For Elior Group Chairman and CEO Philippe Salle, "the lunch break has become a reputation challenge for employers. To break through the current paradigm that excludes SMEs from contract catering, we needed an agile partner with an innovative project and driven by the same ambition to promote widespread access to contract catering. Together, we developed The Living Room, a start-up designed to meet our growth challenges."

• A restaurant connected to a network of 1,200 Elior kitchens in France
• Meals cooked by Group chefs can be ordered online and delivered within 30 minutes
• Average price for employees comes out at around €4 per meal after company participation

Thanks to digitalization, The Living Room breaks down the frontiers of contract catering to offer all companies with at least 10 employees the first catering alternative to luncheon vouchers.

With The Living Room, Elior Group is looking to meet the growing demand from SMEs seeking to benefit from the advantages of contract catering: providing healthy and quality meals that are prepared everyday by Group chefs at reasonable prices and can be consumed on-site in a more convivial setting, and which offer interesting tax breaks and a real reputation and talent-recruitment advantage for employers.

To develop The Living Room as a small and medium-sized company catering offering, Elior Group used digitalization, last-mile logistics, connected object, online payment, etc.

For Nicolas Wertans, CEO of Elior France, "Elior, the contract caterer of choice in France, has thrown open the doors to the company restaurant. For the first time, thanks to The Living Room, employees of small and medium-sized companies will have access to the very best in culinary innovation. As such, Elior draws on the expertise of our teams which underpins our service of excellence and the power of our network across the country to transform break-time into a moment of well-being and conviviality for our guests.”

Companies benefiting from The Living Room’s connected restaurant offering will have access to morning-to-evening catering solutions; from breakfast solutions to take-out dinners.

• Employees can place their orders online or select directly from their on-site connected restaurants;
• Meals prepared in the nearest Elior restaurant are delivered within 30 minutes;
• Guests receive their meals every day in reusable lunchboxes, which reduces waste production;
• The Living Room also offers daily, after-lunch kitchen cleaning services.

The Living Room’s connected restaurant also meets employers' legal obligations to provide catering facilities for companies with more than 25 employees.

Mikael Outmezguine, Managing Director of The Living Room, declared: "I am very proud to have made contract catering accessible to employees of small and medium-sized companies. Together with Elior Group, we have created a connected catering model that makes healthy eating not only a right but a reality for employees in France. Digitalization has dramatically transformed numerous sectors in the past years. Launching a digital innovation that serves companies and their employees is a tremendous challenge. I am determined to work with all of the Group's teams to develop this new service which is set to revolutionize corporate catering.”