Why Facilities Teams Are Rethinking Workplace Dining

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• Why Facilities Teams Are Rethinking Workplace Dining

26 March 2026 | Updated 24 March 2026

Tom Baxter, Managing Director at Just Eat for Business, explores how facilities leaders can use food more strategically to support their office strategy, based on insights from their More Than a Meal report.

As organisations push for greater in-office collaboration, many are discovering that return-to-office policies alone do not guarantee a successful workplace. Recent reporting has highlighted how companies introducing stricter attendance expectations are encountering a different challenge: offices that are not always designed for how employees now want to work, connect and spend time during the day.

For Facilities Managers, this moment represents a broader shift in thinking. If the office is to justify the commute, every element of the workplace must contribute meaningfully to the experience of being there. Spaces once treated as purely functional are increasingly being reconsidered for the role they play in collaboration, culture and employee engagement.

While much of the conversation has focused on meeting rooms, flexible desks and collaboration zones, another area is quietly gaining strategic importance in the hybrid workplace: the lunch space. Historically, workplace dining areas were designed with efficiency in mind, built to handle predictable lunchtime peaks. Hybrid working patterns, however, are changing how these spaces are used – and what employees expect from them.

Today, employees are far more intentional about when they come into the office, often coordinating in-person days around meetings, project work and team collaboration. That shift has made the lunch break a key moment for connection during the working day.

Research from our More Than a Meal report highlights how behaviour is evolving. 58% of employees now say they prefer socialising with colleagues over lunch rather than after-work drinks, reflecting a shift towards connection during core working hours. Ordering behaviour mirrors this trend, with buffet and shared platter orders rising by 42% year on year, signalling growing demand for communal food experiences that bring teams together.

For facilities teams, these shifts are influencing how dining areas function within the wider workplace environment, and what’s expected of the people responsible for them.

Rather than acting purely as short-stay refuelling points, lunch spaces are increasingly becoming informal collaboration zones. Teams often continue conversations there after meetings, gather for informal catch-ups, or connect with colleagues outside their immediate department. As a result, dining areas can quietly ease pressures on formal meeting rooms, providing neutral ground the type of cross-team interaction that hybrid working can otherwise make harder to sustain.

This evolving role brings practical considerations for workplace planning. Layout, seating flexibility and capacity planning all influence whether dining spaces can support both quick breaks and longer team interactions. Hybrid attendance patterns can also create sharper midweek peaks, requiring catering provision that can scale without unnecessary waste on quieter days.

Operational coordination is therefore becoming more important. Facilities managers are increasingly working closely with HR and workplace strategy teams to understand attendance patterns, forecast busy days and ensure catering provision aligns with how the office is actually being used.

Inclusion is another important consideration. Today’s workforce is more diverse and multigenerational than ever, with a wide range of dietary, religious and lifestyle requirements. A limited or rigid offering risks excluding parts of the workforce entirely. Catering that offers genuine flexibility and choice is not just a practical requirement – it’s a signal that employees feel considered and supported.

Employees notice these signals. According to the More Than a Meal research, 67% of employees say they would feel more valued if their employer provided food, while 59% say it would make them more likely to recommend their workplace to others. The return on investment from thoughtful catering provision is increasingly becoming too difficult to ignore.

For facilities leaders thinking about the future workplace, dining spaces are becoming far more than a simple operational service. Managed thoughtfully, they can support collaboration, strengthen workplace culture and help ensure the office remains a place people genuinely want to be.

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Article written by Tom Baxter | Published 26 March 2026

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