Office Lunches in a Time of Soaring Prices

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Today, the prices of goods rise by the day while the incomes of office workers remain "stuck in place". Many office staff have to tighten their belts to spend sensibly within their monthly salary. Besides commuting costs, the cost of lunch at the office is a fixed expense they have to pay. In a time of soaring prices, it is easy to see that this expense is taking the heaviest hit. In this article, STAVI would like to share with you the difficulties that office lunch meals are "facing" in this period of soaring prices. Please read on!

Image: Popular office catering in the Hanoi area

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Office workers' lunches in a time of soaring prices

For office workers, lunch is not simply a meal to fill the stomach so they can carry on working in the afternoon. Office lunch meals also provide the nutrition and energy you need to complete your assigned tasks better. In addition, lunchtime is also a chance to meet, chat, connect, share and bond with colleagues, both personally and professionally.

Lunch is where you can open up and, in turn, learn what problems your colleagues are facing in life; it is a place to share new plans, exchange work ideas or simply an opportunity to make friends and expand your network.

For new employees, lunch is also an effective, suitable setting for getting acquainted and learning colleagues' personalities, and from there finding the right approach to make work flow more smoothly.

Throughout the long period of the Covid-19 pandemic, because people had to work from home, the meetings and conversations over lunch could not be maintained regularly, and this convenience was interrupted. And now, once again, rising prices are putting lunch at risk of being broken up. Cutting back on lunches out and turning down invitations from colleagues and friends to save money in a time of soaring prices is a reality in office circles, especially in offices concentrated in city centers, where prices are somewhat higher than in outlying areas.

Image:Caramelized braised pork, a delicious dish that often appears in office catering

Compared with other jobs, office workers may be a group with somewhat better incomes, but they are not so wealthy that they can spend freely, because their salaries are usually highly stable, change little and rarely bring extra income; without control, it is very easy to end up "broke" before the next paycheck arrives.

So the rising price of office workers' lunches, which in some places has doubled compared with before, is putting pressure on their wallets. Besides weighing up spending on living expenses such as rent, food, education, entertainment and so on, lunch for office workers in big cities such as Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi is no longer easy.

The price of an office lunch in Ho Chi Minh City averages 30,000-50,000 VND but at times rises to 60,000-70,000 VND, leading a sizeable share of office staff to bring lunch from home as a way of saving money. Many have even cut out their daily coffee, milk tea and snacks. In Hanoi, the minimum lunch for an office worker has risen to 40,000-45,000 VND, and in some central districts it can reach 50,000-60,000 VND, while salaries have not risen at all. Indeed, for office workers on a "fairly good" income, that level of spending on an office lunch box is relatively high.

Solutions for office lunches in a time of soaring prices

Given the difficulties office staff face in this time of soaring prices, finding a way out for everyone is quite a "headache". And to adapt, every employee, manager and provider has come up with their own solution.

With lunch meals becoming something workers think twice about, office catering providers have found business "emptier" than before. Orders have also become sparser. Meanwhile, the costs of ingredients such as meat, fish, seasonings, vegetables and fruit, and even packaging, have risen dizzyingly. Those in the office lunch business are struggling no less than consumers. They have to measure and calculate carefully and change the dishes every day to keep customers.

According to some office catering providers, profits have fallen from 15-29% previously to 5-7% now, but some say that to retain customers they have braced themselves and cut costs to the minimum, such as electricity and water, reduced staff, sought other suppliers to diversify their sources of goods and found their own delivery partners at reasonable cost…

Some have accepted breaking even to hold on and keep customers while waiting for the market to develop, hoping the price storm will quickly pass. However, up to this point, many have been unable to hold out and have been forced to raise prices. Only a rare few still keep their old prices, but have significantly reduced the amount of food in each portion.

Image: STAVI office catering is popular

And what about office staff? They still face the reality of spending more on their office lunch while their income has not increased. Or if it has, the increase is negligible compared with the level of "market inflation".

However, those who lack the means or the time to cook at home still have to choose to eat out or opt for the office catering services of providers. But instead of gathering with colleagues, they take the trouble to search and compare food delivery apps to see which has more discount codes, and order food through the apps. However, this option runs into obstacles at offices with no "lunch culture" and no habit of letting staff bring food to lay out at the workplace.

Whereas an office lunch used to cost only around 20,000 to 25,000 VND, it has now risen by nearly one and a half to two times. Women in offices have been getting together to cook at work to fight the price storm. Perhaps this is only a temporary solution for employees to cope with price "inflation". After all, not every company has a kitchen and canteen for cooking. Moreover, cooking at the workplace can easily lead to fire safety and hygiene issues, among others.

And in the opinion of most people, ordering office lunch meals from reputable providers is the most promising option. This is the most effective solution for business leaders to help their office staff save the most cost and time. That in turn ensures assigned work is done faster and more effectively.

Conclusion

With what STAVI has shared above, we hope you have a more detailed view of the state of office lunches in this time of soaring prices. If you are looking for a reputable, high-quality office catering provider, pick up the phone and call STAVI now!