Getting people back into the office is critical. Some believe strongly that food is the driver by which to do that. If you think about what’s going to bring people back, it’s providing experiences that don’t exist at home, whether that’s in technology, in education, mentorship or food service.
— Marty Festenstein, senior managing director at real estate advisory firm Savills, commenting on some of the ways that the leaders of Biglaw firms can get associates and staff back into the office. One of those ways, food service, is changing in Biglaw in the pandemic’s wake, with investments in cafe-style spaces Festenstein calls “healthy oriented grab and go’s” that offer things like water, coffee, juices, fresh fruit, salads, and sandwiches. Julian Christe, of Fooda, a company that specializes in ready-to-serve buffet-style options like what Festenstein described, agreed, noting that with Biglaw’s new hybrid work environment, “It’s just not worth it to have a chef sitting there cooking salmon every day where you have a variable population coming into the office.”
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.
