Eating Together, Working Together

If the old saying “families who eat together stay together” is true, how about applying that philosophy to your workplace? When you’re thinking about your next team-building activity, consider the power of an excursion with Sidewalk Food Tours to connect colleagues.

Everyone loves a good meal, and it’s even better when you can share the food with others. At the workplace, this could be as easy as going out for lunch or sitting in the breakroom together over sandwiches. But those gatherings usually involve only two people, maybe three or four. How about the whole enchilada, as it were?

The popular blog TeamBonding believes an off-site meal is a great way to encourage camaraderie among co-workers: “Sharing food and having fellowship with the people you work with will greatly enhance creativity and communication skills.”

Research also supports the notion that teams sharing food will share a stronger bond in the workplace. For instance, a group from Cornell University published a study in 2015 in which they analyzed station meals among firefighters. They found that firefighters who ate together, in turn, worked better together because they felt a stronger connection to each other — “ideal workgroups or platoons functioned like ideal families.”

Another great reason to do a team-building food tour is to foster friendships or at least social bonds in the workplace. When peers share a connection beyond working at the same place, it improves their mood and outlook on their jobs.

Thus, taking your team on a food tour is the perfect opportunity to create meaningful connections. People might find they share a love, or distaste, of a certain food. They might even share a familial connection with a particular dish or cooking style. They might not realize they were in such close proximity to restaurants they really enjoy. And with Sidewalk Food Tours, we go beyond the plates and offer guests an insider’s tour of a particular neighborhood, giving them new insights into the places they call home.

Sidewalk Food Tours operates in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Paris, France. We have many options to suit your team’s needs, including flexibility on the days and times when tours run. Visit www.sidewalkfoodtours.com to learn more.

Food tours are a great way to build camaraderie among your team. Here, a group enjoys pizza from Pizzeria Delfina in the Mission District of San Francisco. At center is Pizzeria Delfina proprietor Craig Stoll, a James Beard Award winner.