Have you ever wondered what food service option would be most advantageous in the workplace? Specifically as it pertains to either a cafeteria or micro market? Quality food service in the workplace is important. Many businesses have adopted these workplace perks as an essential part of their company culture and employees have grown accustomed to these great on-site fresh food services. One of the main reasons it’s become so essential to offer onsite food and beverage options is that many jobs require hard labor and/or long work hours. And, employees working an 8:00 to 5:00 jobs need to work strategically and efficiently to complete their tasks on time. In many of these fast-paced job positions, taking a lunch break is not always realistic when deadlines are looming.

In these workplace environments, employees often adopt a grab-and-go mentality – so meet them where they’re at in this retail space with easy, simple, and convenient food options! Think quality food and beverages, including healthy snacks and even energy drinks. Seems simple enough, but in what form? There seem to be two superior choices: a cafeteria or micro market. Both options offer more than a simple vending machine but less than a full onsite restaurant. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of each.

Cafeterias

Offering fresh food options onsite gives employees a reason to stay on campus. This in turn can help increase employee productivity. Cafeterias offer more fresh and healthy food selections; and in some instances, they include options made-to-order with an on-site chef right in your office building. To learn more about the advantages in providing a cafeteria for your employees, check out this article. In a pre-Covid world, this space encouraged relationship building with team members and other coworkers. Most would say this greatly enhances the customer experience. Don’t underestimate the relational value of a shared meal. Find ways to encourage it.

However, one major con is that cafeterias come with much more overhead costs. It’s a potentially expensive endeavor when you factor in the additional cost of added employees including chefs, cashiers, cleaning staff, etc. Some companies subsidize cafeteria costs as an employee benefit. Keeping costs low for your employees is an amazing perk and a great strategy that incentivizes them to stay onsite to eat. But again, this is quite an investment when done with a cafeteria.

Micro-Markets

Successful micro markets, on the other hand, offer many of the same perks but with significantly fewer overhead costs. Still with a wide variety of fresh and healthy options in these vending markets, employees have a choice between healthy snacks, fresh foods, frozen foods, ice cream, energy drinks, and other beverages. Although nothing is made-to-order right in front of you, micro markets provide a wider variety of small snacks and full meals. Talk about enhancing the customer experience! There is truly something for everyone. Although having an onsite chef is definitely appealing, what these self-checkout kiosks may lack in one area, they make up for in minimal overhead costs. What huge savings considering the wide variety of food and beverages employees are still getting! It’s basically a convenience store within your various office buildings.

Low Maintenance Self-Checkout Kiosks

The beauty of a successful micro market kiosk is just how low maintenance these vending markets truly are. With your vending operator at the helm, you don’t have to worry about stocking and restocking the open shelving, coolers, and freezers. Down to the very last detail, you don’t have to worry about a thing… even having to set up the various payment options. Like with vending machines, micro market providers take care of basic maintenance, but Dependable Break Room Solutions goes the extra mile in creating an exceptional customer experience. From advanced technology for remote product monitoring and cashless payment security to custom micro market fixtures, you will be getting nothing but the best in this retail space. With cafeterias needing much more attention, self-checkout kiosks are the way to go when taking a simplified approach to workplace food service.

And again, as opposed to cafeterias, these self-checkout kiosks remove the need for additional workers and are truly conducive to providing quick, convenient, and healthy food options on the go. Although cafeterias often provide ample seating to encourage employee interaction, all is not lost with a micro market. These retail markets are typically stationed within break rooms to encourage more frequent use of these shared spaces. This makes it possible for individual use while simultaneously promoting employee interaction. What a great customer experience! The best of both worlds.

The Best Option?

So, between a fully-staffed cafeteria or self-checkout kiosk, which option is better? Which option provides the best customer experience? It all depends on who you ask! While each has its own pros and cons, every business has different needs and therefore requires different solutions. However, we believe that in many circumstances the pros far outweigh the cons with micro markets. Truly, they provide the most bang for your buck as the saying goes… with such a wide variety of food and beverages including fresh and healthy options… even ice cream! 

A solid case for this has been made in the article, “10 Reasons Why A Micro Market Is Better Than A Cafeteria”. Especially in an age of Covid-19 and social distancing, these retail markets are wildly popular since they can be used both individually and hopefully one day soon, communally.

Are you in the market for an onsite open-shelf vending market? We would love to talk to you about our customizable micro markets. With our very own in-house Market Fresh Foods, you receive amazingly fresh food options along with a wide variety of other delicious snacks and beverages. 

Secure Checkout Technology

Concerned about theft? You may be thinking, wouldn’t a fully open-shelved market with no staff be ripe for theft? It’s a valid concern but not a problem with the right safeguards in place! At Dependable, we use the latest self-checkout technology to ensure a successful micro market customer experience. With our camera systems, secured cashless payment methods, web-based inventory management, and proper signage, theft is significantly decreased. As with any convenience store or retail market, theft does happen… we just want to have many safeguards in place to significantly limit the possibility. 

Determining Factor

If we had to pick just one reason to choose a micro market over a cafeteria, it would be this… cost. With the money saved in this low-cost micro market vs. a cafeteria, you may even have the financial space to consider our subsidized programs as an added employee benefit. Choose a quality vending operator! Contact us at [email protected] for more information and customize your very own micro market kiosk. Improve your break room today!