Stock the Right Break room Supplies without Breaking the Bank

Picture two break room doors. Your team stands before them – hungry, thirsty and needing a reboot. Behind door number one? A bare-bones room with a bowl of tired-looking fruit and crumbly cracker packs. The dregs of coffee made hours ago sizzles on the back burner. Behind door number two? Xanadu! Look at all the inviting places to catch up with co-workers! Look at this dreamscape of break room supplies! Baskets of fresh fruit await, as do everyone’s favorite nutritious and delicious snacks, a variety of coffees, teas, and all the on-trend specialty drinks anyone could want.

Which door do you open for your team? We thought so. Door number two can be yours, and theirs, and we can help you make it a reality without draining your budget.

Which break room supplies to bring in?

Stocking your break room with just the right supplies may seem like an overwhelming task, especially if you’ve got to please a range of people with all kinds of special diet needs and preferences. And, unless you have a magic wand or a Star Trek replicator, it’s hard to make things magically appear when supplies run low. It’s nice to have a partner who can make things easy for you from the get-go and keep the day-to-day running smoothly.

When planning what snacks, drinks and coffee offerings to bring into your workplace, here are some handy tips to consider:

• Set some main goals. What’s important to your team? Engagement and social time? A coffee-house environment? Health and wellness? Prioritize these goals so you can keep them top of mind as you make plans.
• Show them you care. Really think about the individuals on your team – their personalities, interests, schedules. What’s going to make them feel the most appreciated? (See below for tips on surveying your team.)
• Mix it up. Always make sure to offer a mix of indulgent and healthy options.
• Embrace the new. With so many taste combinations and flavor profiles out there, plus new spices and ingredients trending every day, there’s no need to get in a rut.
• Rotation, rotation, rotation. It may not be everything, but switching out products on a regular basis is a must when it comes to keeping teammates interested about break room offerings.
  • Don’t worry about a set menu. Change it up, especially as the needs of your team and your company change.
  • While you’re trying new things, don’t forget to keep the team favorites and staples stocked.
• Learn about special diets. There are new diets on the market every day, plus some familiar names. From Whole30, Keto, Paleo and Alkaline to Mediterranean and any number of commercial food programs, there are different requirements for each. Do some research and make sure your break room offerings reflect the full range of nutritional needs. This way, there’s something for everyone.

Budget-friendly break rooms

There are plenty of ways to keep your break room stocked with the right offerings for the right price. Our subsidized pantry program, complete with its own app and tablet technology, is one of the best ways to ensure your team has easy access to what they want.

Simply set a balance for your team on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Individuals can then grab a snack or drink and check out with a pre-loaded account. When the balance dips, credit and debit cards can be used for one-off purchases. The online inventory feature makes team favorites easy to track and reorder – good news for you!

Be a good listener

If there was a survey for our number one tip to ensure break room supply success, it would be ... well, a survey. We can’t say it enough, so we’ll say it once more! Surveying your team to find out what they like, what they don’t, what they want to try, and what (if any) their special dietary needs are, is not only industry best practice, it’s one of the best ways to keep those associate satisfaction numbers moving up.

After you’ve stocked your break room with all the right go-to snacks and drinks your team requested, send out a follow up survey – a one-question email is all you need. Ask them what they thought about the offerings and if they have any feedback.

Do these things and you’re sure to open the door, for yourself and your team, to the same kind of blissed out, break room utopia you’ve always imagined!

Get in touch so we can help make stocking the break room hassle-free for you and easy as can be for your team!