Office employee having a fast lunch. Credit: Getty Royalty FreeGetty
Most offices still have limited snack and lunch options, so employees have to rely on vending machines or bring food from home to heat up in an old microwave. Markov, the company that created the Level oven that uses artificial intelligence (AI), has launched the Level Hot Pantry to upgrade your office lunch. The service includes the smart oven and food delivery so that office workers can have healthy and hot meals.
Markov, a San Francisco startup, wants Level Hot Pantry to replace the boring snacks from vending machines that are common in offices. The company provides a fridge and the Level smart oven. Then, it stocks the fridge with healthy snack options through other food delivery companies. Employees can grab a snack from the fridge, heat it up in the Level oven and enjoy a warm meal at work. For now, this service is limited to the San Francisco Bay Area, but Markov hopes to expand in the future.
The Level Hot Pantry includes a variety of items that you can mix and match. You can choose from proteins, vegetables, carbohydrates, breakfast, appetizers or sweets. There are options for vegans, such as the vegan egg scramble and Impossible meatless meatballs. There are also paleo and gluten-free items on the menu. Everything can be prepared in the Level smart oven, which has an interactive screen, connects to the cloud and uses a patented RF system to cook the food.
Investing in a hot pantry for employees may seem wasteful to office managers who are used to the screech of microwaves and bags of stale potato chips, but offering healthy and warm food has its benefits. Research shows that a poor diet affects productivity at work and your ability to focus. It can also cause fatigue, irritability and stress. One study of 20,000 employees by Brigham Young University (BYU) found that those with "unhealthy diets were 66% more likely to report having a loss in productivity" at work.
"Total health-related employee productivity loss accounts for 77% of all such loss and costs employers two to three times more than annual healthcare expenses. This research provides guidelines on how employers can modify the work environment to improve productivity," said study lead author Ray Merrill. "Making fruits and vegetables available to employees in the workplace and having leadership who play a supportive role with employee wellness is critical to office productivity."
Large corporations and many tech companies have already figured out the value of feeding their employees well by setting up expensive and elaborate food service options in their offices. Markov hopes its Level Hot Pantry will be adopted by small- and medium-sized companies, so their workers can also benefit from healthy and warm meals throughout the day.
