Earlier this year, WeWork made the announcement it would be going meat-free in an effort to reduce the company’s carbon footprint. The huge move led to praise from organizations such as PETA, who rewarded them with the “Compassionate Business Award.”
Now, WeWork has partnered with Sweetgreen, a fast casual restaurant that serves salads. The restaurant offers employees the opportunity to order through Sweetgreen’s app and receive free delivery to WeWork’s offices.
When ordering a salad containing meat, employees will receive a message encouraging them to make another option. The restaurant is currently working to bring WeWork employees more meat-free options.
“For us, it’s not about saying don’t eat meat, it’s about making vegetables more appealing,” says Jonathan Newman, co-founder and CEO of Sweetgreen. “It’s how do we highlight the vegetables at the center of the plate and make people want to eat more vegetables rather than saying you can’t eat meat. We think that way we can start to change tastes and change behaviors.”
WeWork has calculated that this measure could prevent around 445 million tons of CO2 emissions in the next five years. With more than 260,000 members, changing their member’s diet as well would go even further.
“It raises a question: At a time when there’s a tiny window of opportunity to limit the worst impacts of climate change, how far should companies go to influence what people eat at work?” according to fastcompany.com.
WeWork’s policy only applies to company expenses, not what employees bring to work. So far, the program has been popular in the company’s New York and Los Angeles offices and plans to expand into 50 more offices across seven cities.
