
How We Share Meals At Ridejoy - jasonshen
http://blog.ridejoy.com/how-we-share-meals-at-ridejoy-from-costco-to-community-supported-agriculture/
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masterponomo
How nice. On my first day 27 years ago as a programmer, I followed the team to
the bank op center cafeteria at lunch time. I loaded up my tray and went to
join them at the long table. As I sat down in the only empty seat, someone
said, "That's Linda's place." I looked around and saw no Linda, but they were
all staring at me with hostility. I dumped my tray and went back to my desk.
Some years later during a review, my boss nailed me for not being more
sociable with my colleagues. I told him I did not want to upset Linda.

~~~
dansingerman
For some reason that story makes me feel really sad. I know us geeks are not
supposed to be the best with social skills and awareness, but treating a new
junior hire like that is tremendously insensitive.

~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
There are always jerks, geeks or not.

~~~
mark_integerdsv
Actual experince at my secnd job:

First day: No one talks to me, lunch alone, leave withou having said a word to
anyone apart from my manager who showed me my desk and introduced me to
everyone.

Second day: Walking in past the desk of a long time employee... Me: Good
Morning! Her: You came back?

...again: this actually happened.

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marcusf
I think it's a very positive thing that people invest this much time in
nurturing staff; That said, there seems to be some companies whose sole
purpose is to convert VC money in to full stomaches? I'm not knocking on
Ridejoy specifically (I thought the whole community manager shebang a while
back was very entertaining, and I like their idea) but there's a lot of posts
on company eating on HN. Hackers and Gourmands?

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ridejoy
Thanks! I wouldn't worry about our investors, the food is 2-3% of our total
burn. Everyone loves food (see Pinterest) and it's a fun and occasionally
enlightening way to find out more about a startup from the outside.

(note: if you haven't seen the community manager shebang, it's at
[http://blog.ridejoy.com/how-to-woo-a-startup-the-best-
resume...](http://blog.ridejoy.com/how-to-woo-a-startup-the-best-resume-
ever/))

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tt
Here at Munchery, our independent chefs have been cooking healthy balanced
meals for a number of startups, most of which have no time nor staff nor
facilities to make food in-house.

We have found a way to make it extremely affordable too. It's usually no more
expensive than if you order takeout elsewhere. On top of that, we deliver
directly to your office.

We currently offer first 5 dinner meals as complimentary to ANY startup based
in SF (and we discount the rest if you have more than 5) with no strings
attached. We have had a bunch of companies signed up. See details here:
<http://blog.munchery.com/heres-to-the-crazy-ones>

~~~
mahyarm
Please have a diet meal option (keto, atkins, south beach, paleo, etc)
available every day. Loosing weight on automatic would be a very tempting perk
for many employees. Office managers can order 10 diet meals and 30 normal
meals and it wont be any extra work for the office manager to implement.

~~~
tt
Thank you for the feedback. As we expand, we'll introduce specific diet plans
for sure.

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bandy
As you add people, you'll find that you will also need to deal with some
vegans (which means some form of vegetable protein at every meal) and a less
well-defined set of preferences ("Joe can't stand Indian food - he just
doesn't like it.", "Patty doesn't like the texture of seitan.", "Fred only
eats hamburgers, hot dogs (if they've been cut up), and plain pasta with
butter on it.") which will end up defining a small set of meals that will
please everyone, save for the adventurous ("Let's go to DeeDee's (in Santa
Clara) and see what they're serving today!") eaters on your team.

My hat's off to you for making a go at it. I've done restaurant (catering)
ordering (to make sure it gets done right) for a company of 70 people (40
local folks staying for dinner) and it's difficult to get a menu with enough
variety that everyone feels included — people left out get cranky and make
faces at you in the morning if you are both getting coffee at the same time.
(They won't kick your dog, however.)

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tomjen3
At the company I work for we have two people employed to cook lunch (which is
basically the same dishes most people eat at dinner) and breakfast (which
means I get to enjoy home-cooked bread).

The result is employes who know each other well and who like each other. The
cost is properly pretty high, but it is worth it.

~~~
bandy
But what's the cost to the company when everyone disappears "at lunch" to eat
their mid-day meal (whenver "lunchtime" is - Fred gets up early, so he eats at
11, Constance chows down at noon, and Paul, who arrives at work by 12:30pm
every day, skitters out at 1350 every day to catch his favorite restaurant
before it closes for the afternoon), and how much longer will people stay if
you feed them dinner? (In a former life, the figure was at least an extra hour
worth of productivity a day)

Getting people's meals in sync is a productivity bonus, even if they don't
socialize during those meals.

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ianterrell
Ask HN: Who is Hiring? (Chef Edition)

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huhtenberg
This is a surprisingly interesting post. It was clever to post it before lunch
too :)

