Café Services Cashless Food Program Makes Corporate Dining Convenient and Popular at New Hampshire Manufacturing Firm.
Ever since corporate dining company Café Services began a cashless food service program at Cobham in 2010, the cafeteria at the military systems manufacturer has been a popular, bustling place.
Diners flow quickly through serving lines. There are rarely backups at the cash register. The food is fresh and tasteful. And there’s plenty of variety to suit everyone, not to mention every budget. With choices and conveniences like these, diners have little reason to leave the building to eat; or even pack a brown-bag lunch.
Efficiencies and options like these are vital to a company of mostly blue-collar employees that do shift work and have a firm, 30-minute lunch break. It’s why Cobham chose Café Services, a corporate dining company serving the northeast US, to help it launch a cashless food service program.
Today, the Café Services cashless food service program is a win-win for Cobham management and employees. Management likes it because it simplifies food service administration and accountability, and keeps employees in the building. Employees like it for the convenience and variety; as well as the quality, taste and affordability of the food.
Cashless Food Sales Save Time and Improve Accountability
With cashless food service, Cobham has been able to shave as much as ten seconds off every employee lunch transaction. No fumbling with wallets or in pockets at the cash register. Employees simply swipe their identification badge at a card terminal at the cashier station.
At the end of the week, Café Services itemizes the data by employee and delivers it electronically to Cobham accounting—a valuable reporting resource for a company that subsidizes food service as a benefit to employees. Minimizing cash exchanges also makes better use of food service staff time and lowers the propensity for accounting errors.
Says Café Services District Manager, Rich Kvetkosky: “My manager at Cobham loves that she has more time in the kitchen, now that she doesn’t have to worry about making end-of-the-day deposits at the bank. We’ve also been able to eliminate cash audits—which can detract from time better spent on recipe development and customer service.”
With cashless food sales, Cobham employees pay for lunch charges through paycheck deductions. Tracking spending is easy, too. Diners just enter their employee ID numbers into a software program to get an itemized report.
Convenience, Quality and Cashless Sales:
The Perfect RecipeThe Café Services program is a huge hit with employees. Participation is consistent and high. The cashless transactions, abundance of choice and overall food quality are the perfect recipe at a company where time and convenience are of the essence.
Matt Stone, Cafe Services Director of Business Development, says the Cobham experience with cashless sales is a model that’s easy to replicate. “The technology is all in place,” says Stone. “We can work with any customer to ensure a smooth and timely transition.”
I’ve been born and bred corporate dining and corporate catering from the very beginning of my career in the Silicon Valley and now, since 2001 in the Boston Metro Area. While working my way up through the ranks, all the experience has led up to my current position as the Corporate Executive Chef for Café Services, based out of Manchester, NH. I have the privilege to be able to utilize creativity, research and technology to dream up our company’s new culinary programs and custom menus for corporate cafeteria clients and bring them to life. Café Services supplies the resources to ensure success of our ever-evolving companywide culinary initiatives and I’m very grateful for the opportunity. Seeing the success of new programs in the field is my motivation. It’s a win win.