Breakrooms in the Pandemic Era & Beyond

From the essential workplaces that remained open throughout the pandemic to offices that are starting to bring back workers, many are realizing that community breakrooms as they used to be no longer fit COVID-related sensitivities and hygiene expectations. Touchless technologies, app-based ordering and payments, and pre-packaged and single-serving beverage and snack options are some of what will equip a breakroom in the pandemic era and beyond.

This has resulted in some unique opportunities for office coffee and snack providers, including:

• high-end machines that offer touchless technology (from app-based ordering and payments to proximity sensors)
• provision of specialty coffee beverages to workers who prefer such options but are now hesitant to leave the building as often (via high traffic elevators and lobbies) to make their “Starbucks run”
• individual, grab-and-go bottles of pre-made coffee, tea, and juice beverages
• prepackaged meals and snacks, particularly if they either appeal to interests in healthy food that supports immune function or to comfort foods, which have risen in popularity in a high stress era
• deliveries to remote workers, either as a company-provided benefit or as a personal subscription for convenient access to preferred coffee beverages

For more information and discussion of opportunities, see Packaged Facts’ food- and beverage-related reports, including Office Coffee Service in the US, as well as US Beverage Market Outlook 2020: Grocery Shopping & Personal Consumption in the Coronavirus Era and US Food Market Outlook 2020: Home Cooking, Grocery Shopping & Food Trends in the Age of Coronavirus. The Freedonia Group’s extensive collection of off-the-shelf research provides a strong complement to packaged food industry analysis, including packaging industry titles such as Foodservice Single-Use Products, Global Foodservice Single-Use Products, Pouches, and Global Caps & Closures as well as US Restaurant Reopening: COVID-19 Impact on Supplies.  Freedonia Custom Research is also available for questions requiring tailored market intelligence.