When you spend most of your waking hours at the office, snacking becomes a necessary evil for sustaining your focus. And we all have our favorites. For some people, it’s munching loud and proud on trail mix, while for others, it’s discreetly mowing down gummy bears.
The question is: Which snacks get our local startups through the day? ezCater got us the answer. The company - which connects businesses with local caterers - surveyed the 32 companies in Round 2 of Tech Madness to see what their offices’ and execs’ favorite goodies are (and maybe even revealed something about their startup culture in the process).
Here are some of the responses they received.
Acquia
Thomas Erickson, CEO at Acquia said, “That's an easy one. Chex Mix. The bolder the better. In my case, it’s a childhood tradition. It was served as a 'special' treat during holidays. And now when I visit my sons at university, I always bring them Chex Mix. With them, like at the office, it’s always the fastest snack to disappear!”
Actifio
Actifio CEO Ash Ashutosh, shared, “Dried mangos are my favorite office snack. They are healthy and remind me of growing up in rural India near a vast mango farm. Some of my best childhood memories are with my family and friends at the farm having picnics and eating lots of raw and sun-dried mangos.”
Applause
According to Nick Lorenzen, Head of Awareness at Applause, the company’s CEO, Doron Reuveni, “LOVES raw almonds! (And almonds of all kinds. Peanuts/almonds/cashews are ubiquitous here – smoked, salted, dry roasted, etc!) Doron has run 10 Boston Marathons and is an official Iron Man [sic] Triathlete so he eats an extremely healthy diet, so he prefers the raw.”
CarGurus
“Our most popular, favorite company snack at CarGurus is chocolate and yogurt covered pretzels,” Amy Mueller, Director of PR at CarGurus said. “We keep a fully stocked kitchen with a lot of options, but those are always most popular: We go through 25 pounds of them a week!”
Cengage Learning
Chloe Ryan, PR Manager for Cengage, passed along intell that, “Michael Hansen, CEO of Cengage Learning, can’t walk by a bowl of M&Ms without taking a handful…fuel to keep him going as he leads the company in developing edtech solutions built around the lifestyles of today’s learners. But who doesn’t love M&Ms?!”
“Supremely Spicy Hummus - because it tries to be like buffalo wings under the disguise of being a healthy snack.”
DataXu
Katie Gabriello, PR and Events Manager shared, “DataXu Boston is really into Kind Bars right now! We currently can’t keep them in the kitchen for more than an hour, and trail mix is popular right now, too.”
EverTrue
“For Brent Grinna, our founder and CEO, his new favorite snack is ready-to-drink Soylent 2.0. While it is lacking in flavor, it compensates for that with nutrition and convenience,” Jessica Benjamin, Marketing Communications Specialist at the company, stated. “We don't yet stock it in the office, but it's currently under consideration!”
But, Benjamin added, “As former football player at Brown University, Brent is always looking for snacks that are nutritious and filling.”
ezCater
Stefania Mallett, ezCater’s CEO, revealed that her guilty pleasure is, “Bachman Jax. They’re so puffy crispy crunchy melty sticky fakely-cheesy weird that I can eat an entire bag at once - and then feel pretty darned sick (and have orange dust all over my clothes and hands and face). But I’m happy."
She continued, “When something really really big - good or bad - has happened, my office manager surprises me with a bag of Jax. This happens about once a year - and that’s plenty often enough!”
InsightSquared
“Our CEO, Fred Shilmover, is a marathoner and real health nut, and his favorite snacks are almonds and mixed nuts,” Kim Lindquist, Director of Marketing, said. “Since InsightSquared's inception, he has had made sure that there are (mostly) healthy snacks in the office, like fresh fruit, so that employees can choose things that keep our bodies and minds healthy. We don't have soda, for example, but we have a soda water machine, if you want a few bubbles.”
“Our favorite office snacks as a company are: fresh made bread that our CTO makes on occasion, followed by peanut butter filled pretzels (a little less healthy),” she added. “We had an office-wide survey a month ago that confirmed these two front-runners."
iRobot
CEO Colin Angle revealed that his snack of preference is, “Supremely Spicy Hummus - because it tries to be like buffalo wings under the disguise of being a healthy snack.”
James Baussmann, PR Manager at iRobot, followed up on Angle’s comment, adding,, “Spicy and healthy definitely speaks to our employee population…we have a good amount of health-conscious athletes/adventure seekers.”
LogMeIn
The employee population enjoys, “KIND Dark Chocolate Nuts & Sea Salt snack bars…and daily fresh fruit, “ according to PR Manager Lauren Van Dam. “The KIND bars are a company favorite because they’re the perfect mix of sweet and salty…and also a great way to indulge your chocolate cravings in the afternoon. The fruit is great because who doesn’t want to be healthy!”
Mavrck
Apparently Mavrck has some comedians on-staff. Employee answers (by way of the startup’s Director of Marketing, Liz Gottbrecht) included, "Cheez-Its because they are gouda after a long day at work"; "Cookie Dough Bites because you won’t believe what happens when you freeze them" and "Does the bar count as an office snack?".
Pixability
Bettina Hein pointed to a weekly office tradition. According to Alexandra English, Senior Marketing Communications Manager, “Pixability's kitchen is always stocked with fresh fruit and snacks, but our favorite food changes midday every Monday. That's because on Mondays we hold Pix Picnic, and bring in lunch for the whole team. There's only one rule: you're not allowed to eat at your desk. It's so simple, but the results have been tremendous. The team looks forward to Mondays, and everybody has a chance to mingle, especially with colleagues from different functions.”
Rapid7
Rachel Adam, Senior PR Manager, shared CEO Corey Thomas’ rationale behind his snack of choice, explaining, “Yogurt-covered pretzels. It's a healthy delusion. It has the word yogurt in the name, so it must be healthy.”
Salsify
The Salsify team hits the salt hard, as the office’s preferred food is “Jack’s Links Teriyaki Beef Jerky,” Director of Marketing Communications Peter Crosby said. “They became our customer, some sampling ensued and now the snacking madness never stops.”
SnapApp
“Our favorite snack is popcorn - It might be small, but it’s packed with flavor and addictive to anyone who tries it. Kind of like SnapApp!,” Vanessa Porter, Director of Marketing, shared.
Toast
I can’t tell if they’re being plug geniuses here, but Marketing Manager Nicole L’Ecuyer stated, “Toast's favorite office snack is toast! There is no particular toast that is our office favorite, we like them all; toast with peanut butter, toast with avocado, toast with jelly, etc!”
VMTurbo
“We have a cold brew coffee keg in our office, which absolutely fuels most (if not all) of the team each day,” Content Marketing Manager Catherine Kellogg revealed. “Another favorite treat is Georgetown Cupcakes! We celebrate birthdays each month with a round of cupcakes for the office, which is always fun.”
Wayfair
Back in the day Wayfair's founders would make runs to Costco to stock up on animal crackers.
Niraj Shah, Wayfair’s CEO, is a fan of “Roasted cashews…healthy and flavorful,” according to Susan Frechette, Senior PR Manager.
Meanwhile, Co-Founder Steve Conine’s favorite takes us back to childhood. Frechette said Conine likes the “Animal crackers that come in the box with the little string. Back in the day Niraj and Steve would make runs to Costco and stock up on them (animal crackers). However, these days his snack choices tend to be a bit healthier.”
Wayfair’s employees couldn’t agree on a single snack, so they named their top 10: Smartfood Popcorn, Goldfish, Stacy’s Naked Pita Chips, Golden Girl Granola, Welch’s Fruit Snacks, Breath Mints, Milano Cookies, Cashews, Ruger Wafers and Reduced Fat Cheez-Its. (The reasoning for not going full-fat on the last snack remains a mystery.)
Featured image via Mike Mozart, CC BY 2.0. Other images on file.
