Feeding a growing family
On the importance of snacks at work
Quartz is moving to a new office in New York. We’re documenting it here because many of our questions apply to other startups. Our introduction explains more about what we’re up to. Follow our publication for updates.
One of my responsibilities at Quartz is to make sure the office is stocked with snacks, and it’s a task that I take very seriously.
I grew up in an Italian-American home, and over the years I watched my mother and grandmother anxiously prep a number of enormous meals. They would stress the importance of having enough food, especially if guests were coming over. I’m convinced that these two women are the reason I always feel the need to feed others.
As Quartz continues to grow and move into a new space, I’ve begun to think about the impact snacks have on our work.
Snacks increase productivity
Many of us at the office use snacks to self-motivate. Amanda Fishman, marketing producer, looks forward to snacks for that reason. “I always reward myself with snacks,” she told me. “I will tell myself, ‘As soon as this deck is finished, I can have a snack,’ and that motivates me to completion. Food in general is a great motivator, its nourishment is comforting and it’s a way to re-energize yourself for the next task at hand.”
In fact, I’d like to think that some of the greatest Quartz ideas were sparked over an office snack. Perhaps a major breakthrough about the Quartz app happened over a bag of Sun Chips, or maybe a marketer refined their most stellar proposal while munching on a bag of almonds.
#snack-requests Slack channel
To keep things interesting and slightly democratic, I created a snack request Slack channel where the staff can voice their opinions about the week’s snacks. It’s a place where the staff can share their likes…
…and dislikes.
In addition, the Slack channel allows me to keep tabs on what we’re running low on and how I can change things up the following week.
What do we like to eat and drink?
Fruit. Bananas, apples, clementines, and pears are rarely in the office past delivery day. I can never order enough!
Seltzer. In one year, the Quartz New York office consumed approximately 9,564 cans of seltzer. While that number might appear to be high, the number of weekly seltzers barely make it through the week, and the most common request on Slack is for more seltzer. Seltzer lasts only slightly longer than office fruit.
Nostalgia. The Quartz office has expressed their enthusiasm about snacks they used to eat as kids.
As a group of educated adults that are all too aware of the the dangers of high fructose corn syrup and preservatives, we tend to walk past the aisle that display treats like Snack Packs, Gushers, and Easy Mac in the grocery store — but when they’re a snack option at work…it’s hard to not reward yourself with a taste of childhood.
The future of snacks at 675 AoA
It is my hope that while we’re settling into our new digs, the snacks will bring a sense of familiarity and comfort to our new office.
We don’t move for another few weeks, but the requests have already started to roll in.
