Tap an Expert: How to Plan for Seasonality in your Office Pantry

    We tapped two experts Josh Whelan and Hector Avelar, both Strategic Account Directors at Crafty, to chat about seasonality when it comes to office snacks.

    Tap an Expert (4)

    Your product consumption is not fixed. Seasonality plays a massive role in our day-to-day lives, and the majority impacts office pantry consumption. Changing weather, not only can make your headcount fluctuate, but it also makes you want to explore different temperatures or tastes. 

    Relying on a PDF invoice or Excel makes it nearly impossible to spot these nuances. Luckily for you, we've tapped the experts at Crafty to outline a few seasonal trends within the workplace and how you can make smart pantry decisions to align your budget confidently. 

    We're brought two of our expert Strategic Account Directors to unpack pantry seasonality:

    Josh's Seasonal Tips

    First, we hear from Josh Whelan, Strategic Client Director, who answers your top questions about seasonality trends. Planning a food and beverage program can feel like a ton of trial and error. It can take years to become acclimated to how your team consumes. Luckily, we have many experts on our team, like Josh, who have seen it all. Being prepared for seasonal changes can help you save time, money and most of all, the headache of trying to manage it all yourself. Check out the video above or read the blog below for Josh's insights!

    New Year

    Yes, I would say when we come back from Christmas and the new year, we typically find that items on the healthier end of the client's product list move much faster. We see lots of requests for protein-driven products, whether it's a protein bar or healthier produce.

    We typically start talking about the following year's budgets in around September or October of the previous year. That allows us to plan for January and February which will always be heavy on healthy products.

    Summer Months 

    The summertime is going to increase our beverage consumption quite a bit. We know all of those different peaks from the data and the information that we've collected. So we want to make sure that we're constantly reiterating that to the client to prepare for those changes.

    Intern Season

    So a great example right now, um, it's intern season. Um, all of our clients really want to make sure that interns are, you know, their future pipeline of talent coming into their organizations.

    So they want to make sure that their first impression of doing an internship at their locations is the best as possible, while also not sacrificing the experience for their existing employees. So with a lot of my clients, we'll work on interim programming, making sure that the product mix is right for them on site, um, without necessarily having to exceed or go over budget.

    Hectors's Seasonal Tips

    Next, we tapped Hector Alevar, another Strategic Account Director at Crafty, for his expert take on seasonality in office food and beverage. Catch him on the big screen as he explains how shifting seasons impact office snack, drink and coffee preferences. Plus, keep watching to unlock all the budgeting and merchandising tips you need to know. 

    Summer

    Seasonality is a big driver in all food and beverage, even in corporate food and beverage. Something that I've noticed and how I help clients manage product seasonality is knowing that the summer months are going to be large hydration months. We should really focus back on some of the snack offerings and drive some more of the funding into your beverage options.

    If a client's office has a strong family base, those summer months may actually mean that there's a lower headcount in the office. They're at home taking care of family, working from home which changes how many users are in this space. There may be a dip in their quarter two spend or quarter three spend. We then might see that ramp up towards the end of quarter three, going into fall, as families with children start going back to school.That can cause little bit of a spike there.

    Winter

    In winter months, I've noticed more of a drop off in overall.  Team members are taking a little bit more PTO and that does drive head count down which should drive spend down.

    🚨 NEW REPORT

    3 STEPS TO MAXIMIZE YOUR PANTRY BUDGET

    Unlock Crafty's proven framework, including strategies our experts use across leading workplaces to build, align and forecast office pantry budgets. 

    Read More > 

    Maximize Your Office Pantry Budget [Guide]

    Written by

    Josh Whelan, Hector Avelar & Jane Hammer 

    Empowering Workplace Teams

    FEATURED SPOTLIGHT:

    Draft Kings-1

    "Thanks to Crafty, we know what's going to be in the fridge, what the fridges will look like, and the coffee machines we’ll have in every location. [And] from a service standpoint, we also know we're going to get high quality."

    Read the spotlight > 

     

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