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AUG. SEP. 2020 IV pickups for employees who prefer to order lunch from the app, with a wider selection of products. And the “office canteen” 4.0, without kitchen and staff, with large refrigerated display cases from which employees can pick up their freshly cooked, single- portioned meals, avoiding queues and gatherings. The refreshment areas can be transformed into additional workstations if necessary. “The situation is constantly changing and it is really difficult to make medium- and long-term forecasts,” says Bruna Coppolino’s Press Office & Media Relations. “We are in constant contact with companies to monitor the way they return to the office, and especially the larger ones will continue to work in at least partially remote mode until 2021. However, the Covid emergency has accelerated the adoption of new practices and stimulated companies to look for new solutions: our canteen and smart fridges have evolved in a contactless and widespread perspective; the ability to adopt new models and the flexibility to evolve them further in the near future has undoubtedly allowed us to build a privileged relationship with companies. September will be an important month to understand how the return will go and what the new norm will be”. OffLunch is an office lunch delivery service active in Rome, Milan and Cagliari. “We have different models that we are testing: dark kitchen, external supplier in ATP [transport with temperature-controlled refrigerated vans, editor’s note], external express supplier,” explains Elisa Ruscino who is in charge of business development. “During the quarantine we had a collapse of orders but we activated home shopping for ready meals. Now companies are taking an interest in our proposal because operating canteens is a problem”. Bella &Bona, a German start-up founded by two Italians, has decided on a healthy and gourmet approach, offering traditional Italian dishes delivered to the office. How are they doing post-Covid? “We’re noticing that companies are slowly returning to the office,” says Tommaso, “there are various different approaches but the most common are going two or three times a week or taking shifts. We are evaluating the possibility of delivering lunch to the worker’s home, but to do this we need a complex and expensive system that we are still testing”. UNITY IS STRENGTH Those who have no home space or desire to lock themselves indoors use what has always been the resource of the freelance: work in the cafeteria. The idea of the Nibol app is in fact to network bars with wi-fi that host sanitized workstations dedicated to agile workers: a way to convert spaces into coworking stations during off-peak hours. “We certainly expect a great recovery for the autumn,” says Riccardo Suardi, CEO and founder, “and today we have about 25 locations in Milan and applications in many cities in Italy. As for a further possible lockdown, we will reorganize according to the characteristics of the second closure. At the moment our service is not interested in the delivery world, we believe it is a completely different market from ours and it is very difficult to enter it only for a particular period”. The “network” is an idea taken up also by some bars with collective loyalty cards (which remind a little of the “real lockdown” concept of “bonds”, but with the possibility of choosing between several places). Six bars in Bari proposed Passepartout, a pub tour with a prepaid card and benefits, including priority seating at the table, free drinks and a special complimentary cocktail at the end of the tour. Why not re-propose the same concept for the lunch break, joining forces with local bars or restaurants? The fact remains that the traditional canteen is in crisis: according to Bva- Doxa research, one in three workers prefers to eat alone rather than with colleagues. So much so that even the big players are studying alternative solutions. Pellegrini has set up booking and pick-up services (in the canteen), take-away and foodlocker services unconnected to “canonical” hours (another great theme of the New Normal). While Pedevilla is focusing on a personalised packed lunch service. And Sodexo supports companies in redesigning spaces and environments to combine comfort and efficiency. AFTER THE CLOSURE, WORKING NOMADISM? Let’s look even further ahead. One of the most futuristic consequences of smart working - there is a lot of talk about it this late summer - is the de- geolocalization of work. It will be less and less important where you work and from which country, with the possibility of having the whole world to “fish” for orders. An opportunity for freelancers and old and alas new VAT numbers (the economic crisis will fill the ranks). But also for employees: already this summer Alpitour launched the “smart week” with employees on holiday - work in Sicily thanks to fast connection and delivery of packed lunches to be consumed on the beach. South working and working from second homes is now widespread practice. In short, the client flees even further away. But new opportunities are also opening up, even in those beautiful Italian historic centres that are suffering so much but which, we are sure, will become even more attractive for foreign smart workers in search of great beauty and good food made in Italy. ______________________________ BOX THE DILEMMA OF CONTAINERS If the pandemic was supposed to be a wake-up call for the health of the Planet, the reality of those first months risks aggravating the situation of rubbish and waste. It has been calculated that next year 11 kg of plastic per student will be thrown away for the single portions required at school canteens alone. Not to mention unsolicited utensils that arrive with the delivery such as napkins, MAGAZINE