Just 13% of Danish workplaces ready for more plant-based lunches

Only 13% of workplaces surveyed in Denmark were ready to introduce more plant-based food into their lunch menus, despite researchers finding that vegetarian lunches could cut the average climate footprint of workplace meals by 60%.

• Researchers found just 13% of 62 Danish workplaces were ready for more plant-based lunches, while 42% were resistant and the remaining 45% showed varying readiness.
• Vegetarian lunches produced an average 60% lower climate footprint than meat-containing meals, while more change-ready workplaces recorded a 28% lower overall lunch footprint.
• A national follow-up survey found 40% of employees with workplace lunches would have been annoyed by more plant-based food, while 22% said they would have been angry.

Researchers from the University of Copenhagen examined 62 workplaces in Denmark’s Capital Region in collaboration with canteen and catering company Jespers Torvekøkken, looking at both attitudes toward plant-based food and the climate footprint of the meals being served.

The study, published in npj Climate Action, found a sizeable gap between the environmental potential of changing workplace menus and employees’ willingness to embrace those changes.

“We find that only 13% of workplaces are ready to make their lunches more plant-based, while 42% are resistant to change. The remaining 45% of workplaces show varying degrees of readiness,” said Thomas Bøker Lund, lead author and Associate Professor at the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Food and Resource Economics.

Readiness was also closely associated with what was already being served. Traditional Danish dishes in which meat was the main ingredient were particularly common at workplaces resistant to change and less prevalent among organizations more receptive to plant-based meals.

That translated into a measurable difference in environmental impact. More change-ready workplaces had lunch-related climate footprints 28% lower than resistant workplaces, while the researchers calculated that an individual vegetarian lunch had, on average, a 60% lower climate footprint than one containing meat.

“We also see a strong correlation between the level of readiness at a workplace and the type of food people eat for lunch,” said co-author Mette Weinreich Hansen, Associate Professor at the Department of Food and Resource Economics. “Traditional Danish dishes with meat as the main ingredient are very common at workplaces that are resistant to change, while they are less common in organisations that are more ready for change.”

Workplace demographics appeared to matter, too. Service- and knowledge-intensive organizations tended to be more receptive to plant-based lunches, while resistance was more common in primary industries and production environments.

Workplaces where employees already ate less meat outside work were also more open to change. Resistance tended to be higher at workplaces with a larger proportion of male employees.

The researchers subsequently explored attitudes through a nationally representative survey of Danish employees conducted in December 2024. Of 891 respondents aged 18–69, around 500 had access to a workplace lunch scheme.

Among those receiving workplace lunches, 40% said they would be annoyed by a move toward more plant-based food and 22% said they would be angry. Around half felt such a change would restrict their freedom.

“Many have an immediate reaction that essentially says: ‘No bloody way – no one is going to tell me what I should eat,’” Lund said.

Yet the research suggested the strength of that initial reaction did not necessarily translate into dissatisfaction once plant-based meals appeared on the menu.

The researchers found no clear evidence that satisfaction with canteen food was lower among employees at workplaces serving plant-based meals than among those where they were not served, provided there was no more than one vegetarian day per week.

“This could indicate that some of the resistance is an instinctive reaction,” Lund said.

The team is now investigating how far workplace canteens can increase plant-based provision without producing lasting dissatisfaction.

For foodservice operators, the findings also point to the importance of the eating experience itself rather than simply whether a dish contains meat.

“If plant-based dishes are made tasty and appealing, and the sceptical canteen customer has a positive experience, that could probably shift their attitude,” Hansen said. “This means that the catering and foodservice industry has a central role to play in making green changes to canteen food into a positive dining experience.”

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