Key Takeaways

• In general, corporate dining on-site employee roles include facilities management, inventory management, menu management, chefs, cooks, baristas, wait staff, cleaning crews, and warehouse and sourcing staff.

• Tech companies that offer corporate dining include Facebook, Airbnb, Dropbox, LinkedIn, Instagram, Google, Twitter, Square, Pinterest, Etsy, and Apple.
• Corporate dining models include employer-run on-site dining, third-party corporate dining management, and hybrid solutions such as corporate food halls, pop-up restaurants, and corporate catering.

Introduction

Corporate Dining Labor Structure

Roles

• In general, corporate dining organizations consist of on-site staff and corporate staff. The corporate staff such as c-suite executives manage the business side of the organization such as contracts, finances, and human resources. The on-site staff provides the organization's services and can include facilities management, inventory management, menu management, chefs, cooks, baristas, wait staff, cleaning crews, and warehouse and sourcing staff.
• In order to create a comprehensive picture of what a corporate dining organizational structure looks like, we conducted a high-level case study of CulinArt Group, an innovative corporate dining solutions company. Below, we have included the company's top executives as well as a list of non-executive roles.
• C-Suite Executives:
• President: Michael Purcell 
• Vice President, Marketing and Brand Strategy: Ali Bernardi 
• Vice President, Leisure and Logistics: Lou Vogt 
• Vice President, Senior Dining: Harry Williamson, Jr. 
• Division President, Delaware Valley-Greater Philadelphia: Dan McGill 
• Regional Vice President, Mid-Atlantic and Southeast: John Drexel 
• Regional Vice President: Jeff Powell 
• Director, Human Resources: Erik Buckholz 
• Director, Finance: Elliott Edyedy 

• Roles:
• Accounting and Finance  
•  Accounting/Bookkeeping  
•  Administrative  
•  Administrative Assistant  
•  Administrative Support  
•  Ambulatory Service  
•  Analytics  
•  Café and Retail Management  
•  Cashier  
•  Cashier/Front of House  
•  Catering and Catering Supervisors  
•  Catering and Events  
•  Catering Management  
•  Chef  
•  Clinical Engineering  
•  Communications  
•  Cook  
•  Culinary  
•  Customer Service/Experience Management  
•  Customer Service/Retail  
•  Customer Service/Sales  
•  Dining and Dining/Shift Supervisors  
•  Dishwasher/Back of House  
•  Electrician, Mechanic, and other Specialized Roles  
•  Engineering  
•  Environmental Services  
•  Event Management  
•  Facilities Management  
•  Facilities Support  
•  Food Service  
•  Foodservice Management  
•  Foodservice Workers and Supervisors  
•  Health & Safety  
•  Hospitality  
•  Hospitality/Wait Staff  
•  Hotel/Conference Center Management  
•  Housekeeper/Janitor  
•  Housekeeping  
•  Human Resources  
•  Information Technology  
•  Internships  
•  Laundry and Linen  
•  Laundry/Linen Services 
•  Legal  
•  Manager-in-Training  
•  Marketing  
•  Nutrition  
•  Nutrition and Wellness  
•  Patient Flow/Dispatcher  
•  Patient Transportation  
•  Plant Operations/Maintenance  
•  Purchasing/Procurement  
•  Quality Assurance  
•  Route Driver 
•  Safety and Training  
•  Sales  
•  Sterile Processing  
•  Strategic Projects  
•  Student/New Graduate  
•  Supervisor  
•  Support Services  
•  Support Services and Lead Support Services  
•  Technicians  
•  Veterans  
•  Wait Staff  
•  Warehouse 

Labor Force

• While there are no national statistics that define the labor force percentage of the corporate dining sector specifically, we were able to find that food preparation and serving related occupations make up 4.44% of the United States labor force.

Employees

• While there were no public research publications or media reports detailing the structure of employees in terms of contract employees or full-time employees, we were able to analyze a selection of corporate dining organizations.
• Through this analysis, we found that companies such as CulinArt Group and CafeServices employ workers only through a traditional employment model rather than through contracts. Employees generally work either full-time, part-time, or salary depending on the position.
• In addition, we found that prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, corporate dining primarily followed an in-person-only employment structure, however, ISS Guckenheimer, a corporate dining food service management company, has since designed a mix and match platform. The platform offers both in-person and virtual food-service solutions including the following packages: At-Home, Market, Beyond, and Shift.

Corporate Dining Models

• Corporate dining is defined as "the process of ordering and serving food for your employees."

In-House Model

•  In-house corporate dining is defined as end-to-end employer-provided food. This means that an employer that offers free, reduced, or full-price food options on-site for all employees including providing and maintaining a cafeteria space and staffing professional chefs and serving staff.
• Most in-house cafeterias charge employees full-price to maintain the lowest deficit.
• The in-house model is considered one of the most expensive corporate dining options. 
• The in-house model usage has been dropping in recent years due to high overhead costs and low profit margins.
• Examples of companies offering in-house corporate dining:
•  Facebook 
•  Airbnb 
•  Dropbox 
•  LinkedIn 
•  Instagram 

Out-Sourced Model

•  Out-sourced corporate dining, also referred to as corporate cafeteria service, is defined as employers providing an on-site food venue for employees to access with third-party management companies. This means that the employer hires a corporate dining management company who oversees all food service costs and functions.
• Most corporate dining management companies are price-driven and make adjustments to ingredients and menus based on overhead costs. This is especially impacted by the increase in the national minimum wage and the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Examples of companies offering out-sourced corporate dining:
•  Etsy 
•  Apple 

Hybrid Model

•  Hybrid corporate dining is defined as a mix between employer-provided food services and third-party provided food service on-site.
• There are many options for employers to provide hybrid corporate dining services including a corporate food hall, popup restaurants, corporate daily or event catering.
• A corporate food hall is an on-site local restaurant with or without employee discounts. Through this model, employers contract with local or national restaurants to provide on-site service to their employees who either pay in full or get a discount which is paid by the employer.
•  Popup restaurants are similar to corporate food halls, however, the restaurant does not operate on-site but rather brings options with them to the lunchroom or break room that employees can order from. In this model, the employer would not need to provide a kitchen.
• Corporate daily catering is employee-paid catering usually offered in platters or a buffet style. In addition, some employers do not provide daily options but hire caterers for corporate events such as training, parties, meetings, and more.
• Examples of companies offering out-sourced corporate dining:
•  Google 
•  Twitter 
•  Square 
•  Pinterest 

Research Strategy