From Grazing to Meal-Snacking: How Gen Z and Millennials Are Reshaping Office Eating Habits

The eating habits of office workers are constantly evolving. As with everything else in life, change is a constant in this area, and companies need to keep up with the patterns of their employees to provide them exactly what they need to be successful. 

Currently, the latest generation of office workers is increasingly turning to the quick and casual consumption of food. Taking extended breaks to sit down at a meal is less and less common. Instead, workers of the Gen Z and Millennial generations tend to favor eating as they go, grabbing healthy snacks while they keep making progress on the task at hand. 

Knowing that grazing and meal snacking are the preferred forms of office eating for many employees, you can tailor your offerings to align with that pattern. Specifically, you can work together with InReach to offer amenities like a micro market, office pantry, or vending machines that will make the right snacks available in the right places. Connect with our team today to learn more!

Why Are Eating Habits Changing?

Several factors are driving the changes we are seeing in office eating. According to a report from Kellanova, there are 140 million people in the Gen Z and Millennial categories, with a strong preference shown for snacking in both of these generations. Each of the points below likely plays a role to some degree, although the situation will vary from one office to the next. 

• Fast-paced work environments: The pace of work in the average office has only increased over recent years. Whether it’s keeping up with a constant stream of emails, jumping on video calls, or trying to meet urgent deadlines, workers rarely have time to step away and take a long lunch. 
• A focus on wellness: More and more people are conscious about what they eat and when they eat it. Sitting down for a more indulgent restaurant meal during the day may not be in line with the goals of many of your employees. Instead, they might prefer to snack on nutrient-dense options throughout the day. 
• Hybrid work schedules: Office workers don’t necessarily report to the office each day. It’s common for workers to split their time between home and the office, so many are used to being flexible with how they eat. This changes the rhythm of regular meal breaks and makes it more common to simply snack enough to fill up. 
• Quality snack options: There are more good snack options on the market today than in years gone by. Countless companies have introduced tasty, healthy snacks that allow people to get the nutrients they need while enjoying the experience at the same time. 

The Difference Between Grazing and Traditional Meals

Eating traditional meals is often anchored around fixed feeding times during the day. That kind of structure doesn’t usually align with how modern office work transpires. Rarely are workers able to count on having an hour or so free at the same time every day to eat a full meal. 

This is another part of why the standard approach of three meals per day has faded recently. Not knowing when the time will come around to take a lunch break, or even if that time will come, workers have adopted the snacking strategy. This approach prevents them from getting too hungry, as it’s never been that long since their last snack. 

Of course, this topic doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Some employees will still prefer to eat traditional meals, and some will vary their approach to eating depending on the day. It might be that a full lunch with coworkers fits into the schedule one day out of the week, where the rest of the days are navigated with strategic office snacks. 

What This Means for Employers

The important takeaway for employers is that providing as many options as possible for workers is the right approach. Knowing that this generation of workers tends to favor snacking over eating big meals, the amenities you provide can be tailored to that line of thinking. 

Are your employees currently having to bring snacks from home, or are they heading to a local convenience store to find what they want? This could be an opportunity to boost morale and productivity by providing snacks on-site. If you already have some snacks available, such as in a vending machine, you can take steps to upgrade your food program to have more of what your people actually want to eat. 

Five Things to Stock for the Grazing Generation

As you start to pay more and more attention to serving the food needs of your people, you will gain a better understanding of what kinds of items are likely to be popular. What are the snacks that are going to be flying off the shelves as soon as you make them available? The five items below tend to be winners in the modern office. 

1. Fresh grab-and-go options: Many of the best office snacks can fit into this category, including sliced fruit cups, veggie packs with hummus, and more. 
2. Protein-rich snacks: Loading up on protein is a popular tactic to stay energized throughout the day and to meet fitness goals. Options like Greek yogurt, boiled eggs, and cheese sticks are some of the choices people will use to hit their protein target.
3. Portable carbs: Sometimes, a quick hit of energy is needed through the consumption of some carbs. Granola bars can scratch this itch, as can oatmeal cups or whole-grain crackers.
4. Functional beverages: Don’t forget about the hydration side of the equation when thinking about snacking. Beverages like vitamin-infused drinks and cold brew coffee are sure to be winners in most offices. 
5. Indulgences with a twist: Even those who are mostly interested in healthy office snacks will still want to indulge in a treat from time to time. Some lighter takes on indulgent options include popcorn products with less salt, or squares of dark chocolate. 

How InReach Helps You Master Snack Management

It sounds great to support your people with the right snack products. At the same time, you may be wondering how in the world you are going to manage all of this while still trying to keep up with the rest of the obligations you have to meet daily. 

That’s where InReach can come in to save the day. We can help you add a micro market or office pantry to your building that will carry many of the snack items we discussed above. These amenities don’t have to be staffed, and the experienced InReach team will help you understand what to stock to optimize employee satisfaction. In the end, you’ll be left with a feature that your people love without having to sacrifice any of your valuable time to manage it properly. 

Upgrade Office Snacking Today

Providing your employees with quality snack and drink options in the office doesn’t have to be a headache. If your current program is a hassle to manage and doesn’t seem to satisfy your people, it’s time to go in a new direction. Partner with us to optimize your program, streamline its operations, and achieve better results while saving money at the same time. 

Proudly part of Sodexo, InReach offers global reach, customized attention, and a large, growing buying network that keeps food costs low and quality high. Contact us today to learn more.