I’m excited to share with you Meal at Work, a new project that we’ve been working on for the past months here at WE Factory.
Meal at Work is a global and inclusive food club that brings coworkers together to share a simple and delicious meal over meaningful questions and topics that are relevant to work culture today.
We’ve created Meal at Work to better prepare teams for the paradigm shift in how we organize and work to thrive in this century. The inaugural event will take place on November, 17th, 2017 in workplaces around the world on the theme of ‘Gratitude.’ Are you ready to join us?
The premises for Meal at Work
I’ve learned that no matter the job, the title, the industry, we all have something in common: generally, we are either indifferent or unhappy about what we eat at work. Some of us are frustrated by the lack of food choices. Others would do a makeover of the corporate social spaces eat. There is a general consensus that the content (the food) and the context (space and interaction) need to be rethought.
I’ve transcribed some of those conversations and pulled them together into an ongoing interview series called the Workplace Wisdom series. So far, there are 15 interviews and counting, which you can read up the blog. [Read some of my interviews with an HR manager, a future of work researcher, a psychotherapist, and a corporate chef].
With my work, I have helped conference organizers redesign the lunch or the dining experience at their event to make it meaningful and inclusive. I have also coached teams through their change towards more nourishing food and increased well-being. However, I always felt that a one-to-one model has, as the word one-on-one tells, an impact only on one organization.
Meal at Work, and reach many
I started to think about how to overcome the limitation that the nature of consulting holds and what to create to reach many. I had a few ideas. Before WE Factory, I had created a number of pop-up events and concepts. What I’ve learned back then was that there has always been much emphasis on physical spaces, but not enough thinking on who is there, what we talk about, and what we do together. That kind of spaces interested me because there was the potential to really create something with a real impact. That experience dictated the creation of the concept for Meal at Work, global and inclusive food clubs that bring coworkers together to share a simple and delicious meal over meaningful questions that are relevant to work culture today.
“There has always been much emphasis on physical spaces, but not enough thinking on who is there, what we talk about, and what we do together”
If I had to bet on a model that I still hadn’t tried out was to build a community like that of Meal at Work. Since I started to talk about it, I’ve had some interesting conversations with both business owners and people who are employees. The idea of hosting a dedicated space to connect over food within their work environment is making people think and act, which is fantastic. Lots of people are applying to get Meal at Work up and running in their workplaces, showing that this concept seems to speak to their heart.
By eating together, we can transform our workplaces.
I invite you and your team to join me to contribute to redesigning the relationship between work, eating, and well-being. And help each other make work a better, more fulfilling part of life. Will you join us? Sign up at mealatwork.org
*Big thanks Damiano Fossa who designed the Meal at Work website and the logo.
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