Office food at a new job

My office is kind of like this too - more formal, I'm one of the youngest, and people don't tend to eat very healthy. It can be challenging. I think he should suck it up and eat with his co workers for the first couple of weeks. Maybe encourage him to eat a larger breakfast so it's easier to exercise control with the portions he eats at lunch? Or bring a healthy snack to eat afterward so that if he doesn't feel like he wants to fill up too much on that stuff, he will still have something to hold him over. I'm sure soon he'll be able to get a feel for when/if he can start bringing his own food.

I will say, the one time I went to a lunch meeting and didn't eat anything, I got a lot of weird questions. Luckily, at this point I am pretty comfortable with the people I work with, so it wasn't a big deal, but people definitely noticed.

I really don't see the issue of pulling out his container of homemade chill and eating with them. He can still eat and socialize with them, you don't have to eat the same food to bond. Its kind of an ideal situation, they aren't going to restaurants every day where he wouldn't be able to bring his own lunch and have a hard time making better choices.

I really don't see the issue of pulling out his container of homemade chill and eating with them. He can still eat and socialize with them, you don't have to eat the same food to bond. Its kind of an ideal situation, they aren't going to restaurants every day where he wouldn't be able to bring his own lunch and have a hard time making better choices.

This.

Plus as an adult, he should be able to reasonably explain his food choices to his (also adult) coworkers.

I really don't see the issue of pulling out his container of homemade chill and eating with them. He can still eat and socialize with them. You don't have to eat the same food to bond. Its kind of an ideal situation, they aren't going to restaurants every day where he wouldn't be able to bring his own lunch and have a hard time making better choices.

The issue is it's poor workplace etiquette. This is not just a bunch of coworkers eating lunch together. When CEO level people and especially when clients are involved it's just not the proper thing to do. The proper way to handle if you really don't want to eat any of the catered food is to eat your own before or after the group lunch and have a beverage and socialize with people during the meeting.

If it's a small company and you get the vibe that the CEO is friendly enough that it's considered a social lunch among co-workers even when he/she's present than after a while it's probably fine to bring your own food to those lunches, but if you value your career don't walk into a client lunch meeting with your own food.

The examples she gave of the past two days sounded like it was a bunch of co-workers sitting together and eating lunch, not a client lunch meeting. I would also not expect a high level meeting to include Popeye's chicken, so I inferred a more relaxed tone to the lunch.

I totally get this.

When I started my new job, there were lunches for some thing or another almost every day. There were lunch meetings, and birthdays, and working lunches. There was Thai food, and Mexican food, and all manner of tempting treats.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't believe in avoiding certain foods, and I don't believe that there are "good" foods and "bad" foods. But when you are faced with an 800-plus calorie lunch every damn day it gets to be a bit much.

So my strategies:

1. Schedule other meetings at lunch.... if it's not a mandatory meeting, I would schedule a work meeting elsewhere so that I would not be faced with all the food.
2. Eat my main meal at lunch. Instead of a big supper I would have a big lunch and then a light supper.
3. Fit in a little extra exercise.

Now after several years, I don't really give a hoot what they think and I eat my salad while they sit there and chow down on whatever the meal of the day is.

I really don't see the issue of pulling out his container of homemade chill and eating with them. He can still eat and socialize with them. You don't have to eat the same food to bond. Its kind of an ideal situation, they aren't going to restaurants every day where he wouldn't be able to bring his own lunch and have a hard time making better choices.

The issue is it's poor workplace etiquette. This is not just a bunch of coworkers eating lunch together. When CEO level people and especially when clients are involved it's just not the proper thing to do. The proper way to handle if you really don't want to eat any of the catered food is to eat your own before or after the group lunch and have a beverage and socialize with people during the meeting.

If it's a small company and you get the vibe that the CEO is friendly enough that it's considered a social lunch among co-workers even when he/she's present than after a while it's probably fine to bring your own food to those lunches, but if you value your career don't walk into a client lunch meeting with your own food.

The examples she gave of the past two days sounded like it was a bunch of co-workers sitting together and eating lunch, not a client lunch meeting. I would also not expect a high level meeting to include Popeye's chicken, so I inferred a more relaxed tone to the lunch.

Read better.

My boyfriend just started a new job. It's in a fancy office and is his first real grownup job. Before he stared they told him they occasionally have catered lunches, mostly when big clients or the CEO is in.

I read just fine.

Before he stared they told him they occasionally have catered lunches, mostly when big clients or the CEO is in.

Not always.
The rest goes on to say

His first two days they brought in fried chicken and Mexican food. He brought his lunch today but doesn't want alienate himself from his new colleagues when he is just getting started there. Should he just eat with his coworkers for a few weeks to figure out the office dynamics and start making friends? Would it be weird if everyone is sitting around the conference table enjoying Popeyes together and the new guy pulls out his mug of chili from home?

No mention of big clients or CEO. Again, wouldn't expect a catered high level CEO lunch meeting to include Popeyes.
It sounded to me like he was expecting to do occasional catered lunch meetings but it turns out that the staff often eats together under other circumstances as well.

Eat the company provided food, just control portions. Make it fit in his macros.
Once he's been there long enough, perhaps he can pick and choose when to eat the provided food or not. Some workplace cultures really emphasize that sort of group activity and he really does need to be part of the group.

I say he eat what he wants. He shouldn't have to cave into peer pressure and eat something he wouldn't eat normally. Nothing wrong with occasionally eating the "provided food" but if he's trying to be healthy and change his eating habits, say so!

I really don't see the issue of pulling out his container of homemade chill and eating with them. He can still eat and socialize with them. You don't have to eat the same food to bond. Its kind of an ideal situation, they aren't going to restaurants every day where he wouldn't be able to bring his own lunch and have a hard time making better choices.

The issue is it's poor workplace etiquette. This is not just a bunch of coworkers eating lunch together. When CEO level people and especially when clients are involved it's just not the proper thing to do. The proper way to handle if you really don't want to eat any of the catered food is to eat your own before or after the group lunch and have a beverage and socialize with people during the meeting.

If it's a small company and you get the vibe that the CEO is friendly enough that it's considered a social lunch among co-workers even when he/she's present than after a while it's probably fine to bring your own food to those lunches, but if you value your career don't walk into a client lunch meeting with your own food.

It sucks but I have to agree with this. I worked at a company like this right out of grad school and there's no way I would've tried to eat my own food during these catered lunches.

It's a good thing they didn't order sandwiches. How would he get the crust off all by himself?