Working lunch: Junius reinvents al desco dining

New food-to-go company Junius is on a mission to revolutionise workplace nutrition. By partnering with forward-thinking businesses, its health-themed, desk-delivered lunch menus are designed to beat the bland, often unhealthy corporate buffet of bulky leftovers, overpriced quinoa, and limp sandwiches.

London-based founders Paula Collins and nutritionist Maria King (The Institute for Functional Medicine Certified Practitioner) were inspired by experiences of typically hectic city workplaces. ‘We saw and heard that our friends and colleagues wanted to make healthy choices and were either not able to get them easily due to lack of time or didn't know exactly what to choose to meet their personal needs,’ they explain. ‘Also, more often than not, we'd be in meetings over lunchtime where food was ordered without offering options that not just tasted delicious but were also meaningful to each person's health goal.’

Each of the seven fresh, unfussy menus is simply colour-coded, and given a zippy name (like FAB, ZAP, ZEN) allowing choices to be made quickly, in a stolen moment between meetings. If you're after a midday refresh, go for the green-themed SPA, with its cleansing blend of kale, aloe and parsley. If you're in need of a dose of afternoon resilience, choose the orange-based ZAP, with its zingy notes of ginger and chilli. Shifting focus onto how the food will make us feel, rather than the food itself, aims to spark more mindful, considered lunch break behaviour.

This much needed masterclass in eating (and thinking) healthily at work is brought to life through clever branding by Jessica Wells, a creative director, also behind branding projects for Selfridges and Lane Crawford. A hero colour palette of copper and charcoal is ‘symbolic of scientific healing qualities’, say the founders, while the logo is formed from the Roman numeral VII, representing the brand's seven key pillars of health. This is deliberately placed within a sphere – ‘a strong symbol of continuation and longevity significant of the circle of life’.

Elsewhere, careful food photography reframes indulgence in a way that will no doubt resonate with wellness-craved office workers globally. ‘Instead of beauty shots of oozing chocolate, for example, we choose the best possible nutrient-dense foods that tell the story of the indulgence of good health.’

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Junius website