How An Office Manager at A&E Networks Helped Increase Productivity & Corporate Culture with Food

A&E Networks is a US Media company that owns popular television channels like Lifetime, The History Channel, and, of course, A&E. The network is responsible for hit shows enjoyed by millions like Unreal, Knightfall, and Live PD.

The company’s LA office isn’t its largest, but employees working there are spread across multiple floors. Because of this, people tended to stay in their own lanes. Employees would see someone they didn’t recognize only to find out they had been colleagues for years, the company’s corporate culture needed a boost.

This isn’t a problem unique to A&E. The Wall Street Journal reports that immediate desk neighbors account for 40% to 60% of every interaction that worker has during the workday, from face-to-face chats to email messages. And there is only a 5% to 10% chance employees are interacting with someone two rows away. So imagine how difficult it can be to forge a relationship with someone a few floors away.

Because of this, the company’s office manager saw an opportunity to create a stronger corporate culture in the office. She began thinking of how she could make it happen.

“Food is what binds relationships. People love to eat, people love to converse over eating. That’s why you go to dinner on first dates. That’s why we have lunch meetings. It provides a sense of community. And that sense of community has trickled down into everything we do.”

— Amy Pape, LA Office Manager, A&E

Solution: A Variety of Restaurants Pop Up at A&E so Employees Can Buy Fresh, Authentic Lunch

One day, when Amy was walking by a receptionist’s desk around lunchtime, she saw people leaving the office or picking up individual meal orders to take back to their desks. The company was in no position to build a cafeteria, but Amy had another idea: bring restaurants into their lunchroom.

Handled by Fooda, A&E now has different top-rated local restaurants pop up on site for lunch. Today, Amy’s colleagues head to the lunchroom to buy a variety of fresh and authentic food, spending more time with each other at the office.

Stronger Corporate Culture

Fooda has helped bring people together, giving them a short break each day to grab lunch and have a conversation with someone who they may not interact with regularly.

“Fooda is a game changer when it comes to getting to know the people we work with. The corporate culture here has benefited greatly from the program. It’s the perfect break in the day to walk over and have a conversation with a coworker. We’ve also seen an increase in productivity since we’re spending less time getting lunch and more time in the office.”

— Producer, A&E

Increase Productivity

In addition to the community benefits, A&E has noticed increased productivity at the office. LA is known for traffic congestion during all parts of the day. By bringing lunch options into the office, A&E employees are spending less time driving around the city to find lunch, and more time together at the office.

But, perhaps most importantly, work is just more fun with Fooda.

“It helps make people want to come to work to be with the amazing people they work with. We’ve made the office more fun, it’s as simple as that.”

— Amy Pape, LA Office Manager, A&E