Question 1

Is this canteen and workplace food survey template free?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Free forever with no signup required from you or your employees. Up to 100 responses on the free plan. Pro ($19/month) allows 10,000 responses and trend tracking across survey cycles.

Question 2

What questions should a workplace canteen survey include?

Accepted Answer

A good canteen survey covers: food quality and freshness, menu variety and choice across different meal types, value for money relative to price, speed of service and how well queuing is managed, cleanliness and hygiene standards, how well the menu caters for dietary requirements including vegan, gluten-free, and allergen needs, overall satisfaction with the canteen, likelihood to use it more regularly, and open suggestions. This template covers all nine dimensions.

Question 3

How often should facilities managers run a canteen survey?

Accepted Answer

Twice a year as a baseline, which gives enough time for catering operators to make meaningful changes between surveys. Run an additional pulse after significant menu changes, a new catering contract, or a refurbishment. For larger sites with multiple food outlets, consider running surveys per outlet rather than for the whole site.

Question 4

Can this survey be used to evaluate a contract caterer?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Staff survey results are some of the most useful data when assessing catering contract performance and planning re-tendering. Share aggregated scores with your catering contractor alongside any contractual KPIs. If scores are consistently low on specific dimensions, include them as performance improvement requirements in your contract review. Many catering contracts now include satisfaction score targets as a formal KPI.

Question 5

Should workplace food surveys be anonymous?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Employees are more likely to give honest feedback about food quality, hygiene concerns, or value for money if responses are anonymous. This is especially important for hygiene feedback, where employees may be reluctant to report concerns publicly if they think it could cause problems for individual catering staff.

Question 6

What is the most important dimension in a canteen survey?

Accepted Answer

Value for money (Q3) is consistently the strongest predictor of overall canteen satisfaction and whether employees use the canteen regularly. Staff who feel the canteen is overpriced relative to quality stop using it and bring their own lunch, which reduces revenue per head and makes it harder to justify the catering budget. Improving perceived value is often more achievable through better communication about ingredients and sourcing than through price reductions.

Question 7

How do I use canteen survey results to improve staff wellbeing?

Accepted Answer

Canteen quality is part of the broader workplace experience and contributes to employee wellbeing. Employees who eat well at work tend to have better energy and concentration in the afternoons. Low canteen satisfaction scores, particularly on dietary options (Q6), can indicate that a portion of your workforce feels excluded from the catering offer. Addressing dietary inclusion consistently improves both satisfaction scores and canteen usage among those groups.

Question 8

Can this survey be used for university and school catering?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The template works for any institutional catering setting including university refectories, school canteens, hospital staff restaurants, and public sector staff cafeterias. Adjust the framing in the survey title and introduction to reflect your specific setting. For student-facing catering, consider adding a question on opening hours, which is often the primary student complaint alongside value for money.

Question 9

What is the connection between canteen quality and hybrid working?

Accepted Answer

As more employees have hybrid working arrangements, the canteen plays a larger role in making in-office days feel worthwhile. Staff who rate the canteen poorly are less likely to choose office days voluntarily, which affects in-person collaboration. Several post-pandemic workplace studies found that food and social spaces are among the top three factors employees cite when deciding whether to come into the office. Canteen survey data is therefore relevant not just to facilities teams but to HR and leadership thinking about return-to-office culture.

Question 10

How do I present canteen survey results to my catering team without creating conflict?

Accepted Answer

Share results as improvement opportunities rather than performance grades. Frame each low-scoring dimension as a specific question: 'What would need to change about the menu variety for staff to rate this higher?' Include positive scores alongside critical ones. Share results with catering team members before presenting to leadership so they are not blindsided. The open text suggestions from employees are often the most constructive starting point for joint problem-solving with the catering team.

Free Workplace
Canteen and Food
Survey Template

All 9 Canteen Survey Questions

It Is About More Than Just Lunch

Your Canteen Survey Dashboard

Frequently Asked Questions

Find out what your staff really think about the canteen

Free WorkplaceCanteen and FoodSurvey Template