Consumers’ Food Habits Are Changing With Return to the Office

With the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, return to office has become the dominant work mode.

According to PYMNTS Intelligence survey data from January 2025, about 80% of employed consumers now work either in-office or in a hybrid setting and 63% of formerly remote workers are back in the office full time.

It’s a stark contrast from the darkest days of the pandemic, when about 50% of employees worked from home.

The resulting resurgence in time-consuming commuting to the workplace is causing new patterns of consumer behavior to emerge. PYMNTS Intelligence explores this in more detail in the report “Back-to-Office Mandates Drive Demand for Fast Food, Weekend Shopping and Subscriptions.”

Lunch, Dinner, Groceries

With the return to the office, consumers must be more strategic about time management — including the precious minutes allotted for their lunch break. PYMNTS Intelligence surveyed more than 2,000 U.S. consumers and discovered spending shifts related to fast-food consumption.

There’s no denying a connection between office presence and weekday fast-food consumption. Two-thirds of in-office workers are likely to buy food from a quick-service restaurant. Compare that to just 56% of remote workers who do the same.

In addition, consumers are discovering how much the evening commute cuts into dinner prep time. This trend is particularly pronounced among those who have recently returned to an office. A striking 75% of back-to-office consumers with food subscriptions from services like HelloFresh and Blue Apron signed up within the last six months. In contrast, only 51% of remote workers with food subscriptions signed up within the same period.

The rise in food delivery subscriptions calls for subscription management platforms that can handle recurring payments, offer easy cancellation or modification options, and provide clear billing information to consumers.

Read more: Multitasking Consumers Want to Shop — and Work — at the Same Time

Consumers Look to Save Time

Saving time is the new top priority when it comes to buying lunch and dinner during the work week. It’s certainly vital for Gen Z employees. Most of them are commuting, according to PYMNTS Intelligence: 68% are working in-office and 22% are working in-office on a hybrid basis.

This tech-savvy demographic, which values work-life balance, is likely to be drawn to mobile-app ordering to minimize transaction times during their lunch breaks. They also tend to appreciate the flexibility and variety offered by meal kits and prepared meal services.

It’s also important to take note of what the boomers in the workforce are doing. Almost 1 in 4 (24%) of this cohort told PYMNTS Intelligence that they’re fully remote, however 65% said they’re in-office. These differences may be due to specific job roles, company policies or options to choose where they work.

Boomers tend to value loyalty and often stick to familiar fast-food chains or brands they trust. And when it comes to food subscription services, they may prefer prepared meal delivery for convenience or meal kits that offer familiar recipes.

A way to tap into this could be a loyalty program that caters to office workers, potentially integrating both delivery and in-restaurant options.

PYMNTS Intelligence research shows that a popular weekday alternative to making dinner is going out to eat. In-office and hybrid workers are more likely to go to a restaurant during the week than remote workers, who tend to dine out on weekends to get out of the house. Nearly 3 in 10 (29%) in-office workers make their restaurant purchases on weekdays, while 36% of remote workers visit restaurants on weekends.

Another notable shift in return-to-office consumer behavior is when they shop for groceries. Employees who have returned to the office are 60% more likely to wait to run out to the grocery store until the weekend, compared to remote employees. Forty-two percent of consumers shop for groceries on weekends.