Mitsui O S K Lines : 2024/06/07 MOL Renovates, Reopens Employee Cafeteria Creating a Coworking Cafeteria where Staff Gather from Morning till Night

June 07, 2024

TOKYO-Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL; President & CEO: Takeshi Hashimoto) today announced that in April 2024, the "Rhine Toranomon" employee cafeteria in Shosen Mitsui Building has reopened, following a renovation aimed at improving the work environment and revitalizing group-wide communication. The space, which used to be primarily for lunch and dinner, has now been transformed into a place where people can gather all day long for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It also serves as a space for meetings, office work, and as a café.
MOL hopes to encourage open, free, and vigorous communication, and to generate creative and innovative thinking based on new ideas and constructive discussions, by making the renovated "Rhine Toranomon" a place where people from diverse backgrounds gather and connect.

* Background of renovation

As working from home has taken root in recent years, MOL reviewed what the office could do to foster an active corporate culture and focused on the employee cafeteria's function as a "place to create connections." The company has doubled the space in the cafeteria, making it a spacious, bright, and comfortable place to spend time, and also packed in ingenuity and innovations-such as the establishment of a new café bar and a new menu, and the improvement of its functionality as a workspace, such as enhancing the communication environment-to bring together people from various positions throughout the day, helping energize and improve the quality of communication on the day they come to the office.

Café and bar counter in the image of a ship floating on the ocean

The employee cafeteria before the renovation faced issues such as a decrease in the number of visitors and uneven use of the cafeteria due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic, so MOL recruited a working team of "Renovation Supporters" from employees who would use the cafeteria. The user-oriented opinions and ideas discussed by the team are incorporated into the selection of the new company cafeteria menus and concession stand items.

* Features of the new company cafeteria

1 A place that is not tied to time and can be used from morning to night
The space used to be mainly used for lunch and evening meals, but now it can easily be used for various purposes such as office work and as a café, in addition to serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In fact, since the renovation, some employees have begun to use the space as a meeting place during afternoon tea time. In addition, after-hours are dedicated to dinner, bar service, events, and other purposes. It has become a good place to stop by with co-workers or business partners after work, and the number of visitors attending events or enjoying the pub-like atmosphere has increased significantly. In this way, the employee cafeteria has been transformed into a place where people gather from morning to night for different purposes at different times of the day.

2 A wide variety of menu items are not only delicious but also fun, health-conscious, and socially responsible
The menu was renewed to add more elements to the conventional appeal of employee cafeterias, such as "inexpensive" and "casual." It incorporates many ideas from renovation supporters. For example, some dishes are served in a live kitchen where users can enjoy watching the cooking process up close before tasting the freshly prepared dishes. The "Table for Two" menu, in which 20 yen, the cost of one school lunch in a developing country, is donated with each purchase, a healthy menu offers a daily combination of items with 500 kcal or less, as well as a filling daily special salad.

Live Kitchen

An example of a healthy menu with less than 500 kcalMOL Salad

3 Café and bar are open outside of mealtimes and feature private rooms suitable for hosting guests for dinner
The café and bar counter, designed in the image of a ship, offers a morning menu and coffee during the day, including a variety of drinks and cakes suitable for coffee breaks and casual meetings, and alcohol and snacks are served after business hours. In particular, the evening standup bar was created in response to employee requests, and is expected to promote effective communication among superiors, subordinates, co-workers, and business partners after the workday.
Seasonal course menus in Japanese and Western style are available for reservation-only private rooms. The new cafeteria fills a need for post-meeting dinners and get-togethers in the same building with a menu and space for business partners from Japan and overseas, as well as business travelers.

Cakes and other cafe itemsBar counter after business hoursWestern-style course menuPrivate room

4 Improved functionality as a work environment, allowing use as an office space when workers need a change of scene
Sound insulation to prevent leakage of conversations to the surrounding environment, portable battery power supplies, table seating to accommodate various numbers of people, large movable monitors and small mobile monitors were introduced, along with an enhanced communication environment throughout the floor. The space easily be used as a change of pace from the usual office environment or as an on-the-go office space for those from MOL Group companies.

portable batteries and monitors

Tables and space that can be used for various purposes

5 Sofas and desks are made of sustainable materials such as recycled marine plastics
The high chairs at the café and bar counter, the symbol of "Rhine Toranomon," have seats made of SEAQUAL yarn, a sustainable fiber made from marine plastic waste collected around the world. The tops of the surrounding tables are made of denim that would otherwise have been disposed of, contributing to the conservation of the oceans and the global environment through the reuse of resources.

High chairsTables

MOL Group 5 Sustainability Issues
MOL Group identifies "Sustainability Issues" (Materiality) as our key issues for sustainable growth with society through realization of the Group Vision.
We anticipate this initiative to contribute especially to the realization of "Human & Community -Contributing to the growth and development of people and communities-".