Cafeteria food ?

rascal

rascal

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When I first started work in 72 or 73? The staff was about 80 people so morning and afternoon tea breaks , were called smokos. Everyone smoked inside and while working. This joint had a cafeteria for about 40 so shifts were split. Front of factory went first, the back went second. First time I had encountered cabinets of food. I was in the last lot to go,in. The ladies made these great sausage rolls I fell in love with. The company ran the kitchen. Being the second group through they often ran out of my fave rolls. I used to eat my daily food from those cabinets. No breky, just morning tea. And tea at night if working overtime. Man I miss those sausage rolls. I never worked where they had a cafeteria ever again. You guys have memorable experiences??
 
Absolutely, yeah. Small-town country boy, I'd never heard of a company doing that for the workers (though it makes sense, keeps them on-site).

First time I encountered it, I was probably 32yo, and I got a month-long consulting job at Allianz (insurance company). First day on the job, one of the guys said, "Well, cafeteria's gonna open soon, better go get in line."

Cafeteria?

First day and all that, I just stuck with the crowd, went down, had no idea what to expect, or what the charge would be. They had a hot line, a salad bar, a sandwich and snacks line, and a dessert area.

What floored me was...didn't cost me a red cent. Everything was company-paid, even though I wasn't an employee.

After that, I'll tell you, my favorite part of the day was always lunch. Food was decent, it was free, and I could eat as much as I wanted.
 
Never as the customer. In high school I worked as a server in the dining room where the company's executive team ate lunch. It was really like a full service restaurant minus the alcohol. In the evening I worked the serving line behind the steam table at the employee cafeteria. Sometimes I worked the cash register at the end of the serving line. This was in a rather large GM plant during its glory days. Seems so strange now to think there was actually an executive dining room but this was many years ago.

It was a fun job, lots of my older sisters friends worked in the plant so there was always a friendly face to see. Sadly, the plant closed in 2014 (?) after several changes in ownership.
 
TastyReuben said:
Absolutely, yeah. Small-town country boy, I'd never heard of a company doing that for the workers (though it makes sense, keeps them on-site).

First time I encountered it, I was probably 32yo, and I got a month-long consulting job at Allianz (insurance company). First day on the job, one of the guys said, "Well, cafeteria's gonna open soon, better go get in line."

Cafeteria?

First day and all that, I just stuck with the crowd, went down, had no idea what to expect, or what the charge would be. They had a hot line, a salad bar, a sandwich and snacks line, and a dessert area.

What floored me was...didn't cost me a red cent. Everything was company-paid, even though I wasn't an employee.

After that, I'll tell you, my favorite part of the day was always lunch. Food was decent, it was free, and I could eat as much as I wanted.
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When i was a steel rep selling steel, I used to visit head offices of two meat companies in town. Always at 10am and seeing the purchasing guy. Guess what? free morning tea and good morning tea as well. I did one company on the Tuesday and the other Thursday. This was 4 stories of office staff with free food. I love cafeterias. :)

Russ
 
TastyReuben said:
Absolutely, yeah. Small-town country boy, I'd never heard of a company doing that for the workers (though it makes sense, keeps them on-site).

First time I encountered it, I was probably 32yo, and I got a month-long consulting job at Allianz (insurance company). First day on the job, one of the guys said, "Well, cafeteria's gonna open soon, better go get in line."

Cafeteria?

First day and all that, I just stuck with the crowd, went down, had no idea what to expect, or what the charge would be. They had a hot line, a salad bar, a sandwich and snacks line, and a dessert area.

What floored me was...didn't cost me a red cent. Everything was company-paid, even though I wasn't an employee.

After that, I'll tell you, my favorite part of the day was always lunch. Food was decent, it was free, and I could eat as much as I wanted.
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You just reminded me of my Friday free treats. My part time job when I was about 20 was commercial cleaning at night. My bosses best customer was air new Zealand's head office. About 5 stories of staff, the top office floor was the chairman of anz. Half of that was just for him. It was the size of a house in floor level. I still remember his name, morrie Davies. They had some great booze ups in there. I always got to clean the place up around 10 at night. He was always last to leave, always told me to eat leftover food, club Sammies were my fave. Plus hot food. Booze if I wanted, I didn't, I was working.
The place came down after the quakes.

Russ
 
I worked at several cafeterias. They are slave drivers!! Only one break on a 10-hour shift. The first time that I was in one was at school when I was in the 2nd or 3rd grade. I remember the smell. It always smelled like soup or something. Made me hungry!! :wink:
 
I do remember another cafeteria experience, 1993. We bought a Volvo and got to go from England to the factory in Sweden to pick it up. Part of the purchasing package included lunch in the employee cafeteria. We had vouchers to pay for it.

I remember getting room-temp Coke to drink, and vegetable lasagne, which I'd never heard of, so I was kind of disappointed when I got into the lasagna and there was no red sauce or meat. I still don't like vegetable lasagna.
 
TastyReuben said:
I do remember another cafeteria experience, 1993. We bought a Volvo and got to go from England to the factory in Sweden to pick it up. Part of the purchasing package included lunch in the employee cafeteria. We had vouchers to pay for it.

I remember getting room-temp Coke to drink, and vegetable lasagne, which I'd never heard of, so I was kind of disappointed when I got into the lasagna and there was no red sauce or meat. I still don't like vegetable lasagna.
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When I worked in the flight kitchen of United Airlines, they used to give us that for lunch. It came frozen, so all they had to do was put it in the oven to heat it up. I didn't like it either!! Looks nasty!!
I plan to make some lasagna also, but it's gonna be with a meat sauce!! :thumbsdown:
 
My first real job after college was at EDS (Ross Perot's company). Both campuses had cafeterias. The corporate headquarters didn't have the space that the other campus did, so there were only one or two options each day. Wednesday was prime rib day. We had to pay for food, but a complete prime rib dinner was about five bucks.

At the newer campus, they had this big room full of "stations." There was a burger station, a deli station, a dinner entre station, and so on. They were also open for breakfast, which I sometimes ate there. We had to pay, but again, the prices were great, and the food was always good.

The corporate headquarters also had a fitness center with a pool and a nine-hole golf course.

There was not a separate dining area for executives. Ross Perot insisted on it. On two separate occasions, Ross asked if he could join me, and had lunch with me. The second time, he knew my name. The CEO ate lunch with a 20-something low-level employee -- and knew my name.

CD
 
caseydog said:
At the newer campus, they had this big room full of "stations." There was a burger station, a deli station, a dinner entre station, and so on. They were also open for breakfast, which I sometimes ate there. We had to pay, but again, the prices were great, and the food was always good.
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That's how both Cargill HQ and Target HQ was, and both had food that was far superior to any nearby restaurant.
 
caseydog said:
My first real job after college was at EDS (Ross Perot's company). Both campuses had cafeterias. The corporate headquarters didn't have the space that the other campus did, so there were only one or two options each day. Wednesday was prime rib day. We had to pay for food, but a complete prime rib dinner was about five bucks.

At the newer campus, they had this big room full of "stations." There was a burger station, a deli station, a dinner entre station, and so on. They were also open for breakfast, which I sometimes ate there. We had to pay, but again, the prices were great, and the food was always good.

The corporate headquarters also had a fitness center with a pool and a nine-hole golf course.

There was not a separate dining area for executives. Ross Perot insisted on it. On two separate occasions, Ross asked if he could join me, and had lunch with me. The second time, he knew my name. The CEO ate lunch with a 20-something low-level employee -- and knew my name.

CD
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The ceo thing was the same here, md of air New Zealand always talked to the 20 yo cleaner in me. And new my name, even when he was munted. Even gave me leftovers. A top guy.

Russ
 
I worked 34 plus years in the same place - 34 as a permanent employee, and the first two as a temporary. They had a cafeteria on site, and it was interesting to see the changes over time, and also as we brought in more and more employees...

The cafeteria was originally small and eventually migrated to a larger space, and then was doubled in size by taking over some of the courtyard portions it overlooked. Originally, it allowed smoking, then suddenly there was a smoking section (which was horridly right by the food dispensary area rather than more sensibly where the rest of us didn't have to inhale the putrid stenches. The non-smoking area was about 1/5 the size of the space. I will note, working in a LAB, smoking was never ever allowed in there - too many things to go BANG and blow up if hot ashes ended up in the wrong places! Food wasn't allowed there either - but since our desks were in the actual labs proper through most of my career, sometimes food ended up at desks anyway???

About 15 or so years ago the entire facility went smoke-free, including the outdoor property. Not that the outdoor property was always paid attention to - I remember once going out to my car mid-day, and discovering another car entirely engufed on the insides with smoke. I ran over, wondering if this thing was on fire and should I call anyone (this was pre-cell-phone days, or at least my having one). Nope, a co-worker was happily puffing away! Well, okay, his choice.

As for food - it was usually pretty good but erred on a starchy basis. Although in the early years chicken breast was served with skin on (rendering it in my eyes edible), within a few years suddenly the skin was "evil" - and it was GONE. Even before they made the entire dining area smoke free... Stopped eating chicken there, then.

Places to eat off-site were far enough away that we reserved them for holiday or other special occasion meals such as birthdays.

They brought in "heart healthy" meals, which were still carb-loaded, especially in the sauces.

Fortunately, at some point I decided to bring in my meals most days, but still go to the cafeteria (even when I got an office) to eat my meals with others. I lost 40 pounds and improved my blood workups just doing that! I have to say they made the BEST asparagus, and sometimes if it was served, I'd eat what I'd brought in, and tell the table I was going back for dessert... and come back with a heaping pile of asparagus. Hey, dessert!!!
 
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