ezCater’s Annual Report Shows Growing Influence of Employer-Provided Meals in Recruiting and Retention

90% of employees surveyed report a more favorable view of their company when food is provided

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ezCater, the leading food for work technology company in the US, today released its annual report, "Food for Work 2024: The Growing Role of Food in Today's Workplace." Featuring insights from more than 2,800 employees, employers, food orderers and decision-makers, the report highlights the impact of workplace meals and their ability to drive employee satisfaction, retention, and productivity.

According to the report, nearly 90% of employees surveyed have a more favorable view of their company when food is provided. As a result, businesses are increasingly embracing food as a fundamental part of the workplace. More than half (53%) of employers surveyed are planning to increase their food budgets in 2024, and daily or weekly meal programs are also on the rise, increasing 32% year-over-year.

"ezCater's report findings reinforce the importance of food as an employee benefit," said Kaushik Subramanian, Chief Revenue Officer, ezCater. "It's a smart investment: employers offering food at their workplaces consistently see increased employee productivity and satisfaction."

Additional key takeaways from this year's report show that employer-provided meals:

• Influence employee recruitment: 66% of corporate orderers use food perks for recruiting purposes, a 16% increase from the previous year. They call out subsidized daily or weekly meals (59%) and free coffee or snacks (45%) in job listings or careers pages to entice applicants.
• Impact employee retention: 78% of corporate orderers believe that food makes employees more likely to stay with a company, a 13% increase from the previous year.
• Drive time savings and productivity: 70% of employees say a top reason they enjoy receiving a free meal at work is because it saves them time. In fact, employees say they save over 30 minutes per workday when employers provide food.
• Boost on-site attendance: 88% of business leaders agree that food encourages employees to work on-site. Hybrid workers share this view— 67% say that free food entices them to work in person. Similarly, two-thirds of employees surveyed say free food helps offset their commuting costs.

ezCater’s “Food for Work Report 2024: The Growing Role of Food in Today’s Workplace” can be found in full here. To learn more about ezCater’s scalable and flexible food solutions, visit https://www.ezcater.com/.

Methodology
To provide a broad perspective on current food for work trends, ezCater surveyed 600 workplace experience leaders, 600 regular food orderers, 1,005 employees with access to free/subsidized food, and 601 cafeteria decision makers during H1 2024.

About ezCater
ezCater is the leading food for work technology company in the US, connecting anyone who needs food for their workplace to over 100,000 restaurants nationwide. For workplaces, ezCater provides flexible and scalable solutions for everything from recurring employee meals to one-off meetings, all backed by 24/7 customer service with real humans. ezCater also enables companies to manage their food spend in a single, customizable platform. For restaurant partners, ezCater helps them grow their business by bringing them more orders and new high-value customers. To learn more, visit www.ezcater.com.