Food Preparers Run on Coffee?

[Chris Hennes]

There's short blog entry over at SmartBlog on Restaurants about a study commissioned by Dunkin' Donuts:

Food preparers are among those Americans who say they need coffee the most. According to a new survey, conducted by Dunkin’ Donuts and CareerBuilder.com, 32% of workers say they need coffee to get through the workday. It goes up to 43% for workers who report they’re less productive sans coffee.

I was actually surprised by how LOW that percentage is. I always sort of imagined that the foodservice industry was basically completely fueled by free caffeine. Is that not the case? Less than half figure they would be as alert without their morning cuppa?

[Kerry Beal]

There's short blog entry over at SmartBlog on Restaurants about a study commissioned by Dunkin' Donuts:

Food preparers are among those Americans who say they need coffee the most. According to a new survey, conducted by Dunkin’ Donuts and CareerBuilder.com, 32% of workers say they need coffee to get through the workday. It goes up to 43% for workers who report they’re less productive sans coffee.

I was actually surprised by how LOW that percentage is. I always sort of imagined that the foodservice industry was basically completely fueled by free caffeine. Is that not the case? Less than half figure they would be as alert without their morning cuppa?

I thought they were fueled by nicotine and worse!

[azmilsyahmi]

This is true. In the food industry , I have seen most of my bosses and friends addicted to coffee. We have to get our early morning fix before we start work. As for me I need to have a cup of strong coffee first before I start work or before I hear any problems and situation happen before. If something happens before my first cup of coffee then my whole day will be bad.

[percival]

Er, the ones I knew ran on nose candy, not coffee...

[codheadred]

they must have been getting paid better than the ones I knew were Percival Coffee beer and weed to get get you through the day

[J.Stevens]

there is nothing like 7 or 8 coffees to get you through a 15 hour shift

[Qwerty]

Also, caffeine doesn't just come in coffee. Soda, Red Bull, etc. all consumed in mass quantities.

[boondocker]

Chef has coffee non stop all day every day

My line cooks like to drink pop

I'm a fan of redbull, i like wings

[TJHarris]

Coffee, soda, cosmeticly inferior slice of cheesecake (sugar) to get through the shift. Large quantities of beer to help unwind and sleep so you can get up and refuel with the coffee, soda and ugly cheesecake again the next day. When I was in culinary school, there were soda and ice cream vending machines outside our kitchens. Diet Coke and Ice Cream Sandwich for breakfast!

[Jeffery C]

If something happens before my first cup of coffee then my whole day will be bad.

I totally know the feeling. I mix it up with some loose leaf tea. If you have good quality, you can get a better "jolt" than any drip brewed coffee. Although I like oolongs and greens over most black teas, I dont consider my day complete unless I have had a short pulled doppio espresso. As for the survey, are the %s based on all surveyed or from a cross section of food service individuals? My bet is the numbers are a reflection of all who answered based solely on the fact I have never worked in any restaurant where there was more than one person employed that wasn't a coffee drinker. Did I say that right?

Edited March 2, 2011 by Jeffery C (log)

[CD67]

Heh. My entire kitchen, including my chef, sous-chef and 73 year old grill cook, all run on caffeine. There's usually a shared pot of coffee before service and everybody has at least one large energy drink chilling down in their lowboy.