Mark This! is a podcast in which we peel back the corporate curtain to reveal the cool and innovative people, programs, and projects that are happening all over Aramark’s varied lines of business. These remarkable initiatives happen because we have remarkable people behind them--building opportunity, building innovation, and building community.
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Mark This! Podcast, Episode 15, Workplace Wow
Host: Heather Dotchel, Corporate Communications
Guests: Diane Pancoski, Vice President for Marketing for Workplace Experience Group; Betsy Rapport, Vice President for Marketing for Refreshments
It is time to Mark This! A podcast in which we peel back the corporate curtain to reveal the cool and innovative people, programs, and projects that are happening all over Aramark's varied lines of business.
I'm Heather Dotchel. As a member of Aramark's Communications Team, I see and hear amazing things that are happening across our company every day. These remarkable initiatives happen because we have remarkable people behind them, building opportunity, building innovation, and building community.
As we well know, the workplace is not the same as it was a few years ago. Given the pandemic and the ever-changing workforce priorities, the needs and expectations of employees have shifted. Aramark's Workplace Experience Group is approaching this market transformation by looking at key industry trends and using insights and analysis to understand and engage with the consumer. Let's welcome our guests, Diane Pancoski, Vice President of Marketing for our Workplace Experience Group, and Betsy Rapport, Vice President of Marketing for Refreshments. So glad to have you both today on our Mark This! episode.
Diane, can you begin and give us a bit of your background?
Sure, yeah, so marketing background, 27 years at Aramark. So I started off out in the field working with some big accounts and then moved up into development and was around for a lot of the great development that we've done, and I've seen that kind of progression of how the workplace has grown over these last couple decades.
Betsy, please introduce yourself too.
Sure. Hello, my name is Betsy Rapport, and I've been with Aramark for about 22 years, similar to Diane. We've been around for a bit. I've started in the field, actually in collegiate hospitality, as a field marketer, and then moved into a development role, and there I supported Healthcare Plus, Workplace Experience Group, collegiate hospitality. And worked on a couple of big-scale initiatives as well as smaller ones and, about a year and a half ago, joined the Refreshments team.
So, to jump right in, I don't want to belabor the point. We are all quite pandemic discussion fatigued, but it would be disingenuous not to talk about that proverbial elephant in the room. How did COVID turn the workplace and the industries that support the hospitality at work locations on its head?
Yeah, I'll jump in and take that. And so, as I said, I've been around for a few decades in the hospitality world, and we have seen a progression as we've seen millennials come into the workforce now, the Gen Z's, so we've seen that, but COVID really accelerated the kind of things we already saw happening. We already saw work from home, Fridays, work from anywhere. The whole idea of... from productivity, you need to be at your desk to do the work to this collaboration and hospitality has benefited from that because workplace now is what are the amenities approach to attracting and retaining to having people collaborate to making the workday better. And things like dining and catering, and Betsy will talk about all the wonderful things we do in break rooms, has really enhanced what people look for when they find an employer and stay with an employer because it creates culture and community. And we've seen that change, and tech, obviously, we all know the things that have happened that has really enabled that also.
And I would say, from an amenities standpoint, it became even more important to have amenities in the workplace as employers are bringing everyone back to the office. So yes, there's definitely the ability. We all know we could be productive, not at the office, but there really is something special around the face-to-face collaboration and having that camaraderie. And we found that amenities help bring everyone back and offer not just a great cup of coffee and a snack that people miss, but also this opportunity to bond and reconnect with one another.
And especially since it's come right now, landing about a three, two-workweek. So three days in, two days out, as a lot of companies are doing that whole hybrid thing, those amenities mean a lot more to people because when they are in, they are in meetings, they want to meet with their people because the days they're home, they're on calls all day or they're doing what we call head-down work, right? I'm going to, on Friday, do this type of work because my other days when I'm in the office, I want to do that bigger collaboration work, and the hospitality, the beverages, the food is a big piece of that experience.
I think our listeners can certainly identify with that, as we've all faced brand new atmospheres when we come into the office. Let's talk about these changes in depth. I think we certainly prefer to look forward than dwell in the past. You're using data and lots of it to track trends in the workplace. Betsy, what are you seeing?
Well, I mean, like I said, we know and Diane mentioned it, we have a completely different kind of schedule now where we have three days in, two days out. But there is still the need to have not only a robust portfolio of vast products and experiences in the workplace, but a huge area of growth is really in that 24/7 micromarket space that continues to just boom. So having something that's unattended and someone can get something to eat or drink anytime they want and it's a high-quality, good experience is a place that we really have seen a ton of growth. In addition to that, when we talk about beverages across the generations, we grew up, I grew up, hot coffee, and now, no, it's cold and it's cold and it's flavored, and it's fun, and hot coffee is not the leader when you go to a Dunkin Donuts or a Starbucks, or even your local coffee bar.
It's really around these not only cold experiences, but really able to customize them and make them really special. So, on top, is another component of that coffee. We love having beer on tap and when we go to a baseball game, but now we're really looking at coffee, kombucha, tea on tap and creating these different experiences. So when I'm coming to the office and I'm getting my coffee, that takes on a very different perspective than it may have been before. Other ones are also pop-up experiences, so how do we continue to surprise and delight? So having people come into the office maybe not five days a week or usually not five days a week, how can we make it even more fun? Diane mentioned earlier around people are meeting and collaborating, and how awesome is it if you're able to collaborate and meet over food and beverage and have that bond? So whether it's in a cafe, whether it's in a hallway, whether you're entering, there's all these opportunities to have these pop-ups to really put a dot on that specialness that people are looking for when they come to the office.
And I would add too, because, Heather, you started off with talking about data, and we really are data-driven. So Betsy was talking about a lot of the data we see in the retail and what's happening on what we call street. When people aren't in the workplace, they're looking for those same things, but on the opposite. And we have technology, has enabled us to be smarter, and we talk about this ecosystem of our three key stakeholders, our operators, our customers, and our clients. So we have three people that technology helps. So the operator is how does mobile order and all the different types of AI stores, or, sorry, autonomous stores that we have that know exactly what people are buying, how they're shopping. It helps our operators be more efficient, help them be smarter. And then it's all about frictionless when you're at work, right? How do I get my cup of coffee? The five different ways I can order online and pick up.
I can go talk to my barista; I can go get that wonderful bean-to-cup in the break room. So we think about all the ways, and then what dashboarding can we do to our clients that we are really measuring their KPIs? Some of them are really concerned about participation and customer SaaS. Some of them care about sustainability and wellness purchases. So how do we give them the dashboard that's custom for them that can enable us to retain that client and help them with their goals of what they're trying to achieve for their culture? Because we're guests in all of our clients' home, we're a partner to them, and we want them to be successful.
Diane, what are we seeing as far as culinary innovation and menu creativity?
Yeah, what we're seeing, I'll go back to that whole street, people really expect what they eat and what they do when they are outside to come inside. So some of the big innovations, and I give all the credit to our corporate marketing team, is local restaurant row. It's one of the most successful things. People love local, they love authentic. We tap into those great restaurants that are down the street from you or across town, and we bring them in. So that has been very, very successful for us and really a huge driver. And not only do they come in for that, and then they buy all this other stuff from us, and it's a great halo effect. The other thing we've been doing is partnerships, others bigger strategic partnerships, like our partnership with Stephen Starr, that again, our corporate team brokered that deal, and that has been great for us because bringing his food from his restaurants into our spaces like the Elvis Tacos you love, and now you can get them with our Dirty Taco program or even deeper partnerships.
One Congress in Boston with a commercial real estate company that Stephen has a partnership with brought us to the table, and now we open this beautiful space in Boston. It's all amenity-driven with a very tight relationship where actually our chefs are going to his restaurants to learn and to learn how to cook the food, and then they're coming into our spaces and doing hospitality training. So it's a really lovely, wonderful partnership of benefit to all, and our Culinarians, our chefs just love it.
That is super cool. That is really very cool. Betsy, what else are you seeing as far as trends go?
So one of the other trends is really, we have clients in a variety of different ways or different variations, really looking at increasing spend with small and local businesses as well as diverse. So we see a lot around cause-related products and services, and really making sure that we, as Aramark, can provide that diverse portfolio to them. And so, for example, we introduced across the organization Triple B Hospitality. As Diane mentioned around partnerships, that is another strategic partnership where we're able to bring them forward for the right client need in order to be the hospitality partner with Aramark. In addition to that, more on the refreshments side, but definitely spills over into the rest of the business. Our partnerships with coffee roasters such as Black & Bold and Equator Coffee. Black & Bold is a new partnership for us. They are a certified MWBE.
They have national reach, and they are very relevant over the past year. They've had some really awesome partnerships on their end. And so for us to be able to bring that into the workplaces is great for our guests and our staff members that are utilizing that. Equator Coffee, I mentioned another wonderful partner out of California. They are woman-owned, they are B Corp, and they're LGBTQ+ owned. They are a wonderful partner. Again, they are available nationally, so we're able to bring these really unique products to our clients. We're also able to bring local products and regional products into our clients' spaces, whether that's a snack, whether it's local produce or ingredients, that they can create these beautiful and wonderful delicious recipes that Diane mentioned. We're really looking to diversify and make sure that we're able to serve the different needs that our clients have. Diane, did you have anything you wanted to add to that?
Yeah, I would say absolutely local. And what kind of flows over to that is the whole idea of good for the planet sustainability initiatives, right? That's another big hot button. And so when we buy local lower carbon footprint, when we promote cool foods programs that we partner with, those are the stories. For us, it's around food waste. How do we get to zero food waste? And a lot of our clients are, as they're renovating or going into platinum-lead-certified buildings, carbon-neutral, all the things that we hear, and we need to be right there with them and be a leader in that space because, in most cases, in a building, we're probably the biggest source of sourcing stuff that comes in and the biggest source of food waste.
So the things that we do are very, very meaningful in all of the spaces. And how do we, again, be that leader in that space? And it's very much... people that are coming out of school are looking to see companies that they want to work for, or how do they address some of these things around how we treat people. How we treat the planet is a really big space that we are solving for.
And it's interesting because it goes back to what Diane said earlier about attract and retain, because that's something that we talk about all the time. And it's also a very good example of how what we do in collegiate hospitality affects and what those trends are too. So it's not just the generational insights, it's also looking at what the other business units are doing for their specific consumers and guests. So we learn a lot from collegiate to hospitality because that is who's now going to become part of the workforce.
Excellent. I'd like to pivot to one of the approaches our workplace experience group has embraced, specifically developing curated companies to fill industry needs. Diane, how have we done this with thoughtfulness and intention?
Yeah, no, great question. We were very thoughtful about this. We really did a deep dive of research with some consultants to find out not only what we see in the marketplace, what prospects, what clients are saying, where we thought 2025 was going to be, how do we stay relevant? And the thing that came out truly is, people want specialized companies for specialized industries, and what we've seen in the workplace in industries, we still have industries, i.e., manufacturing, call centers, where productivity still reigns because of the nature of the work. Then we have, on the total opposite side, tech and finance, now FinTech, that really are all about the experience to attract and retain the best and how do we specialize. And that really happened about 15 years ago when LifeWorks Restaurant Group came into existence of how do we target that boutique, that client that's really looking, and back then, to attract and retain wasn't as it is today. Everybody says those words. That was kind of new approach.
And so that really was around this different approach to Scratch Kitchen and Cheflet, and not that our other business wasn't, but it was a deeper way of talking about it and, in all honesty, a different economics around what they wanted, from free for huge free food programs to very highly subsidized programs as a benefit to people to come and work for them. So that took a different specialty. Fast forward to today, we've upleveled our workplace hospitality very specialized in a space, and now we've just launched Salute Hospitality, which is we've been at the Air Force bases, but when you think about it, it is a totally different way of talking about a community on a military base. They live there, they work there, they play there. We do golf courses to what we consider where they eat at lunch in the mess halls to all types of theaters and different types of things. So talking to them and how we talk to our clients around that really becomes a more specialized conversation, and we've seen success as we've built out these curated companies.
Okay. Actually, let's dig into that. That's a really great concrete example and a brand new shiny one of what we're doing. So can you take what we've talked about so far, our pandemic learnings, our data-driven trend research, our roll your sleeves up application, and walk us through the development and launch of Salute Hospitality?
Absolutely, and I have to give all credit to our team at the Air Force bases. I'm going to big shout out to Kim Graves, Amanda George on my team, and Michelle Chang because they are rock stars, and they actually brought all this together and said, "Look, this is a space where workplace hospitality won't resonate, right?" It's great, we love all of the things about it, but we needed something that talked to that client to those customers in a way that resonated with them and felt very relevant, and became a differentiator among our competitors. And we wanted to be even more specialized as really enabling your military experience on those bases.
All the research that we did around what would resonate, we tapped into our ERG salute. That's where the name came from. So I have to give them a big shout out that we wanted to align with what they do for veterans and the great work that they do, and that really all came together with the pillars and the things that align directly with all of those military different branches. They also, actually, within the military, right? There's the Air Force, there's the Army, there's the Navy, as we all know. And so they have their own pillars, their own way. It's very different. And so how did we specialize even within Salute Hospitality? They dug deeper into what it would mean to go win in other branches and what was meaningful to those clients and the people that work in those military bases.
So, Betsy, what's next? What is the future if we are looking into our crystal ball?
So from the refreshments standpoint, and we're continuing obviously with Diane working together to continue to evolve all of the spaces within Workplace Experience Group, from the break room to the board room and everything in between. When we talk about refreshments and break spaces specifically, there's some really exciting stuff going on in the digital space, as well as in the spaces that we support and create. So first, Aramark Refreshments has an e-commerce site. I don't know if everyone knows that. That was new for me when I joined Refreshments. We have our own e-commerce site, and that is a huge driver for us and a lever for growth. We are re-platforming, modernizing, and really building for the future on how we can grow our e-commerce even further. That includes things like marketplace and bringing in our strategic partners, and not just offering the buyer of an office space the ability to buy their coffee. We want to do much more than that, and so that's super, super exciting.
In addition to that, in the spaces in which we live in refreshments, we are actively working on, what is the evolution of a break room? We heard Diane and I touched on as well, the importance of sustainability and cause-related products, and local products. So we're looking at how we can create a fully sustainable break space. It can come together in modules, or we can have a full experience from every part of how we touch the consumer, a very, very exciting. Not only looking at the packaging, but also the products we're using and how we are bringing them to our consumer, and how can we better tell these stories about all these amazing partners that we have in our portfolio? The last thing I'll just mention really quick is micromarket. I mentioned that at the beginning of the call.
It is a huge growth lever for the refreshments business, and over the past couple months, we not only are looking at new and different ways to create a market, so something that's a smaller footprint that works as a profit, it's a profitable solution for our clients, but really being able to come into a space quickly to get the right beverages and snacks on board, and then also from an operating model standpoint, we're looking at that, how we can make it better and easier for our clients to get a micromarket on site. So there's a lot of really great stuff happening, and I'm super excited for the future.
I think it's very evident in your vocalization and your tones, but I have to say, I wish our listeners could see how very excited you all are about office hospitality because it's fantastic. Want to know more about Aramark's Workplace Experience Group and how hospitality in your professional life can enhance the employee experience? Visit our newsroom on aramark.com to access more information. Diane and Betsy, it was lovely to have you on today's episode, and as always, I'd like to thank our listeners for tuning in to Mark This!
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