Cafe Services Brings Contemporary Corporate Dining To Classic Office Site At W.B. Mason’s
Just because a company is old doesn’t mean it’s old fashioned. Just look at the stylish, new modern café and kitchen at the Brockton, Mass. location of W.B. Mason, one of the country’s largest office products dealers with a history that stretches back to 1898.
A Massachusetts customer of corporate dining services company, Café Services, W.B. Mason worked with Café Services to bring the perks of contemporary, creative onsite business dining to a workforce long known for its outstanding service ethic.
“To a lot of our customers, an upscale corporate dining services program is more than just convenience, it’s an asset that supports different business goals,” says Café Services Vice President of Business Development, Matt Stone.
Modern, Corporate Dining Services Is Good Business
For W.B. Mason, those goals included helping employees be more productive, by saving them the time and headache of searching for parking and battling lunchtime crowds in a growing, busy business district. To foster a team atmosphere among employees in different roles, the company also sought to create a lively, inviting space conducive to socializing and collaboration.
Café Services helped design the contemporary, state-of-the-art kitchen and bistro-style café from scratch to serve the approximately 400 employees that work from the company’s original location—a historic warehouse outside Boston. It opened for business in December 2015.
Bistro-Inspired Café And Modern Kitchen Tastefully Mixes Old And New
A tasteful mix of old and new, the café features a modern, floating drop ceiling and classic, exposed brick walls. It’s furnished with sleek, clean-lined tables of various sizes, including high-top tables that seat up to 12. To evoke the feel of a vibrant commercial eatery, the oven and grill are out on the café floor, where the action is.
Café Services chef/manager, Cory Manuel, keeps his ingredients out in the open, displaying them in approachable, creative arrangements at the grill, fresh salad bar, deli and special exhibition stations. “Diners love customizing their own meals,” says Manuel. “They’re great conversation starters, which is good for business.”
Having a modern corporate dining services operation has also helped W.B. Mason improve service to customers and suppliers that come onsite for meetings. Manuel caters meetings just about daily—from the simple and spontaneous to full gourmet spreads in the corporate boardroom.
Just two months after opening, the Café Services café at W.B. Mason is the popular place to be at lunchtime. “I get a lot of positive feedback from employees on how much they appreciate not having to leave the building to get a quality meal in a comfortable, attractive setting,” says Manuel.
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.