The word ‘pantry’ in offices has practically become synonymous to ‘snacks’ because that’s what you’ll likely find in those sinful cupboards.
Many offices pride themselves on having a well-stocked pantry, and you’ll see several examples when you go onto job-searching platform WOBB.
But are snacks in the office really so important?
In a Vulcan Post interview, Jaylee and Jason of We Are Snackers shared the story behind starting up their snack box service that caters to offices.
Sharing Is Caring
The duo knew each other from college but went slightly different ways after graduating. Jaylee worked for beauty e-commerce startup Hermo, while Jason worked as a Junior Art Director for nearly 4 years.
After about a year of working in Hermo, Jaylee returned to help out with his family’s business that operates grocery retail stores and exports groceries.
From his family, he learnt how to sell groceries online, and he did that for 2 years before deciding to create his own business.
He then invited Jason, who had been looking for an opportunity to create his own business rather than work for others, to join him, and together they created We Are Snackers.
Jaylee wanted to start We Are Snackers after he transitioned from working in an office with a fun and creative environment to working in his traditional family business.
“I realised that the majority of traditional businesses are more likely to keep their personal life secret. Everyone just finishes their own task and goes back home on time, and there’s very little communication, especially between employer and employee,” he told us.
That was when he realised how important company culture was, and he sees snacks as a way for office workers to open up to their colleagues more. “I believe delicious food can bring everyone together, so it can boost employer and employee productivity and work efficiency,” Jaylee said.
Based on Jason’s own observations, he noticed that snacking helps increase employees’ focus and stabilises their moods. “Plus, it’s perfect for sharing with your colleagues while taking a short break to destress,” he added.
Unlimited Snacking Potential
We Are Snackers caters to both smaller and larger sized offices that have 5 to 100 employees.
Snack boxes aren’t a brand new concept; we have startups like Boxsome delivering monthly surprise boxes and Fat B specialising in imported snacks at lower prices.
However, We Are Snackers places no limit on the number of snacks you can order, whereas the other two brands have pre-set snack quantities.
Jaylee told us that we have the choice of ordering by subscription or by making individual orders anytime, with no minimum order requirement.
Despite that, there are still these box options that may make deciding easier for you:
- Trial Box for RM49
- Personal Box (4 to 8 pax) for RM99
- Surprise Box (6 to 10 pax, 15 types of snacks) for RM199
- Customisable Box (20 types of snacks) for RM299
- Town Hall Box (30 to 50 pax) for RM499
Although they brand themselves as the go-to people for office pantry snacks, Jaylee said that the snack boxes can still be ordered for personal use, with Jason adding that the boxes can be for parties, gifts, and celebrations too.
There are over 1,000 types of snacks that We Are Snackers can provide, and most of them come from Korea, Japan, China, and Taiwan.
You can also take their Taste Survey on their website for them to better understand how to cater to you. For example, they even take into account your monthly pantry budget as well as whether or not you like your snacks in big packs to share, or in small individual packs.
Delivering Snacks, Office By Office
Since starting up in March 2019, they’ve managed to earn about 200 customers.
However, attracting their customers to repeat orders and to entrust We Are Snackers with the duty of stocking their office pantries have been the main challenges.
Some other challenges that Jaylee and Jason also shared were building a team made of individuals with different expertise, and sustaining We Are Snackers in terms of funds.
How they overcame these challenges was by staying positive in general, and with that mindset, they plan to serve as many offices as they can in Malaysia, especially in KL, Selangor, and JB.
On what else they plan to do in the next 2 years, Jaylee said, “To run We Are Snackers in a profitable, sustainable, and good reputation status, increase our team size to 20 people (full-time), and to be a sole distributor of Korean popular snack brands in Malaysia.”
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As someone who definitely snacks in the office, I can vouch for them helping me to focus. But I personally don’t share my snacks with my colleagues, though we do tend to chat away while snacking.
While I don’t think snacks play a significant role in creating an overall harmonious and open office culture, I believe that it may be because our office already has that going for it, even without the snacks.
I have never worked in a large, corporate office, so perhaps in such a scenario, I would be able to see for myself how sharing snacks might bring people from different departments together.
- You can read more about other snack startups we’ve written about here.
Featured Image Credit: We Are Snackers