Setting up a canteen breakfast people will actually eat
We cater to offices and campuses in Chennai and Bangalore, which means we have watched a lot of breakfast go uneaten. The failures repeat.
Mistake one: healthy as punishment
If the healthy option is plain and the alternative is a fried snack, the healthy option loses. Every time. It has to taste like something someone chose.
Mistake two: no speed
People have eight minutes between the lift and their desk. Anything requiring assembly or a queue gets skipped. Pre-portioned bowls move; build-your-own stations do not.
Mistake three: sugar disguised as breakfast
Sweetened cornflakes and flavoured yoghurt read as healthy and behave like dessert. Staff crash mid-morning and blame the work.
What works
- Two rotating options, not eight. Choice paralysis is real at 9 a.m.
- Fibre and protein in the base, so the meal lasts until lunch.
- Something warm available, even in Chennai.
- Portion sizes that suit desk work, not manual labour.
On cost
Per-head cost usually falls when you narrow the menu, because waste falls faster than ingredient spend rises. Buying direct from a manufacturer rather than through a distributor closes most of the remaining gap.
- corporate wellness
- canteen
- office breakfast
- catering