Free lunches for housebound office workers, as a morale-booster

Among the coronavirus’ sweeping disruption of the restaurant business is the lunch trade, as legions of office workers are now scattered to different neighborhoods, working out of their homes.

As quarantines drag on, some of the bosses are buying lunches for their employees. It’s intended as a pick-me-up for the workers as well as a boost for neighborhood restaurants that offer carryout and delivery.

Sixteen workers at Conshohocken-based Lighthouse Life, a financial-services company, are getting $25 a week to order food. Among the restaurant picks are Metropolitan Diner in North Wales, Pizza Box in Ambler, Angelo’s Italian Kitchen in Horsham, the Grotto Pizza in Wilmington, Tony’s Pizza in North Wales, the Nudy’s Cafe in Devon, and Jimmy’s Barbecue in Malvern.

One Lighthouse Life staffer said he was planning to add to the $25 to also cover a meal for a Bryn Mawr Hospital employee.

The 89 employees of Pavone Marketing Group who work out of Center City and Harrisburg got an email last week: “We recognize that the monotony of sheltering in place may be starting to get to you. And we’d also like to support local businesses who aren’t as fortunate as we are in this time of uncertainty. So, please order take-out from a local restaurant (value of up to $100) and enjoy a meal on PMG.”

The result, says Elise Brown of Pavone: “Instant employee morale booster.” Pavone owns and operates a food-and-beverage marketing agency called quench, whose clients include StarKist, Sun-Maid, Herr’s, Turkey Hill, and Del Monte Fresh, “so generally, food is always on our minds,” Brown says.

Among the Pavone employees’ picks are Olly, Puyero, and Square Pie in Queen Village, Campbell’s Place in Chestnut Hill, Veda and Zama in Center City, Angelino’s in Fairmount, the Pub of Penn Valley in Narberth, Malo’s Pizza & Pasta in Collingdale, Vintage Bar & Grill in Abington, Little Hen in Haddonfield, Italian Affair in Glassboro, and the Santucci’s pizza location in Northeast Philadelphia.

Someone at Pavone really wanted to break the monotony and ordered sweets from Franklin Fountain in Old City.

“Our hope is that other organizations out there can use this as a catalyst to doing similar things,” said Jared Scott, the company’s chief marketing officer.