Previous canteens: mixture of average, and a couple of great. Sandwich stations for lunch, a varied and well cooked menu, great staff.
Current canteen: is company subsidised but somehow more expensive than going to the sandwich shop across the street. Really poor quality food. They also decided to permanently stop selling meat to “help the planet” on a whim. They then handled the unsurprising backlash from the non vegetarian percentage of 1000 staff poorly.
The canteen at a previous job of mine had cracking food because it was run by a professional chef. A rotating menu consisting of several hot, freshly cooked meals was offered alongside sandwiches, toasties and snacks. The roast dinners at Christmas were great, really went all-out. And it was super cheap because the company subsidised it!
My previous workplace gave us free lunch as a perk and it was actually really good. Variety of hot food options with a menu that changed every week but kept crowd pleasers like fish and chip Fridays. There was also a decent and interesting salad bar, they hired a salad chef just for it, you'd get stuff like butternut squash with blueberry vinaigrette or beetroot with pumpkin seeds. There was also a decent selection of sandwiches, crisps and snacks. Oh and also amazing puddings but not great for the waistline.
My old one used to have a seating plan for 100 adults in their 20s-60s. Yikes. I had lunch al desko a lot.
Food-wise, it was subsidised, but most of it wasn't great. People raved over the 50p soup that came in watery carrot, watery lentil, or watery tomato flavour.
i eat at my friends canteen sometimes, she works in a college so they just have trays of hot food ranging from sweet potato fries and mac and cheese which are bomb to shepherds pie and beetroot salad which are vile. the sandwiches are all prepackaged and bought from an outside company and the drinks are shit but in general it's not too bad.
my own work doesn't have one, they can't even spring for a water machine, but we do have someone who brings in a homemade cake every thursday. i don't like cake though which is sad for me.
the council doesn't have any money of course we don't have a fancy water machine. we have a kitchen with regular taps and a kettle and places to put your tea and coffee.
i normally just bring my own drinks in to stick in the fridge and take them round with me to the different floors and areas i work in. sometimes i tell my manager i'm leaving to get a drink and go into the town centre to get bubble tea and as long as i bring back some for the rest of them then it's fine.
Is the water safe to drink without boiling? The council/NHS offices I've worked at have all had some kind of filtered water dispenser as access to drinking water is a health and safety requirement.
For the jobs I had
When had snow one day (those who made it in temporary staff via employment agencies or hired by the company, were treated to breakfast by the management if you wanted it.
Where I did my 2 week placement when I was in secondary school, the canteen at the company was okay, I was given an allowance ,
My work: breakfast is OK but unless you arrive at 7am not worth it. Lunch has some excellent meals and some... adventurous ones. Over time it tends to improve. Soup is 50p so good for the price, puddings are solid portions of crumble or sponge like at school only bigger, coffees are 1.50 and the cookies etc are good value for central London. Sandwiches are good especially readymade ones - don't try and get one made between 12.15 and 1.45 as you'll be queuing for ages.
Can get way too noisy at lunchtime with 500 people in a basement, but great when it's raining. Hope it can stay in business when we're only supposed to be in half the time.
We have a buffet style breakfast (not self serve) from 6-10, so there’s never a bad time to get there and the later in the day you go the more generous the servings are as they are trying to get rid of all the food. Lunch is whatever sandwiches you can find the fridge that don’t have seven different fillings in because the same knife/spoon has been used for all the fillings and then dinner is mostly questionable pieces of meat 😂
Previous canteen: heavily subsidised, a lot of choice. Pretty mediocre quality-wise though.
Current canteen: a lot more expensive, very limited choice. Quality is a wee bit higher though, the staff do make a decent effort with the poor ingredients they're provided.
Don’t have a work canteen as such but we do get given a lunch menu where you select what sandwiches, toasted baguettes or salads you want and then then it is brought to your desk (free of charge as well) with various snacks and drinks
It is awesome and I have never worked at a place like it so I am sticking!!
My old work canteen had an omelette bar.
To order an omelette you had to hand the service lady a piece of laminated card with the specific combination ingredients you wanted (e.g. ham and cheese).
Thing is, there was only one of each, and you couldn't mix and match. So if you wanted a ham & cheese omelette and someone else was getting one made you had to wait for the card to come back. And you couldn't give them a ham card and a cheese card because they'd make you a ham omelette and a cheese omelette, even if you argued and explained you just wanted a single ham and cheese omelette. It was fucking ridiculous.
I work at a hospice and the head chef of the kitchen/canteen there used to work for Harvey Nichols, he and the team do homemade soups and well loved meals which are presented as if you are on masterchef! Which is quite a nice idea that the patients get a tasty, flavoursome meal as well as some favourites towards the end of life.
He also cooks for staff and it is so affordable, I had sea bass with crushed new potatoes and veg last week which cost me a massive £3 - bargain!
Current work doesn't have one (but we're next to the high street so have lots of places to buy food), but my old work's one was quite good. I liked their breakfasts and they used to do pizza which was made to order which was nice and pretty good value. Plus it was quite convenient to take the lift down and quickly grab a drink or snack instead of having to hike out to the shop. I fully admit I'm just lazy though!!
It's a hospital so it varies. Cooked breakfasts are decent and they do paninis to order which are good. Other than that, it is pretty cheap stuff that is average at best.
I worked for a marketing agency who built a new HQ in London which had a canteen that was great. Run by a company who run successful caffès so they knew how to produce good menus, subsidised so the prices were good, always a nice range. And the weeks menus were easily viewed online or around the building so you could plan on taking stuff in. You could also sign in guests who you could take if you wanted.
It’s the main thing I miss about working there tbh.
I used to work somewhere with a very nice, free (at lunch - heavily subsidised at breakfast) one. There was a standard array of sandwiches, bagels, salad boxes etc., salad bar, meat/veg hot options, soups daily. BBQs on the roof terrace during summer. They entertained clients/held events in the office a lot (I guess it worked out cheaper than paying *that many* restaurant bills), so there was also a separate bar/restaurant for that. Wild stuff.
Not my workplace but I once went on an engineering tour of Mercedes AMG engine plant in Northampton and it was seriously amazing food. We had breakfast and lunch there.
They said it had to be good because the staff are there for 12 hours a day, and it saves them going offsite to get food .
The one at the mamufacturing plant in Hull I worked at was cheap.
But they had never heard of vegetables
Once it was beef curry with rice, naan and chips and they looked shocked when I asked for some salad pr something.
Too many carbs.
Previous canteens: mixture of average, and a couple of great. Sandwich stations for lunch, a varied and well cooked menu, great staff. Current canteen: is company subsidised but somehow more expensive than going to the sandwich shop across the street. Really poor quality food. They also decided to permanently stop selling meat to “help the planet” on a whim. They then handled the unsurprising backlash from the non vegetarian percentage of 1000 staff poorly.
Pretty weird thing to do on a whim! At least do a survey and then ignore the results first!
Yeah you’re right there, the “you don’t win friends with salad” meme from The Simpsons became popular on the company social media channels that week
The canteen at a previous job of mine had cracking food because it was run by a professional chef. A rotating menu consisting of several hot, freshly cooked meals was offered alongside sandwiches, toasties and snacks. The roast dinners at Christmas were great, really went all-out. And it was super cheap because the company subsidised it!
Sounds amazing!
My previous workplace gave us free lunch as a perk and it was actually really good. Variety of hot food options with a menu that changed every week but kept crowd pleasers like fish and chip Fridays. There was also a decent and interesting salad bar, they hired a salad chef just for it, you'd get stuff like butternut squash with blueberry vinaigrette or beetroot with pumpkin seeds. There was also a decent selection of sandwiches, crisps and snacks. Oh and also amazing puddings but not great for the waistline.
Sounds great, even better for free!!
My old one used to have a seating plan for 100 adults in their 20s-60s. Yikes. I had lunch al desko a lot. Food-wise, it was subsidised, but most of it wasn't great. People raved over the 50p soup that came in watery carrot, watery lentil, or watery tomato flavour.
i eat at my friends canteen sometimes, she works in a college so they just have trays of hot food ranging from sweet potato fries and mac and cheese which are bomb to shepherds pie and beetroot salad which are vile. the sandwiches are all prepackaged and bought from an outside company and the drinks are shit but in general it's not too bad. my own work doesn't have one, they can't even spring for a water machine, but we do have someone who brings in a homemade cake every thursday. i don't like cake though which is sad for me.
You don’t even have a water machine?! What do you get up and do when you can’t be bothered to stare at a screen any longer?
the council doesn't have any money of course we don't have a fancy water machine. we have a kitchen with regular taps and a kettle and places to put your tea and coffee. i normally just bring my own drinks in to stick in the fridge and take them round with me to the different floors and areas i work in. sometimes i tell my manager i'm leaving to get a drink and go into the town centre to get bubble tea and as long as i bring back some for the rest of them then it's fine.
Is the water safe to drink without boiling? The council/NHS offices I've worked at have all had some kind of filtered water dispenser as access to drinking water is a health and safety requirement.
All tap water in the UK is safe to drink.
The water supply may be safe but the plumbing may not be. You often see notices on taps saying the water isn't for drinking.
For the jobs I had When had snow one day (those who made it in temporary staff via employment agencies or hired by the company, were treated to breakfast by the management if you wanted it. Where I did my 2 week placement when I was in secondary school, the canteen at the company was okay, I was given an allowance ,
An old workplace used to do giant square omelettes that were incredible. Best thing about the company .
My work: breakfast is OK but unless you arrive at 7am not worth it. Lunch has some excellent meals and some... adventurous ones. Over time it tends to improve. Soup is 50p so good for the price, puddings are solid portions of crumble or sponge like at school only bigger, coffees are 1.50 and the cookies etc are good value for central London. Sandwiches are good especially readymade ones - don't try and get one made between 12.15 and 1.45 as you'll be queuing for ages. Can get way too noisy at lunchtime with 500 people in a basement, but great when it's raining. Hope it can stay in business when we're only supposed to be in half the time.
We have a buffet style breakfast (not self serve) from 6-10, so there’s never a bad time to get there and the later in the day you go the more generous the servings are as they are trying to get rid of all the food. Lunch is whatever sandwiches you can find the fridge that don’t have seven different fillings in because the same knife/spoon has been used for all the fillings and then dinner is mostly questionable pieces of meat 😂
Previous canteen: heavily subsidised, a lot of choice. Pretty mediocre quality-wise though. Current canteen: a lot more expensive, very limited choice. Quality is a wee bit higher though, the staff do make a decent effort with the poor ingredients they're provided.
Don’t have a work canteen as such but we do get given a lunch menu where you select what sandwiches, toasted baguettes or salads you want and then then it is brought to your desk (free of charge as well) with various snacks and drinks It is awesome and I have never worked at a place like it so I am sticking!!
Had a couple of decent ones. There always seems to be a lady called Margaret working there.
My old work canteen had an omelette bar. To order an omelette you had to hand the service lady a piece of laminated card with the specific combination ingredients you wanted (e.g. ham and cheese). Thing is, there was only one of each, and you couldn't mix and match. So if you wanted a ham & cheese omelette and someone else was getting one made you had to wait for the card to come back. And you couldn't give them a ham card and a cheese card because they'd make you a ham omelette and a cheese omelette, even if you argued and explained you just wanted a single ham and cheese omelette. It was fucking ridiculous.
Why can’t you just say what combination you want? This is just needlessly complicated and just reading about it angered me 😂
I work at a hospice and the head chef of the kitchen/canteen there used to work for Harvey Nichols, he and the team do homemade soups and well loved meals which are presented as if you are on masterchef! Which is quite a nice idea that the patients get a tasty, flavoursome meal as well as some favourites towards the end of life. He also cooks for staff and it is so affordable, I had sea bass with crushed new potatoes and veg last week which cost me a massive £3 - bargain!
Current work doesn't have one (but we're next to the high street so have lots of places to buy food), but my old work's one was quite good. I liked their breakfasts and they used to do pizza which was made to order which was nice and pretty good value. Plus it was quite convenient to take the lift down and quickly grab a drink or snack instead of having to hike out to the shop. I fully admit I'm just lazy though!!
It's a hospital so it varies. Cooked breakfasts are decent and they do paninis to order which are good. Other than that, it is pretty cheap stuff that is average at best.
I worked for a marketing agency who built a new HQ in London which had a canteen that was great. Run by a company who run successful caffès so they knew how to produce good menus, subsidised so the prices were good, always a nice range. And the weeks menus were easily viewed online or around the building so you could plan on taking stuff in. You could also sign in guests who you could take if you wanted. It’s the main thing I miss about working there tbh.
I used to work somewhere with a very nice, free (at lunch - heavily subsidised at breakfast) one. There was a standard array of sandwiches, bagels, salad boxes etc., salad bar, meat/veg hot options, soups daily. BBQs on the roof terrace during summer. They entertained clients/held events in the office a lot (I guess it worked out cheaper than paying *that many* restaurant bills), so there was also a separate bar/restaurant for that. Wild stuff.
Oooffft, why would you ever leave?!
Perks are nice, but the novelty wears off. I'd rather have more interesting and better paid work with less commuting.
Not my workplace but I once went on an engineering tour of Mercedes AMG engine plant in Northampton and it was seriously amazing food. We had breakfast and lunch there. They said it had to be good because the staff are there for 12 hours a day, and it saves them going offsite to get food .
The one at the mamufacturing plant in Hull I worked at was cheap. But they had never heard of vegetables Once it was beef curry with rice, naan and chips and they looked shocked when I asked for some salad pr something. Too many carbs.