Company: Optimal Networks.
Location: Rockville.
Number of employees: 20.
Whether you like your eggs scrambled or sunny side up, David Campbell, chief operating officer of Optimal Networks, an information technology services firm, is ready to take your order.
Campbell has been making breakfast for the company’s employees every Friday for more than eight years.
“I’m a big breakfast guy,” he said. “Aside from Thanksgiving, breakfast is the meal that gets the most attention in my family.”
The tradition began when Campbell decided to take his griddle to work one Friday morning. He grabbed some eggs and pancake mix and started cooking in the office kitchen. The next Friday, he did the same thing.
“I was like, ‘Wow, this is really nice and fun. What a good time,’ ” said chief executive Heinan Landa.
By the third week, though, Campbell was tired of lugging his griddle to work and back every week.
Landa decided to step in. He went to Costco and spent $26.99 on a griddle for the office.
“That was the best executive decision I ever made,” Landa said.
In the years since, the weekly breakfast has turned into a company effort, with employees pitching in where they can.
“It’s an ad hoc choreographed event,” Campbell said. “Everybody comes in and does something — somebody gets the plates ready, someone else makes the sausage or brews the coffee.”
By 9:30 a.m., there’s a feast of pancakes, eggs, hash browns, turkey sausage and fresh fruit. Sometimes there are crepes or Belgian waffles as well.
Employees used to gather in Landa’s office to eat, but have since moved to a building with a large kitchen that accommodates everybody.
“We’re big foodies,” Campbell said. “But you can’t force something like this. It has to come from somewhere in the heart of the company.”
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