April 2023 - 34

PANTRY SERVICE
Is pantry service still your
golden goose?
After the concept emerged from the Silicon Valley over 20 years
ago, pantry service is evolving, creating new opportunities and
some interesting challenges for operators.
By Bob Tullio, Contributing Editor
A
ROUND THE YEAR 2000 DURING THE DOT-COM
boom, I recall being amazed when I first heard about
the concept of a full-blown pantry service. While
operators were seeing corporate dining rooms,
special-occasion beverage deliveries, and maybe some free
crackers delivered usually for executive consumption only
- the idea of free snacks and beverages for the rank-andfile
employees was a rarity.
Pantry service was seen as the golden goose. Thanks
to this incredible concept from the Silicon Valley, we
were suddenly generating five-figure monthly invoices for
beverage and snack delivery, with limited competition.
Over 20 years later, now in the post-pandemic era,
operators are still attracted to pantry service, despite
several challenges that have emerged, including endless
product requests, an extreme variety of dietary concerns,
stressed-out budgets, predatory pricing, competition from
big box stores and the mystery of how to service locations
on a hybrid work schedule.
Despite these challenges, pantry service business is
still coveted by operators and is increasingly important to
their clients.
William Mandile, director of customer experience at
Marché in the New York metropolitan area, said that there
is an increasing flow of employees coming back to the
office in 2023, as many companies are upping the number
of mandatory in-office days. " Every company is different,
but a lot of companies we work with are looking to create
a mindset to get people to want to come back to the office, "
he said. " Pantry service and creating a communal setting in
the breakroom is one way to do that. "
PANTRY SERVICE AESTHETICS AND DECOR
To create that communal feeling, free product alone
is not enough, said David Carroll,
president/owner of Seventh Wave
Refreshments in the Atlanta area.
According to Carroll, his company
has put an increased focus on breakroom
aesthetics, something that was
not always a consideration when
setting up a pantry service.
" We used to put in some racks
Corporate Essentials
and some plastic containers, and we
thought we were good to go, " Carroll
said, as he compared what operators
spend on micro markets, as opposed
to what they spend on pantry service
locations. He pointed out that it
does not make sense for an operator
to spend thousands on fixtures for
a micro market account that does
34 Automatic Merchandiser * April 2023

April 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of April 2023

Editor’s Note
Industry News
How to succeed at NAMA 2023
2023 LEADERS OF THE PACK
Going the extra mile
Is pantry service still your golden goose?
YES, WE CAN!
Social Hubs
April 2023 - PCOV1
April 2023 - PCOV2
April 2023 - 1
April 2023 - 2
April 2023 - 3
April 2023 - 4
April 2023 - 5
April 2023 - Editor’s Note
April 2023 - 7
April 2023 - Industry News
April 2023 - 9
April 2023 - How to succeed at NAMA 2023
April 2023 - 11
April 2023 - 12
April 2023 - 13
April 2023 - 14
April 2023 - 15
April 2023 - 2023 LEADERS OF THE PACK
April 2023 - 17
April 2023 - 18
April 2023 - 19
April 2023 - 20
April 2023 - 21
April 2023 - 22
April 2023 - 23
April 2023 - 24
April 2023 - 25
April 2023 - Going the extra mile
April 2023 - 27
April 2023 - 28
April 2023 - 29
April 2023 - 30
April 2023 - 31
April 2023 - 32
April 2023 - 33
April 2023 - Is pantry service still your golden goose?
April 2023 - 35
April 2023 - 36
April 2023 - 37
April 2023 - 38
April 2023 - 39
April 2023 - 40
April 2023 - 41
April 2023 - 42
April 2023 - 43
April 2023 - 44
April 2023 - 45
April 2023 - 46
April 2023 - 47
April 2023 - YES, WE CAN!
April 2023 - 49
April 2023 - 50
April 2023 - 51
April 2023 - 52
April 2023 - 53
April 2023 - 54
April 2023 - 55
April 2023 - 56
April 2023 - 57
April 2023 - Social Hubs
April 2023 - 59
April 2023 - 60
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