Self-Serve Micro Market Offers Healthy Options

Company Kitchen’s concept is similar to walking into a convenience store for fresh foods.

February 23, 2015

EMPORIA, Kan. – The Emporia Gazette featured a new option for local businesses that want to offer healthy foods: Company Kitchen. 

"There are a lot of great places to eat in Emporia," Tara Eichorn with Treat America, parent company of Company Kitchen, told the newspaper. "But if you don't have time to get there and get back to your job on time you are either fixing your lunch or eating out of vending machines."

The Company Kitchen model is different than traditional vending machines in that it’s like an open market, or similar to walking into a convenience store. The self-serve kiosk features open-air coolers, snacks, coffee and fresh foods. Common menu items offered are salads, sandwiches, yogurt and breakfast items, as well as a variety of beverages, fresh fruit, cheeses and vegetables. To help consumers make healthier choices, healthier pick items are tagged with a green label.

"We bring in fresh food that is made in our own commissary," Eichorn told the newspaper. "That's the difference. You aren't eating out of a vending machine anymore where the food comes in frozen. This is food that is made fresh, delivered daily or every other day."

Installing a Company Kitchen is free of charge to companies that have 100 or more employees. Employees receive a Company Kitchen pre-pay card to use for purchases, while debit and credit cards are also accepted at the self-service kiosk for payment. By using the Company Kitchen card, customers can also receive discounts or take part in promotions offered through the company.

"Every employee has a Company Kitchen account," Eichorn said. "They can log in and see every item they have purchased and the nutritional information of the item they purchased."

In addition to Company Kitchen, Treat America also provides traditional vending services, office coffee service, cafe and cafeteria services, school lunches and contract feeding.

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