Whether it's a six pack of craft brews, unlimited Tostitos or cheat-day chocolate bars, the company fridge can be a snapshot into a team’s culture and priorities. For example, here at BostInno, there’s a certain affinity toward jelly beans and craft beer, both rationalized as our favorite brain foods.
So, that got me thinking - for Boston’s most innovative and successful tech companies, it may not be a question of what’s in the water, but instead, what’s in the fridge?
Courtesy of ezCater, a Boston-based online marketplace that connects businesses to caterers, we were able to take a look at the go-to snacks of some of our Tech Madness finalists. The company interviewed the 32 companies in Round 2 of our Tech Madness challenge, and here’s what the responses were:
ezCater
Michelle Berman, marketing communications manager at ezCater, said, “A sweet treat is never far at ezCater, but we're especially crazy about cupcakes. We love cupcakes so much that they're a guaranteed benefit in every employee's offer letter. When we reach new milestones or have a reason to celebrate, we cheers with cupcakes.”
Formlabs
According to Jory Black, from the People Operations side of Formlabs, “The sweets that are most prized at our HQ are all the homemade goods that regularly grace our kitchen tables. There's a very robust baking culture here and we see spreads with everything from pies and cookies, to breadsticks and themed cakes. One of my recent favorites was when Formlabs engineer Caitlin Reyda made unicorn cookies complete with matching cookie rainbow poops. It was amazing.”
Cybereason
Tommy Barth, talent acquisition partner at Cybereason, said, “We love our Georgetown Cupcakes here at Cybereason. They're here once per month for birthday celebrations and they're always devoured! They go down even easier with a Downeast Cider on tap from the kitchen.”
128 Technology
Elizabeth Cieri, marketing operations manager at 128 Technology, shared, “Our office stocks all kinds of snacks (and they rotate so we get new options pretty frequently), but the one that disappears dangerously quickly is the candy bin (typically filled with Reese’s, mini Snickers, Milky Ways, and Hersheys).”
She added that banana bread also tops the snack list. “One time we had a bunch of bananas left over from the week and one of our awesome engineers, David Bond, kindly offered up his wife’s baking skills and delivered 20 loaves of banana bread to the office the next week!” she said. “That was a special occasion, but maybe mentioning it here will inspire her to make more.”
Applause
“With free snacks in abundance across the Applause office—from chocolate covered pretzels to granola bars—team members have a hard time picking a favorite,” said Peter Blair, VP of Marketing. “That is until Red Sox Opening Day when the company gathers for afternoon hot dogs, cracker jacks, and peanuts—true fan favorites!”
Baroo
Meghan Reiss, co-Founder snf COO of Baroo, shared that their office’s favorite sweet is cake. “Cake is the quintessential celebration sweet and we love celebrating our team successes,” she said. “Cake also just happens to be the name of one of our sweetest and first pack members to sign up for our new service offering-Buddy Walks. What's better than celebrating with a buddy?!”
Brightcove
“Our office has a major sweet tooth - favorites include various baked goods from local shops for celebrations, and candies for snacking,” said Victoria Kurpeski, a PR specialist at Brightcove. “Candy favorites in the office: M&Ms, Twix, Snickers, York Peppermint Patties, Milky Way, Red Vines, [and] Life Savers Wintergreen Mints.”
She added that other sweets from special celebrations include “custom cupcakes with Brightcove logos from Georgetown Cupcakes on Newbury in honor of being named to the Boston Globe's Top Places to Work, and 500 assorted flavors of donuts (everything from Creme Brulee to Maple Bacon) from Kane's Donuts in celebration of hitting the 500 employee mark.”
CarGurus
Shannon Todesca, a public relations associate with CarGurus, pointed to the company’s fully stocked kitchen and daily free catered lunches.
“While last year the most popular snacks were chocolate and yogurt covered pretzels, we recently added Cheez-Its to our pantry and they were an instant hit," she said. "We go through nearly a thousand packs a month! On Friday afternoons it’s a great salty snack to go with cold beer on tap in the game room. Our most popular sweet over the past year is actually the little chocolates at our front desk, the Gurus like them so much that the chocolate bowl has to get refilled at least one or twice a day. There are a lot of choices but the peanut butter and salted caramel flavors always go fast.”
Circle
“At Circle, we don't know what's in the water but we're addicted to Polar's Seltzer (pun intended).We consume every flavor, from the long-standing ones like cranberry-lime and lemon to the new lemonade series,” said Jack Begaj, a global talent acquisition professional with Circle. “It doesn't matter if it's cold or room temperature, when a new flavor comes to the office, we swarm the box like vultures.”
Flywire
Raela Ripaldi, the director of marketing communications at Flywire, said “Around the office our FlyMates favorite snack tends to be on salty side, making it hard to keep up with the demand of peanut butter filled pretzels. For sweet snacks, our 'in-house baker' Mary Beth Unsworth keeps us well stocked with delicious homemade cookies. When it comes to beating the afternoon slump, we are more likely to see our CEO Mike Massaro with a coffee or latte, but we hear he is a fan of all things red velvet.”
iRobot
According to Colin Angle, iRobot's Chairman and CEO, his favorite office sweets are "Dove Sea Salt, Caramel & Dark Chocolate candies found in my CFO’s office." Why are these his favorite? "Because it’s a candy designed to be eaten to enhance the flavor of champagne, which I learned on the IPO in 2005 – good memories!"
Rapid7
According to Rapid7 CEO Corey Thomas, “Semi-sweet choc chip cookie (or oatmeal raisin). I lost a good 15 pounds because we left the Prudential Building (before moving to 100 Summer St) and didn't have to deal with the ambient pressure from Paradise Bakery!”
Turbonomic
Maite Melendez, office manager at Turbonomic, said, “Cookies! But not just any cookies – we love the fresh from the oven, two-bite cookies from Kitchen Millie. Their classic chocolate chip, caramel renegade and velvet rush cookies never last long in our office. On the healthier side of things, we also order from Nutty Life for their delicious nut milks that are made with only fresh, organic ingredients. Fun fact about both these shops, they actually have a store together in Arlington named The Local Fare. You should check them out!”
Wistia
Margot Mazur, community manager at Wistia, kept it short and sweet: marshmallows and home baked goods.
“We once had a show and tell competition about how many marshmallows Andrew Capland, who does growth at Wistia, could fit in his mouth," she said. "He said it was nine, but got only six. They were the big ones too. Now anytime the marshmallows are out, there's always a 'remember when?'"
Additionally, she said that Wistians often bring in homemade treats to the office. “Brownies, granola bars, cookies, even lip balm (don't eat that though). It's a sweet thing they do that shows that we're one big family—it's really great to see a homemade treat in the morning,” she said.
