Outsourcing of industrial canteen. Successful practices of Ukrainian companies

For many manufacturing companies, catering for their employees is a necessity. In most cases, such enterprises are located away from supermarkets, cafes, and fast foods, and this is with a large number of personnel who need to have lunch somewhere.

When self-catering, the company often faces many problems: from processing all the necessary documentation, keeping records, preparing the premises to selecting suppliers, purchasing equipment, hiring staff and taking out garbage. Moreover, without proper knowledge and experience, production can make a lot of mistakes that will entail financial losses. In addition, dining is often not a profitable activity for an enterprise, but rather is designed to improve well-being and increase staff productivity; in such conditions, building efficient and optimized processes is extremely important. From the above, it follows that the transfer of this non-core part of the production life to an outsourcing is a profitable solution, and many Ukrainian companies understand this. Consider a few successful cases:

Updated dining room for employees of the Kromberg & Schubert plant

This year the company modernized the canteen for 3.5 thousand employees. All work took 25 days and the result was a modern space in which not only tasty, but also comfortable and cozy.

Thanks to the optimization, the number of seats was increased by 145, without loss of comfort for the workers. The cost of the project was about 2 million UAH. In addition, the plant partially compensates the cost of lunch, in the amount of 30 UAH. With a set menu price of 36 UAH. employees eat almost free

In addition to repairing the hall and kitchen in the dining room, equipment was replaced and ventilation systems were modernized. Two additional cash desks were also installed to speed up service.

How do Interpipe’s canteens work?  

One of the largest metallurgical plants in Ukraine invests heavily in improving the working conditions of its employees. Thus, over the past few years, several canteens in different workshops for 1,500 workers opened at the plant.

The service company focused on a variety of dishes, offering more than 5 types in each category (first, salad, hot, dessert).   It is noteworthy that part of the cost of lunch compensates for the plant. Each employee has a chip card, with the daily payment for lunch, the cashier reads the data, and at the end of the month the company returns part of the money spent on food in the dining room.

Meals on ArcelorMittal  

The territory of this metallurgical giant has more than 30 canteens and buffets, all of them are outsourced. Every day, up to 20,000 employees visit the canteens.   At the same time, catering services operate according to European quality standards. When choosing suppliers, the products undergo an independent examination. On the territory of the plant, workshops for cooking are organized, as well as a separate bakery shop for the production of bakery products and a vegetable base. Also in the summer season, the plant’s wellness complexes are served separately. The average check is 20-25 UAH. and for employees working in hazardous areas are also issued coupons for dairy products.

Dining and buffets are reconstructed as needed. Equipment is being replaced, systems are being upgraded and premises are being renovated.

The SHEN company, as an expert in catering services at real estate facilities, notes that many manufacturing enterprises operating in the Ukrainian market are switching to an outsourcing model of catering services. Most of these services are used by international companies, but Ukrainian manufacturers are also beginning to understand the benefits of this synergy.