At 10–50 people you're too small for a canteen, too big for someone to nip out and grab biscuits, and almost certainly not interested in adding 'manage the food' to anyone's job description. Here's what's actually working for small UK companies in 2026.
Option 1: a real snack and drink shelf
The cheapest credible option. A weekly or fortnightly delivery from a workplace supplier stocks a shelf with fruit, snacks, breakfast items and decent drinks. Roughly £3–£8 per person per week. Works at 10–30 people; gets messy above that because someone has to monitor what's run out.
Option 2: a Friday lunch
Order in lunch one day a week. Good for culture, low ongoing overhead. Limits: it's only one day, attendance has to be predictable, and per-head cost (£12–£18) adds up fast as you grow.
Option 3: managed workplace food infrastructure
Available all day, every day, with proper meals — not just snacks. Compound delivers chef-made meals to site multiple times a week; a designated on-site contact loads them into the fridge as deliveries land. Snacks and drinks are loaded by Compound directly. Staff buy through the app — there's no card reader on the door, which keeps the experience fast and the reporting clean.
It's a paid service. Most small companies start at retail (staff pay full price) and move to a partial subsidy as the team grows and food becomes a clearer benefit signal. There's no capex on the hardware and no operational burden on your team beyond loading the meals as they arrive.
What to avoid at this size
Don't run anything that requires a person on payroll. Don't sign multi-year exclusive catering contracts — your headcount and attendance pattern will change. And don't rely on 'the office manager will sort it' as the long-term plan; food is a weekly job, not a one-off.
A simple rule
Under ~20 people, a snack shelf plus the occasional team lunch is plenty. From ~25–30 upwards, a managed fridge usually becomes the right answer — and it's the setup that won't need replacing when you double in size.
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