鈥� and the Oregon State University Food Pantry in 2012, the听听supports college food banks. CUFBA’s听听has best practices and guidelines to advise institutions on establishing outreach programs.

5. Help Students Apply for Food Assistance

Reduce the stigma surrounding food assistance by establishing campus-based initiatives to assist students with enrollment in public benefits, like SNAP. To improve effectiveness and reach, combine these assistance initiatives with other services students already use, like advising, counseling and financial aid.

Just as institutions assist students with the financial aid process, colleges should provide advisors and听support to help low-income students navigate the application process for government food assistance programs.

6. Target Financial Insecurity

Financial insecurity and food insecurity go hand in hand. College leadership should take a systemic, long-term approach to examine institutional affordability. Determine targeted ways to provide economic relief for low-income and at-risk students.听

Expand aid opportunities to include emergency grants, loaner laptop programs and housing assistance. And increase existing grants and scholarships to cover unlimited meal plans specifically.

Partner With 日本高清 to End Food Insecurity at Your College

At 日本高清,听we will work with you to prepare accessible, nutrient-rich meal plans for every student.听We pride ourselves on providing customizable food services specifically tailored to each partner’s needs. We fuel learners to excel at their studies and lead us to an educated, brighter future. As a socially responsible hospitality partner, our听Fresh Difference听approach provides nourishing food solutions at your institution.

We see firsthand how higher education institutions are incredible drivers of change. Our culinary experts offer exemplary service to听increase food security for your campus with our dining hall, multi-site and portable meal solutions.

Contact us听today to learn more about partnering with 日本高清 to deliver innovative solutions to end student hunger.

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Learn more below about the new expectations for college and university dining services, along with some of the best COVID-19 safety practices for campus dining services to follow.

Changing Expectations for College & University Dining Services

College students and their parents have always expected their campus dining services to protect their health and safety. These days, there is a heightened expectation for campus dining services to practice proper COVID-19 safety protocols and provide alternative dining options for students who don’t feel comfortable dining in person.

Specifically, college and university dining services are seeing a greater push for to-go options. These serving methods allow students to quickly pick up their meals and leave without coming into close contact with any other students or campus employees. Some on-campus dining centers may even get designated as “to-go only” locations.

To mitigate any potential of spreading the coronavirus, pre-packed meals are preferable to having students fill up a personal to-go container. Buffets, in general, are no longer a campus dining hall norm. Many college and university campuses have switched to a cafeteria-style service option to eliminate shared serving utensils.

Most students and parents also expect campus dining services to take other COVID-19 precautions, such as requiring masks to be worn indoors and enforcing social distancing. To allow for 鈥� at least 6 feet between students 鈥� many dining halls may have to institute a new capacity limit. Other measures may include adjusted seating arrangements, floor decals and signage to indicate traffic flows and queueing areas.

Best Practices for College & University Dining Services

The campus dining changes brought on by the pandemic, such as limited indoor seating, make it more challenging to ensure each student has the opportunity to receive their meals. To safely serve as many students as possible, college and university dining service coordinators should focus on expanding access to campus dining services, eliminating barriers to acquiring fresh meals, ensuring food safety and clearly communicating with the student body.

Because each campus has its own unique circumstances and resources available, some approaches will suit certain campuses better. Each college and university leader will need to figure out which methods best enable them to keep their students healthy and well-fed.

Check out the best campus dining safety procedures below to determine which practices would be most practical for your institution to adopt.

Expanding Access

To ensure as many students have access to campus dining services as possible, college and university leaders should consider these practices:

• Extend the pickup period: Make sure the pickup window for campus meals is long enough that students have enough time to retrieve their meals regardless of their class schedule or extracurricular commitments. Giving students a longer pickup period will make it easier for more students to access on-campus dining options and reinforce social distancing by spacing out when students arrive for pickup.
• Map out meal sites strategically: Setting meal pickup sites around campus at centrally located places will make it more convenient for students to get their meals. Instead of having one main pickup site that might be out of the way for some students living in certain dorms or taking certain classes, try to have multiple sites near high-traffic spaces on campus.
• Continue serving meals over breaks: Especially with fewer students traveling for spring break this year, college and university dining services need to keep offering meals during breaks. By providing meals over breaks, college and university officials can make sure there is no disruption in meal service and every student continues to have access to healthy meals.
• Provide meals on the weekend: Colleges and universities should provide students with meals on the weekend so students don’t have to worry about finding or preparing food. Students who lack access to transportation, in particular, rely on their campus dining services to provide weekend meals.
• Offer child care for food service workers: Taking extra measures like extending pickup periods will extend campus food service workers’ hours, as well. Providing these front-line workers with places where their children are safely cared for will allow them to serve more meals without worrying about child care.

Eliminating Barriers

Along with making meal pickups more accessible overall, there are some specific on-campus dining barriers you should eliminate for all students to have food security. Follow these suggestions to remove unnecessary meal service barriers:

• Offer meal delivery services:听For students who are unable to make it to pickup sites, offer a delivery service that will take meals directly to their dorms. Direct delivery is a great option for any students who are sick, live with someone who is sick or lack access to transportation.
• Serve multiple meals simultaneously:听Consider offering to-go options for every meal of the day all day to accommodate more students’ schedules. Serving multiple meals at a time will let students who might not be able to pick up breakfast because of back-to-back morning classes grab their breakfast the night before.
• Encourage mobile app orders: Cut down on long lines and a potential increase of close interactions at pickup stations by allowing mobile app orders. Students can order food before showing up at the pickup location so they can skip the line. Pre-ordering can also help students with tight schedules coordinate their pickup timing more easily.
• Be lenient about student identification: Although student identification may still be required to pick up meals, college and university food service employees should try to be laxer about the rule. Ensuring healthy food for college students should be a priority right now, so occasionally allowing a student who forgets their ID to pick up a meal is understandable.

Ensuring Safety

Food safety is a top priority among college and university food service administrators. Here are a few strategies for promoting food safety on campus and protecting students’ health:

• Establish clear food safety procedures: Practicing general food safety will help prevent the transmission of any foodborne illnesses. All college and university dining service workers should be thoroughly trained in basic food safety procedures for both preparing and serving meals.
• Set up meal pickup sites outdoors: To encourage social distancing and minimize the number of people inside campus dining centers, set up tents outside to serve as on-foot meal pickup sites. For students driving to get their food, offer a curbside pickup option to eliminate the need for them to enter the dining center.
• Form safety procedures that protect staff members: Make sure there is enough personal protective equipment (PPE) on hand for every dining service worker to be fully protected at all times. Essential PPE includes face coverings and gloves to shield staff members from potential transmission when interacting with students picking up their food.
• Increase cleaning rotations: Practice strict sanitation procedures and make sure high-touch surfaces get cleaned more frequently. Each shift should involve multiple rounds of deep sanitations.

Communicating With Clarity & Transparency

While taking measures to expand access, eliminate barriers and ensure food safety among campus dining options is essential, you need clear and transparent communication about these new practices for them to go smoothly. Here are ways to make sure everyone is aware of any new campus dining service procedures:

• Distribute information about campus dining services in multiple languages:听Make sure all of the information about on-campus dining services is available in multiple languages to ensure international students are aware of any important changes. Breaking down language barriers will also ensure that all students recognize the on-campus dining resources available to them and how to access them.
• Take advantage of all available media outlets:听Reach a wider audience by using various media outlets to communicate with students. Specifically, posting updates on social media is a great way to reach college and university students. Other avenues of keeping students updated include text messages, emails, pre-recorded calls, television and the campus radio station. Use these communication options to circulate information about meals, service schedules and pickup locations.
• Use up-to-date information and discuss future plans: When using media outlets to communicate, make sure the information is current. While students are under an excessive amount of stress during these times, clearly communicating how and when to pick up their meals can relieve the significant stressor of what to eat each day. Try to be transparent about potential future changes to campus dining services, as well, so students can plan ahead and adjust accordingly.
• Publish menus and nutrition information: Be intentional about providing menu details and nutrition information by publishing hard copies and posting the weekly menu online. Include a list of ingredients for each menu item so students have all the information they need about food allergens and vegetarian, vegan, kosher and halal options.
• Make it clear who the meals are available for: Advertise each category of college student meal plan and who meal pickups are available to so each student knows how many meal pickups they can receive per week. Publicizing this information may help more students realize they qualify for to-go meals.

CDC Recommendations to Follow

In addition to the practical procedures listed above, the has rolled out specific food service guidelines for institutions of higher education. Following these recommendations will help protect student health and safety by helping minimize the spread of COVID-19.

Below are the on-campus food safety practices suggested by the CDC:

• Avoid self-service options: Limit any self-service station, such as buffet-style food bars, condiment bars and beverage dispensers, and avoid providing any small appliances for communal use, such as toasters and waffle makers.
• Serve nutritionally balanced meals: Keep serving healthy food for college students by including enough fresh fruit, vegetables and lean protein, which will help students’ immune systems stay strong to fend off illness. Consider individually plating or pre-packaging these meals to make them easier to take to go.
• Have handwashing stations: Provide accessible soap and water for handwashing at all campus dining centers. If you cannot provide soap and water in certain areas, offer hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.
• Discourage sharing food: Discourage students from sharing food regardless of whether the food was brought from home or received from campus dining services.
• Offer grab-and-go options: Prioritize grab-and-go meals and encourage students to opt for takeout. If using communal dining areas, make sure students practice proper social distancing by placing visual cues 6 feet apart.
• Provide outdoor seating: If possible, create outdoor seating opportunities for students while maintaining social distance. Clean and disinfect the tables after each use.
• Use disposable utensils: Cut down on shared items by providing students with disposable utensils. If using disposable items is not feasible, make sure that all reusable items are handled with gloves and washed in hot water with dish soap.
• Pre-package food for events: If the school is offering food at any event, provide pre-packaged bags or boxes of food for each attendee instead of serving food as a buffet or family-style.
• Focus on touchless payment methods: When possible, set up touchless payment methods that allow students to purchase their food without touching money, a card or a keypad. If touchless payment options are not possible, offer at least 60% alcohol hand sanitizer near pay areas so students can immediately sanitize their hands after touching money, cards or keypads.

Remember to Be Flexible

Flexibility is key for college and university food safety. Especially during these times, campus leaders must be able to adapt quickly to new information and changing protocols. Because no one can predict a COVID-19 outbreak, campus food policies need to be easily modified to accommodate various circumstances.

For example, certain states have stricter restrictions for on-premise dining that colleges and universities have to work around. Campuses in these states may benefit from offering more to-go dining options and setting up more outdoor dining areas near the dining center or residence halls.

Providing more seating for outdoor dining can help college and university dining services preserve more of the social aspect of on-campus dining. The top priority of campus dining coordinators should always be to keep students safe. But they should also keep in mind how important communal dining is for college students’ social development and try to incorporate opportunities for group dining while social distancing.

Offering more outdoor dining will require college and university dining services to again be flexible. Because outdoor dining is weather-dependent, food service workers will need to be prepared for sudden shifts in plans, such as an increase of to-go orders when it starts to rain. By staying flexible and keeping packaging supplies on hand, food service employees can adapt to a variety of circumstances.

Contact 日本高清 About Your Campus Dining Options

If you’re searching for a high-quality, reliable dining partner to provide your college campus with safe, healthy and delicious meals, consider higher education dining solutions from 日本高清. 日本高清 sets itself apart from other college food service companies by being both a hospitality and culinary company.

As a caring and accommodating hospitality partner, we allow you to customize your dining plans to suit your campus COVID-19 protocols. As an experienced culinary company, we provide your campus with fresh, innovative and nutritious dining options.

To learn more about how you can keep safely serving the students on your campus, contact 日本高清 today.

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If you work in the foodservice industry, integrating touchless technology into your operations could greatly benefit your business. Learn more about the details of touchless technology, why this tech is so popular and how specific touchless foodservice technologies can improve your business.

What Is Touchless Technology?

As the name suggests, touchless technology is any device that you can operate or use without physically touching it. Common examples of these touch-free human-machine interfaces include camera-based gestures, voice recognition, eye-tracking tech and proximity-enabled touchless screen technology.

Touchless technology works by enabling computer systems to take directions via voice, facial patterns, user behaviors or physical movements, such as hand gestures. After taking in this information, the systems rely on their preset algorithms to process these signals and complete the user’s desired action.

When paired with other technological advancements, such as artificial intelligence, touchless technology can equip businesses and organizations with integrated solutions that enhance the employee and visitor experience. In this way, touchless tech enables corporations to overcome certain vulnerabilities in their infrastructure to provide a more valuable service.

Specifically, touch-free technology prioritizes health and safety precautions, ensures streamlined customer service and improves the effectiveness of administrative tools. Along these lines, touchless technology is the answer for issues such as germs spreading due to high-touch surfaces, excessively long lines for customer service and efficient building maintenance.

Essentially, touchless technology allows a business or organization to operate more smoothly overall while protecting the health of its workers and visitors.

The Rise of Touchless Foodservice Technology

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic produced an unprecedented demand for touch-free tech, touchless technology had been steadily taking over the foodservice industry. Foodservice managers who were particularly forward-thinking, tech-savvy or health-conscious were already beginning to recognize the value of offering touchless tech like contactless payment options.

Once COVID-19 cases began to surge, the need for touchless tech within foodservice accelerated exponentially. Consumers began to expect foodservice providers to protect their health and safety by offering touchless tech to make placing an order safer. In addition to saying a restaurant’s cleanliness was very important to them, 80% of customers said they would avoid a restaurant if they had concerns about its COVID-19 safety practices.

However, if a restaurant took extra COVID-19 safety precautions and proactively communicated those measures to its patrons, said the likelihood of them ordering from that restaurant would strongly increase. As a result, a restaurant’s survival depended on demonstrating its commitment to health and safety by meeting these customer expectations.

To ensure a safe and healthy customer experience, many foodservice coordinators turned to touchless technology solutions. Touchless tech offered multiple benefits for shielding consumers from illness by promoting cleanliness, contactless dining, social distancing and savings on restaurant costs.

Among the food safety changes adopted by restaurants during the pandemic, limited contact was at the forefront. Touchless technology became key for minimizing contact between consumers and foodservice workers by providing solutions such as contactless payment and deliveries as well as digital menus to cut down on the shared items within a restaurant.

Thanks to touchless foodservice tech, many restaurants reopened smoothly and continued doing business throughout the pandemic by following the required safety procedures. These necessary protocols included upholding strict food, safety and hygiene standards as well as providing service that is as contactless as possible. In this way, COVID-19 fast-tracked the development and implementation of touchless foodservice technology.

Although touchless foodservice technology arose as the hero of the hour during the COVID-19 pandemic, touch-free tech is not a passing fad. As these initially short-term solutions start to take root, restaurant managers and consumers alike are growing to appreciate the innovation and convenience of touchless foodservice tech. In fact, many prefer these high-tech solutions to the old ways of dining.

Furthermore, statistics suggest that touchless foodservice technology is here to stay. Because COVID-19 deeply impacted so many people’s ways of behaving in public and consumer behavior trends, plan to continue offering touchless foodservice technology.听In particular, 88% of restaurants will stick with using digital menus instead of physical menus, and 61% of restaurants are keeping their contactless payment systems.听Based on these numbers, the post-pandemic norm will most likely involve plenty of touchless foodservice technology and contactless dining.

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3听Touchless Foodservice Technologies for Your Business

To get a clearer picture of how touchless technology can impact the foodservice industry well beyond the pandemic, check out these three cutting-edge touchless foodservice technologies:

1. Mobile Payments

Mobile pay is an excellent touchless technological tool because it allows customers to complete a transaction by simply scanning or swiping their screen. With hand hygiene standing out as a major point of health and safety, a touch-free payment method is a perfect solution for preventing patrons and workers from frequently exchanging cash, cards and change.

Along with eliminating contact between the customer and restaurant employee, mobile pay can speed up the check-out process. Making transferring money quicker and easier will enhance the customer experience by getting them through the line faster and reducing any crowding near the register.

While mobile payment options are already popular among quick-service industry giants, such as Starbucks, Chipotle and McDonald’s, many foodservice establishments have yet to offer mobile pay. However, this could change as more and more restaurants seek to provide more contactless services. Other restaurants can quickly catch up if they join the mobile pay club sooner rather than later.

There is a wide variety of mobile payment apps available for foodservice coordinators to choose from, including big names like Apple Pay and Google Pay, as well as up-and-coming brands like Square Cash and Venmo. As long as an establishment has an up-to-date point-of-sale (POS) platform, adding mobile pay should simply require a software upgrade and compatible devices to operate smoothly.

2. Automated and Smart Equipment

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, automated and smart equipment are becoming increasingly popular in commercial kitchens. From assembly line robots that can slice, dice and mix ingredients to vending machine-style salad dispensers, touch-free automated food prep solutions continue to hit the market. This type of touchless foodservice technology ensures completely contactless dining.

Most automated and smart equipment are fairly new innovations and may come with a hefty price tag. However, numerous more affordable pieces of cooking equipment incorporate touchless technology, such as touchless water filters and beverage dispensers. Getting familiar with these smaller items is a great way to build up to investing in larger touchless tech equipment.

3. Digital Menus

Switching to digital menus can solve multiple issues facing those within the foodservice industry. These are some of the main perks that come with using digital menus:

• Improved hand hygiene: Digital menus means diners never actually touch the menus.
• Less time cleaning: Unlike traditional laminated menus, digital menus do not need to be periodically sanitized or wiped down after each use.
• Easier to update: A digital menu can be updated for little expense and effort because small edits can be made without replacing the entire menu.
• Advanced browsing for customers: Having a digital menu available allows customers to look over the menu before sitting down so they’re ready to order sooner.

Dining services can either request that customers view the digital menu on their phone or provide a digital menu at the table. Keep in mind that if a digital menu is provided at the table, it will either need to feature a touchless screen, or the food service workers will need to thoroughly clean these menus after each party leaves to minimize the risk of spreading germs.

Setting up a simple mobile app can be a convenient way for consumers to view a digital menu as well as place their orders. A mobile app also serves as an easy way to offer contactless payment.

American Food & Vending Touchless Solutions

Investing in touchless foodservice technology can help your business stay current and attract more customers. Especially as the coronavirus continues to raise concerns regarding food safety and hand hygiene, touchless technology can set your business apart from other dining options.

If you’re ready to explore your touchless foodservice technology options, check out these innovative touch-free solutions from American Food & Vending:

• Touchless nano markets: A contactless miniature market allows customers to grab the items they need quickly, scan their phone to pay and get on their way without ever having to exchange cash or a card. In this way, a touchless nano market is beneficial for healthy hand hygiene as well as more convenient for busy grocery shoppers.
• Touchless vending options:听A vending machine can be made touch-free by incorporating kick plates and elbow pulls that allow consumers to access their beverage or snack without risking their hand hygiene.
• Touchless coffee dispensers: With a touchless coffee dispenser, consumers can receive their morning brew by simply entering their usual coffee order on their mobile device. Customers can also use their phones to pay for their cup of joe, making their coffee purchasing experience entirely touchless.
• Touchless beverage stations: A touchless beverage station offers endless flavors, sparkling and filtered still water. Unlike traditional self-serve beverage stations, a touchless beverage station lets customers use their phones to make their beverage selections and avoid contacting high-touch surfaces.
• Touchless water filtration system: As a hands-free way to stay hydrated, a touchless water filtration system dispenses water whenever someone steps on one of its foot pedals. The contactless water filter features two foot pedals 鈥� one for cold water and one for hot water.

Additional Ways to Implement Touchless Foodservice Technology

Making the switch the contactless technology solutions, such as the ones listed above, can be surprisingly simple. A foodservice coordinator can implement pieces of touchless technology in their business in several ways. Often, fully transitioning to touchless food technologies is a gradual process so choosing to start with just one item of touchless tech and working up to more is perfectly fine.

If you’re interested in integrating touchless tech into your foodservice practices, check out these top five strategies for introducing touchless technology at your business:

1. Make the Most of QR Codes

A quick response (QR) code is a code that can be easily scanned by a mobile device and nearly instantly bring up a wide variety of information on the device’s screen. The most popular use of QR codes within the foodservice industry is to direct customers to a digital menu. However, you can use QR codes to guide customers toward additional information, such as your establishment’s health and safety practices, real-time updates on their order’s status, contactless payment options and more.

2. Accept Various Styles of Contactless Payment

Although your establishment may have its own mobile app for collecting digital payment, consider accepting other touchless payment methods. As cash apps continue gaining popularity among the public, it may be more convenient for consumers if your business takes payments from these apps. Making touchless payment as easy and accessible as possible may attract more customers.

3. Ensure Your Touchless Technologies Work Together

While offering multiple touchless technological services is optimal, it is imperative to make sure that each piece of touchless tech interacts with your systems seamlessly to create a smooth contactless workflow. Make sure a new piece of touchless technology is fully integrated into your system and you’ve ironed out any kinks before attempting to include another new type of tech.

4. Be Transparent With Customers

Consumers are most likely to choose a place to eat that is up-front about its sanitization and cleaning processes. Make sure your business adheres to the restaurant regulations and the recommendations for restaurants to protect against the coronavirus and lets its customers know that it prioritizes their health by communicating its sanitary practices via signage, its website and social media.

5. Gather Feedback From Consumers

Be intentional about gathering customer feedback to find out whether your touchless technology is effectively enhancing their experiences or not. Collecting surveys interacting with your customers on social media can give you a better idea of which touchless foodservice technologies are helping your business and what you can improve upon. If your business has a mobile app, you can easily source surveys and ratings there.

Contact American Food & Vending About Your Touchless Technology Options

If you’re ready to start offering your customers innovative touchless technology, check out the many听touchless technology solutions from American Food & Vending. As both a hospitality company and a culinary company, American Food & Vending is your perfect partner for providing consumers with a safe and healthy dining experience they can trust.

To learn more about how touchless technology could benefit your business, contact American Food & Vending听today.

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If you’re wondering how to attract the best employees, keep reading to learn how a corporate cafeteria could be exactly what your company needs.

Challenges in Recruiting and Maintaining Top Talent

A company is only as good as its workers, which is why recruiting and retaining top talent is integral to a corporation’s success. In fact, acquiring top talent will most likely become increasingly important for complex jobs as technology continues to advance, and older generations begin to exit the workforce.

Despite the importance of hiring and maintaining gifted individuals, few business leaders听have confidence in their company’s strategies for attracting听highly talented people. And of those who do believe in their recruitment process, even fewer think they can retain their top talent for the longterm.

Furthermore, “failure to attract and retain top talent” was named as the number one problem facing companies today according to a . These results indicate that recruitment weighs even more heavily on the minds of business leaders than economic growth or competitive intensity. While global business leaders recognize the importance of hiring and maintaining top recruits, many still do not know how to find valuable talent.

Even after a company manages to hire a highly talented individual, it still faces the challenge of maintaining the employee’s loyalty. The workforce is becoming dominated by millennials, who are far less likely to remain at the same job for as long as members of previous generations would be. In fact, have already had three or more jobs since beginning their careers.

The high turnover rate among millennial workers is a large concern for corporations because turnover is expensive. Especially for jobs that are intensely interactive or information-based, productivity takes a considerable dip when key employees leave. Because retention is so critical for business, any tactics proven to draw talented people to a company and keep them there are well worth the investment.

How Dining Services Can Positively Impact Recruitment Efforts

Because highly skilled workers typically have multiple job offers to choose from, companies need to set themselves apart from the competition by bringing something exceptional to the table. This is where a cutting-edge company cafeteria can make a huge difference. When recruits are looking into a company, dining services are viewed as a major perk. Recruits will be more likely to remember a company visit if they have an incredible meal experience while there.

The world’s largest HR membership organization designated for human resource management, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), recently discovered that surveyed employees ranked “overall benefits” as the third most important contributor to their job satisfaction, with rating “overall benefits” as “very important.” A great cafeteria is crucial to a company’s benefits package and can sway a potential employee’s decision to stay or go.

A business also needs a high-quality cafeteria to have a chance of keeping up with its competitors and winning top recruits over. Well-designed, communal cafeterias are gaining popularity for their ability to deliver ROI by means of recruitment, productivity and branding, resulting in more and more businesses investing in company cafeterias. That means businesses will have to improve their dining services as well if they want to stand out.

Along with attracting talent, company cafeterias are key to retaining employees once they’ve been hired. A communal cafeteria space can play a large role in helping employees stay connected and engaged while at work, which will boost collaboration and employee satisfaction. In addition to being a strategic recruitment initiative, an onsite cafeteria helps with a company’s long term viability by fostering a healthy workplace culture.

Additional Dining Service Benefits for Businesses

Along with being a great means of attracting top talent, a high-quality onsite dining service offers an array of additional benefits for businesses. The most notable advantages of a company cafeteria include:

1. Thriving Social Environment

A cafeteria can serve as the social hub of an office, drawing workers out of their isolated cubicles and workspaces. By providing a place to mingle with peers, cafeterias open up doors for co-workers to get to know one another, exchange ideas and collaborate. When co-workers are invested in each other’s success, they naturally work together better and become more engaged with their projects.

Along with building community, connecting with co-workers from different departments can help workers develop a greater sense of belonging, which increases company loyalty.

2. Higher Worker Morale

A company cafeteria with delicious dining options will give employees something to look forward to while they work. Instead of a lonely lunch break at their own desks, workers can anticipate a friendly dining atmosphere as they go through their morning tasks. Employers can also boost workplace morale by making meals affordable 鈥� and employees can save money by not having to pay for gas to go out and get food. Employees can also have more time to relax and enjoy their lunch break since they won’t have to factor in travel time.

3. Increased Productivity

Well-fed employees will have the energy they need to work harder and stay focused throughout the day. Having a company cafeteria makes it easier and more convenient for employees to take a lunch break, which gives them ample time to reenergize. Also, having a cafeteria onsite discourages longer lunch breaks outside of the office, adding to employee productivity and efficiency even more.

On the other hand, malnourished employees are prone to be less productive and need more sick days. Keeping the company cafeteria stocked with healthy food choices helps ensure employees’ nutritional needs get met and that everyone has the energy to work through the day.

4. Enhanced Employee Wellness

To keep workers healthy and well-nourished, a company cafeteria must offer a variety of healthy snack and meal options. Corporations can prioritize their employees’ wellness by using only minimally processed ingredients that are low in trans fats and sodium. The cafeteria will also need to take everyone’s dietary needs into account and accommodate for allergies as well as vegetarian, vegan, low-calorie and other diets.

Along with nutritious food options, companies can consider initiating a wellness program that promotes physical activity and overall healthy lifestyle choices. Employers may be surprised how much a wellness program ends up improving their operations and bottom lines.

5. Reduced Administrative Costs

Outsourcing the food management of the company cafeteria can save the administration time, energy and costs. Working with a reliable hospitality service to provide for the company’s dining needs eliminates having to hire and train in-house employees to work in the cafeteria.

Additionally, the company will save on their wages and benefits as well as food costs. Because corporate cafeteria vendors buy their food in bulk, they can offer prices that are considerably lower than what it would cost a business to operate its cafeteria on its own.

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Considerations for Building a Recruitment-Worthy Dining Program

Companies interested in launching a dining program tasty enough to woo top talent need to concentrate on a few key cafeteria concerns. A limited, basic dining program will not be enough to persuade recruits to join a company’s team. Instead, businesses need to take an innovative approach to their dining program to boost both recruitment and retention of employees.

Corporations can create an elevated dining experience for its employees by following these guidelines:

• Prioritize quality: Maintaining the quality of the cafeteria’s food is essential to ensuring employees want to eat there. A company cafeteria that incorporates international flavors and customizable stations will be far more popular than a simple, old-school cafeteria.
• Stay ahead of the competition: Depending on where a business is located, it may be surrounded by restaurant options that are tasty enough to tempt employees into venturing outside the office. A cafeteria can combat this competition by offering equally delicious, healthy meal options for an affordable price.
• Consider dietary preferences: To appeal to everyone in the office, a company cafeteria must include diverse dining options that cater to allergy needs and other dietary choices.
• Promote good health: Today’s workers are looking for healthy food options more than anything else. Companies can easily meet this demand by providing freshly prepared dishes that use only fresh, unprocessed ingredients.
• Go beyond lunch: Many employees don’t follow a set work schedule and may end up eating at odd times. To accommodate this, company cafeterias should offer a variety of dining opportunities throughout the workday, such as mid-morning smoothies, an open salad bar and an afternoon snack option like flatbreads.
• Think globally and source locally: Infusing globally inspired flavors into a company cafeteria’s cuisine can take it to new heights. Rotating through a good mix of specialty global dishes and local staples will keep the cafeteria’s menu exciting and enticing to employees.

How to Select the Perfect Hospitality Partner

If you’re ready to start seeing the benefits of a corporate cafeteria, follow these eight听steps to choosing the right hospitality partner to provide your company’s dining services.

1. Start With a Selection Committee

The search for the right hospitality partner begins with a solid selection committee. Typically, this committee comprises the following individuals:

• Finance department senior manager: The senior manager of the finance department can help the committee understand the numbers and economics that go along with choosing a hospitality provider.
• Human resources senior manager: An HR senior manager can give insight as to how to manage the overall employee benefits package.
• Facility manager: Considering that utilities, equipment and floor space will be involved in launching a company cafeteria, the facility manager should be involved in the decision-making process.
• Mid-level managers: Several mid-level managers from a variety of departments will give the committee a broader perspective.
• Newer employees: Because the cafeteria will directly impact everyone at the company, opinions and views of lower-level employees should also be taken into account.

2. Identify Your Goals

For the committee to be effective, it will have to determine its goals and a plan before jumping into the selection process. The scope of the project along with specific expectations should be outlined during the first meeting, including any financial or operating limitations. After determining the specifics of what the company is looking for in its hospitality partner and dining services, the committee can start coming up with actionable items and establishing a timeline for the project.

3. Assess Your Options

After completing a list of goals and particular qualities to look for in a hospitality partner, the committee can begin looking into the services available and narrowing the field down to viable options. Analyzing customer reviews, press releases and other articles can give the committee members more insight into the service provider’s operating philosophy and whether it would be a good fit.

4. Prepare a Request for Proposal

Once the best service vendor options have been determined, the committee can prepare a request for proposal (RFP) from each of them. In general, an RFP will include information such as a description of the company, the full scope of its foodservice needs, any restrictions and other applicable criteria.

5. Select the Finalists

Based on the RFP forms your company receives, it can choose the hospitality partner finalists. By carefully reading over the replies submitted by interested hospitality service providers and comparing them with the original list of goals and qualifications originally set out, the selection committee can create a short list of top vendors.

6. Schedule an On-Site Visit

Now it’s time for the committee to plan on-site visits with the few finalists. Try to schedule the visit for breakfast or lunchtime, so the vendor can provide samples of its dishes and service plan. Include a few interviews with the potential partners’ executives to figure out how well the operation is run, how easy it would be to work with and how the funds get allotted. An on-site visit will allow the committee members to see the finalists’ offerings for themselves and get a better understanding as to whether they would be a good fit for the company.

7. Hear a Presentation Pitch

The vendor finalists typically conclude their visits with an in-house presentation to the selection committee. This presentation opportunity allows the vendors to give their pitch and make a case for why they would be a great fit for the company. After the presentation, the committee members will also be able to ask questions and discuss details with the vendors to help inform their decision.

8. Make Your Final Selection and Solidify a Contract

After the on-site visit and presentation, the committee will need some time to deliberate before coming to a final decision. Product quality, operating costs and organization will each play into how the committee chooses. Once an agreement has been reached, the company can draw up a contract that aligns with the RFP’s initial description and budget for the hospitality partner to approve and sign. Then, all that’s left to do is enjoy some great dining.

Partner With 日本高清 to Recruit Top Talent

If your company is looking for a hospitality partner that can offer both innovative culinary solutions and a customized experience, 日本高清 provides the services you need. With high-quality dining options and customizable plans, 日本高清 has a meal program that fits with any company’s vision.

To learn more about how your company can benefit from partnering with an excellent hospitality partner, contact 日本高清听today.

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