McCaw rates as top lunch companion

Want to do lunch? Well, who would you most like to have it with? Most New Zealanders favour All Black captain Richie McCaw, according to the results of a national lunchtime survey released yesterday.

More than a quarter of people surveyed named the 2011 Rugby World Cup winning captain as the celebrity they would most like to have lunch with, followed by broadcaster Paul Henry (23%), former model Rachel Hunter (22%) and Prime Minister John Key (15.7%).

And 7.4% of those surveyed would go to lunch with reality television celebrities Sally and Jaime Ridge.

The Otago Daily Times sampled the lunchtime crowd in Dunedin yesterday,to discover local tastes.

The most desirable lunch companion ranged from political activist John Minto and Mana Party leader Hone Harawira, to McCaw and former All Black Jonah Lomu.

Politicians featured as the most undesirable lunch companions. Mr Key, Deputy Prime Minister Bill English, Justice Minister Judith Collins and Social Development Minister Paula Bennett all got the cold shoulder in Dunedin. The national survey found 34% of workers buy lunch only occasionally and 31% spend up to $20 when they do eat out.

Dunedin lunchers ate out more regularly than in most other cities, but more cheaply, with an average spend of $8 to $10.

About one in five (17%) New Zealanders take a full hour for lunch, nearly half take 30 minutes and about a fifth (20%) of workers take only a 15-minute break.

The favourite lunchtime bite was pizza (56%) and sushi (33%), followed by the previous night's leftovers (24%).

Eight percent of those surveyed admitted stealing colleagues' lunches from the workplace fridge. Twenty-five percent said they would not take their colleagues' lunch because there was nothing worth stealing, while two-thirds said other people's lunches were sacred.

Just under a third said they ate lunch at their desks, 35.6% ate at their desks when they were busy, and 34.1% liked to eat away from their desks.

The online survey of 416 people was conducted for Domino's Pizza last November.