Let’s face it—bringing our own lunch to work can get boring. Enter Fooda, an app that brings restaurants to work, which launched in Plymouth in September in the Jet 55 Corporate Center on Highway 55.
Fooda began in Chicago in 2011 as a solution to a problem, says Fooda marketing director Stafford McKay. Thousands of people worked for companies housed in the old Montgomery Ward building, and at the time, the area had few restaurants. Each day, many employees got in their cars and went off to get lunch. Some people from Echo Logistics, one of the companies in the building, saw that the number of people leaving for lunch was negatively affecting productivity, and noticed many employees were going to the same restaurants. They began inviting restaurants to come to their building so that employees could enjoy the food without having to drive somewhere.
The idea was a hit, and other businesses followed suit. Former Echo Logistics CEO Orazio Buzza created an app that would coordinate bringing a variety of restaurants to workplaces on a regular basis. Fooda has since expanded to 25 cities across the country.
“Fooda is great for employees because they get to enjoy different restaurants without having to drive somewhere. Restaurants love it—they get exposure to new customers,” says McKay.
“There is a customer-based app where people can see which restaurants will be coming to Jet 55 for two weeks in advance. Customers who sign up for the app get coupons, rewards points and other benefits, says Fooda local account manager Katie McQuoid.
The list of restaurants is always growing and includes Boca Chica, Smoke in the Pit, Mort’s Deli, Aloha Poke, Green Leaf, Fresco’s, Hyderabad Indian Grill, Villa Italian and Namaste Café and more, says McKay.
