How To Create A Healthy Office Snack Station (The Ultimate Guide With Bonus DIY Snack Display Ideas)

The human brain burns 20% of the body’s calories. It’s essentially a supercomputer that requires a lot of power to run.

When you’re at the office, you need even more brainpower than ever. You’re constantly solving problems, engaging your creativity, communicating, and keeping track of a million things. So with all of these extra tabs open, how do you stay energized and upbeat?

The answer — snack stations. Think of this office snacking solution as a charging station where all of your employees or coworkers can get refueled. It makes it sound like a vital part of the office, right? Well, it turns out snack stations are. According to the employee experience company — Hoppier:

“Access to free food in the office increased employee happiness by 11%.”

Without snacks, 56% of employees say they hit a midday energy slump. To enhance the energizing effects, getting snacks that are both delicious and healthy is the holy grail.

Healthy snacks are right up there with gym and yoga classes as the most desired in-office perks for employees. What all of this suggests is that people want sustainability in the modern workplace. They know that their health is key to their long-term success.

We’ve created the ultimate guide to help you create the perfect office snack station.

Check out this snacking playbook to give your workplace a touch of home comfort!

But first… are you going back into the office?

Looking to stock up on delicious and healthy snacks for your in-person or hybrid employees?

Try talking to the snack experts at SnackNation to find out more about providing your employees with the best snacks in town.

Why Is It important To Have An Office Snack Station?

🚀 Increased productivity — It is a well-known fact that people work more efficiently when they are fueled by good food and snacks.

😁 Happier employees — Employees will feel like they are cared about, which in turn results in higher productivity and lower employee turnover.

👩🏽‍💻 More engaging meetings — Employees will be more eager to attend work meetings when they know that free snacks are offered.

💪🏼 Stronger company culture —  Great companies believe in the importance of giving back to their employees. The latest trend is free snacks, which boosts morale and creates a stronger company culture.

Pro-Tip: If your company is still operating remotely or has embraced the hybrid culture, keep employees working from home engaged and make them feel they are cared for by sending them a Work-From-Home Wellness Box.

 

Best Office Snack Station Ideas

A) Designate a Snack Master

The Snack Master is a bit like the treasury of snacks. This trustworthy, ever-vigilant snack organizer is in charge of making sure everyone gets their fair share. Of course, rationing out the snacks is easier said than done — especially when they’ve been carefully curated to match the tastes of your team members.

• Responsibilities:
  • Keep count of the snacks
  • Make sure that snacks are fairly distributed
  • Let the office manager know when supply is low

B) Keep It Healthy

When you eat matters. How often you eat matters. But what you eat matters the most. Unhealthy foods give short-term satisfaction and usually burn away quickly. However, healthy foods provide long-lasting energy and compounding benefits when made a regular part of a diet. Instead of chemically snacks and processed foods, eating natural and healthy office snacks filled with protein, fiber, the good fats, and the right mix of nutrients will help your team’s mood, production, and cognition.

• Our Suggestion: Caroo

• Why we love it: Caroo’s HR experts source the best snacks from around the country in order to maximize employee engagement and taste bud satisfaction. With a wide variety of custom snack boxes to choose from, Caroo is a bulk snack station itself!

•  Find out more here: Caroo

C) Have A Suggestion Box

Nobody wants to be a complainer; however, giving your employees the opportunity to be honest about what they do and don’t like is a must. A suggestion box is the perfect totally secret way of assessing employee snack preferences! Besides the healthy benefits, making sure everyone finds the snacks outrageously delicious is just as important.

D) Create an Organized & Appealing Display

The office snack station is the new water cooler. All the talk will revolve around the munchies, crunchiest part of the workplace. Whether you choose to go with a cardboard display box for a slick, professional appearance or a wooden display for a more permanent look and feel, a creative display will attract a crowd to the snack station.

• Snack Boxes

 

Snack boxes are as close as you can come to a one-size-fits-all snacking gift box. It’s hard not to fall in love with the contents of a carefully curated snack box. The best ones offer up a wide variety of flavors and textures for every kind of snacker! Take this 60-second quiz to learn what type of snacks your office will love.

• Jars & Baskets

If you’re looking for another option besides snack boxes, then jars and baskets might be just the thing for you. After all, there’s a reason Little Red Riding Hood chose to bring a basket of food to her sick grandma to cheer her up!

• Snack Racks

Snack racks are a fun way to display and style your DIY snack station. In fact, your Snack Master can have a blast arranging each snack in an appealing manner or in an order that encourages the members of the office to eat healthy!

• Snack Shelves

Snack shelves are the perfect setup for giving your coworkers or employees a full view at all their snacking options. With a vending machine style spread, they’ll be ready to start fueling up in a hurry. To take it up a notch, get snack shelves that have rolling wheels so you could cart it around the office.

• Office Snack Bar

An office snack bar makes your snack station feel like it’s the happy hour spot all day long! For extra points with your coworkers or employees, set up an espresso maker or various juice machines to accompany the snacks.

• Office Snack Cart

An alternative to having everyone sort of circle around your snack station, this option lets you bring the snack station to them. Your teammates can keep their heads in the game and be pleasantly surprised when the office snack cart rolls up next to their desk full of bulk snacks for the office!

 E) Don’t Forget About Hybrid And Remote Employees

Remote work, hybrid work, and the flexible workplace are all here to stay. To retain elite talent, companies are going to have to give their employees more options than ever. But this also means that companies have to account for both in-person and remote experiences at the same time.

Ways you can engage with remote employees via a remote snack station:

• Work from home snack boxes – send employees a WFH snack box to make them feel connected to the rest of the office.
• Remote employee snack stipend – give remote employees a set amount every month that they can spend on whatever food they want!
• Virtual team building / employee engagement – Using a platform like Hoppier allows you to reward employees with physical incentives, which often makes that connection feel a little less virtual and a lot more real.

Want to be a workplace hero? Try surprising your employees with care packages filled with healthy snacks delivered straight to their homes in a Work-From-Anywhere snack box:

 

Do’s & Don’ts To Building An Office Snack Station

1. Snack Variety

☹️ Don’t: Micromanage or police your employees dietary choices.

😀 Do: Put together a list of healthy snack options that promotes wellness and that everyone will love. Know your employees’ preferences by asking them in an employee survey or looking at what they already buy on the company dime. You don’t want anyone feeling left out during work time (or any other occasion). Many offices provide unhealthy snacks for their employees’ hunger pains. This can be a problem for people with certain dietary needs and limitations – not an ideal situation!

Pro – Tip: If you’re interested in setting up an office snack nation, talk to the experts at SnackNation. SnackNation is the premier snacking solution for the modern workplace looking to keep employees happy, engaged, and productive.

2. Keeping Up With The Office Snack Station

 

☹️ Don’t: Neglect the snack station

😀 Do: Designate an employee (or team of employees) to take care of the inventory maintenance, and create an organized process to ensure that snack inventory is always up-to-date and fully stocked.

3. Encourage Additional Engagement

☹️ Don’t: Waste an opportunity for additional engagement.

😀 Do: Keep food and snacks readily available in the office to drive productivity, and encourage in-person and hybrid employees to explore other health-related fields. From fitness walks or wellness clubs to announcements about upcoming events on campus — there are endless opportunities for engagement with staff members through snacking!

 

People Also Ask These Questions About Creating  An Office Snack Station

Q: What are the benefits of having an office snack station?

• A: Some of the benefits of having a snack station include giving employees and coworkers a place to socialize, boosting happiness, improving employee satisfaction and engagement, and increasing an overall sense of health and wellbeing in the office.

Q: What are some healthy snacks for a snack station?

• A: Some healthy snacks for a snack station are anything that is preservative-free, non-GMO, and is made of natural ingredients. Additionally, it’s important to know the dietary restrictions of the employees. For example, some teammates may be lactose-intolerant, some may be gluten sensitive, and others might be allergic to nuts. Some common healthy office snacks include trail mix, granola bars, jerky, protein bars, dried fruit, and veggies.

Q: How do I choose the best display for my office snack station?

• A: Choose the best display for your snack station based in large part around your office setup and what you’re trying to accomplish. For example, if work necessitates teammates to stay seated at work and highly focused, then a snack cart could do the trick. However, if you want to create a sense of community, a snack bar in the office break room might be the best option for you.

Q: How much does it cost to set up an office snack station?

• A: Setting up an office snack station can cost very little up to hundreds of dollars depending on how you want to set it up.

Q: How do I know if an office snack station is successfully promoting employee engagement/satisfaction?

• A: You will know if an office snack station is successfully promoting employee engagement and satisfaction mostly by how quickly the snacks run out. The other thing you can do is to leave a feedback box about the snacks to give employees an ongoing chance to help you optimize the snack station with their favorite snacks.