There is a very British way to get office snacks wrong: buy far too much on Monday, watch the good stuff vanish by Tuesday afternoon, then spend the rest of the week looking at one lonely packet nobody seems willing to claim.
For most workplaces, a sensible starting point is around three to five snacks per person per week. Treat that as a planning rule rather than a law. A team that is in the office five days a week will naturally get through more than a hybrid team that appears on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
A simple starting quantity
If you want one number to begin with, use four snacks per person per week. It is enough to make the snack cupboard feel properly stocked without turning the office kitchen into a warehouse.
| Team size | Starting weekly quantity | What that feels like |
|---|---|---|
| 10 people | 40 snacks | A small but varied office supply |
| 25 people | 100 snacks | Enough choice for a normal working week |
| 50 people | 200 snacks | Worth splitting across more than one shelf or area |
| 100 people | 400 snacks | Better managed with regular top-ups |
Hybrid teams need a different calculation
Do not order for the number of names on the company directory. Order for the number of people who are actually in the building.
If you employ 50 people but the average office attendance is closer to 25 on any given day, start with the smaller number and adjust. It is far easier to add another case next week than spend a month trying to persuade people to finish a flavour that clearly has no fans.
Watch what disappears first
The first few orders are useful research. You are looking for three things: what runs out quickly, what survives until Friday and which category gets asked for when it is gone.
Do not only count individual products. Look at the broader mix too. If the savoury snacks disappear first while bars remain untouched, increase the savoury share next time. If people keep asking for something more filling at 3pm, bring in more bars.
Allow a little room for visitors and busy days
Meeting-heavy offices, client visits and training days can change snack usage quite quickly. A small buffer of roughly 10% is usually enough if your workplace has regular visitors.
You do not need to build that buffer into every order forever. Once you have a month or two of real usage, your own office will tell you what the correct number is.
What if you do not want to count every packet?
That is exactly what curated boxes are for. Our office snack boxes give you a fixed quantity, while Build your Box lets you control every flavour yourself.
If you are setting up office snacks for the first time, start slightly lean, keep the mix broad and pay attention for two or three weeks. Getting the quantity right is mostly a matter of watching your own team rather than chasing a perfect industry average.
Once you have a rough quantity in mind, compare the ways to order on our office snack ordering page.
Make the office snack cupboard easier.
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