With the Covid-19 pandemic, we saw more and more businesses adapt to remote work. While now we may not be in the throes of the pandemic, we’re slowly discovering that remote work is here to stay.
This means it’s time to make up for all the missed business lunches by shifting them to Zoom lunches and virtual happy hours. We know that it can be hard for businesses to keep their remote employees engaged and happy, which is why hosting some interactive virtual activities like virtual team lunch meetings, virtual lunch and learn, or virtual team-building activities can really help.
How to Get Started
First off, you have to choose your video conferencing platform. If you’ve shifted to remote or hybrid work, you may already be using tools like Slack, Google Hangouts, Microsoft Teams, FaceTime or Zoom. But for an event where you want to keep employee engagement high and natural conversations flowing, you will need a tool that enables you to not only do video conferences, but also networking and games.
Here’s a list of tools you can use:
- TriviaMaker
- Team Building
- The Offsite Co.
- QuizBreaker
- Remo
What Activities to Include
Apart from the lunch itself, you can include other activities to break the monotony of a typical workday. Here are a couple of things you can do:
Icebreakers
Icebreakers can be a great and amusing way to get a friendly perspective into your teammates’ lives. It can also be a good bonding activity, giving people a chance to talk about non-office-related stuff like favorite songs, movies, sports, etc.
Team Building Activities
Activities like virtual scavenger hunts, escape room, bingo, riddles, and charades can be a great way to make the team work together. Although your team may still be working remotely, team-building activities give them a chance to come together as a solid crew.
How to Deliver Lunch Virtually
If you have a small team, you can organize for the company to send them lunch from a nearby restaurant. Besides this, there are tons of different lunch ideas for food catering and food delivery depending on what you need, your team’s location, and preferences, you can choose from a whole host of options such as snack boxes, pizza parties, and even a more corporate lunch box.
Here are some options you can check out:
Hoppier
Hoppier is a great solution if a majority of your team is working remotely from different locations. They provide gift cards that employees can use on various vendor platforms like Grubhub, Postmates, Deliveroo, Doordash, Uber Eats, etc. to order food in.
SnackMagic
SnackMagic offers personalized snack boxes and branded merchandise that are super easy to gift. You pay for the item, employees pick their favorite, and SnackMagic delivers to their doorsteps. SnackMagic lets overseas employees select a themed box, which is customized by region and individual preferences.
Cocktail Courier
Cocktail Courier delivers cocktail kits to create cocktail experiences at home. Their kits include all the fresh ingredients necessary, as well as easy-to-follow recipe cards that will have you making your cocktails in under 15 minutes. A great way to celebrate happy hour and compare tastings.
And there you have it; all you need to know about how to set up a virtual business lunch. We hope you like these ideas and they become a hit with your team.