The Top 5 Types of Food-Centric Meetings

November 10, 2018 | Filed in: Your Brain

Whether your office’s kitchen is filled with fresh produce or the communal fridge has one pack of string cheese (on a good day), there’s no denying the importance of food in the workplace. At MM, it’s fair to say we’re obsessed with snacks. Below, an homage to meetings that revolve around food (in fact, the ones where food is kind of the whole point). 

“Hey, it’s been a while! Let’s grab coffee soon,” you remark to a co-worker as you cross paths en route to different meetings. You know there’s nothing more annoying than an empty invitation to “get coffee,” so you initiate only when you intend to follow through. And you will, because while you are excited to catch up with this co-worker, you’ve also been looking for an excuse to try the incredible-smelling bakery you pass every morning on the way to the office. Buttery croissants and latte await.

What kind of office gathering isn’t improved with snacks? None. And that’s why this weekly meeting is your favorite—because it comes with bagels. Given the 8:30 a.m. start time, it’s only fair to give everyone a jump-start via carbs, and with a well-shmeared bagel in hand, you have all the energy you need to make great points and ask insightful questions. Meeting: conquered. 

The corporate card was invented for team dinners—at least, that’s what you tell yourself as you scroll through Yelp in search of a place that checks all the boxes. To satisfy everyone in the group, you need a place with vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, and nut-free options. You draft an email, just in case: “Plan B. Everyone order their favorite takeout, I’ll bring wine, and we’ll convene in the conference room at 6 P.M.”

When your company is marking an extra-special occasion (hooray, biggest revenue week ever), there’s only one dessert that will do: sheet cake! Cookies and brownies and make-your-own-sundae bars are nice, but nothing gets Slack conversations going quite like a 3-by-2 foot, liberally frosted cake. Pour everyone a glass of something bubbly, and embrace that mid-afternoon sugar rush.

When HR asked if your team would be up for hosting open office hours, you had one condition: there must be snacks. Every two weeks, your team camps out in your office’s largest conference room, door propped open to welcome the curious and/or hungry. You’ve started treating the event as an experiment to see which food draws the biggest crowds. Current frontrunner: dim sum. 

All this talk about food making you hungry? Feel free to grab a snack (and peruse our winter collection, Bend the Rules, while you’re at it).