AT WORK
Cost cutting means fewer employees doing lunch these days

By Stephanie Armour
USA Today

Work pressures wrought by the down economy are eating away at another workplace tradition: the business lunch.

Employers are so focused on cost cutting that they're telling employees to cut back on taking clients out.

Downsizing also has left companies leaner and workers too starved for time to take lunch. And those that still do business lunches are increasingly pinching pennies — going downscale to save a few bucks.

Roughly half of full-time employees spend less time on lunch than they used to, according to a survey of 1,022 adults by the Washington, D.C.-based National Restaurant Association. About 30 percent of employees frequently spend their lunch break doing things other than eating.

"For me, lunches are too long, expensive and not nearly as productive as getting hopped up on cappuccinos," says Julie Swenson, who owns a Minneapolis-based marketing firm. "It's a lot cheaper."

Employees' waning appetite for lunch is generating other developments as well:

• More morning meetings. As employees cram more errands into their lunch hour, they're holding more breakfast meetings — conducting business before the work day begins. Breakfasts are cheaper, experts say, and often quicker than a full-scale lunch.

"You're having breakfast meetings that start at 6:30 in the morning," says Lyn Chamberlin, owner of Skyemedia, a public relations firm in Sudbury, Mass. "People will say, 'I'd prefer not to do lunch,' and you wouldn't have heard that two years ago."

• Restaurant changes. As employees take less time for lunch, restaurateurs are offering faster and cheaper selections. More are willing to deliver meals directly to offices. They're also opening earlier to cater to the business breakfasts and providing more takeout.

"Restaurants are adapting. The biggest growth area tends to be in delivery and carry-out," says Steven Anderson, president of the National Restaurant Association, adding that lower-cost meal items also are in vogue. "When the economy is poor, patrons will spend less money at higher-end restaurants."

• Other ways to connect. With face-to-face lunches fading, employees are finding that other ways of forging business relationships are taking on increased importance. Executives say golf outings now beat out the business lunch as the most valuable activity for getting to know business associates and clients well, according to a 2002 study by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide.

"One health-conscious client and I now meet for a 'meeting on the run,' " says Katherine Heaviside, president of a Huntington, N.Y.-based Epoch 5 Public Relations. "In other words, we either walk or jog as we go down the agenda."