How Amplitude Scaled Its Office Pantry Program with Data and Employee Feedback

Most office pantry programs are reactive at best. Employees submit requests, or their behavior speaks for itself, and workplace teams try to keep up, reporting back to vendors accordingly. And somewhere along the way, the experience gets lost in spreadsheets, emails, and guesswork.

When Global Workplace Operations Lead Michelle Zimmerman joined Amplitude, she wanted something different: a program that wasn’t just operationally efficient, but also intentional, adaptable, and employee-informed.

At Amplitude (NASDAQ: AMPL), a publicly traded, AI-powered digital analytics platform that helps companies understand user behavior and make smarter product decisions, data-driven thinking is core to how the company operates. Michelle knew their workplace food program should reflect that same level of insight and intention.

Having worked with Crafty at her previous organization, she knew they were uniquely equipped to balance operational complexity with a more thoughtful, data-driven approach to workplace hospitality. 

Michelle shares, “We’re constantly iterating on our pantry program. As our company evolves and more people return to the office, we need to adjust quickly, and Crafty gives us that flexibility.”

Building a Data-Driven Office Pantry Program

That mindset of continuous iteration backed by real data, required more than just good intentions; it required infrastructure. Before switching to Crafty, even basic decisions around the snack selection were time-consuming. Accessing product lists, understanding spend, or evaluating performance meant going back and forth with vendors and waiting for information. That lag made it difficult to operate proactively.

“Now everything is at our fingertips. We can add or remove products, budget, reporting, and product lists. Before, we had to request everything manually, and it really slowed us down,” says Michelle.

Instead of chasing data, Michelle and her team access it in real time, tracking budget, understanding consumption patterns, and making adjustments as needed.

“I also appreciated how easy it is to submit service requests," says Michelle. "You just scan a QR code, submit a ticket, and someone comes in to handle it, then follows up afterward. That level of simplicity makes a big difference.”

The result was a shift from reactive management to something more intentional: a system that made iteration expected.

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Building a Feedback Loop That Actually Works

With the operational friction removed, the team could focus on listening to employees and acting on what they heard. This became even more important as return-to-office efforts brought more employees, and more opinions, back into the workspace. For Michelle, the goal was to go beyond collecting feedback and build a system that could continuously respond to it.

“We’re constantly iterating on our pantry program. As our company evolves and more people return to the office, we need to adjust quickly, and Crafty gives us that flexibility,” Michelle adds. 

That mindset showed up in how the team approached feedback from the start. Michelle introduced simple but effective ways to capture employee input, like a dedicated feedback board where employees could share requests, preferences, and ideas for the space.

Crafty’s concierge program, office pantry management with dedicated on-site staff and customer success partners who are deeply involved in day-to-day operations, complemented the initiative by enabling that kind of responsiveness that requires both tools and invested people. Crafty’s on-site team plays a critical role in making sure feedback doesn’t get lost between request and execution.

“Alejandra comes on-site to make sure she hears what we want, taking photos, printing tags, and ensuring we have everything we need. The team is open to feedback, understands what’s important to us, and helps communicate that back so adjustments actually happen.”

Collecting feedback is one thing. Acting on it consistently and at scale is another. That’s where the model starts to stand out.

Using Employee Feedback to Improve Office Snack Programs

That approach to feedback came to life most clearly during Amplitude’s San Francisco office redesign. Rather than making decisions behind the scenes, Michelle looked for a way to bring employees directly into the process, using the feedback they had already been collecting as a starting point.

“We have a feedback board where employees share what they want, from specific office snacks to coffee preferences. I wanted to give them more of a voice in what we bring into the space,” continues Michelle. 

Instead of interpreting feedback behind the scenes, Michelle wanted to bring employees directly into the decision-making process. She proposed hosting a snack fair, something that wasn’t initially part of the plan, but one the Crafty team quickly adapted to support.

What emerged was simple, but effective: a one-of-a-kind snack fair. Instead of guessing which requests to prioritize, the team created an opportunity for employees to try products, share input in real time, and help shape the final selection.

What made the moment stand out was how it came together. Initially, snack fairs weren’t part of the plan, but after understanding Amplitude’s goals, the Crafty team turned the idea into something executable.

“It was low lift for me, but high impact for employees," says Michelle. "It gave them a voice. It brought people together, but it also helped us make better decisions, all while staying within budget."

The impact was immediate: Employees felt heard, the team gained clearer insight into preferences, and the program became easier to manage moving forward. Just as importantly, it reinforced a key principle: not every office needs the same activation, but every office benefits from better feedback.

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Managing Office Pantry Budgets and Scaling Efficiently

While creating an engaging, employee-driven pantry was a priority, Michelle and her team were equally focused on making sure the program remained sustainable. Not every request can or should be fulfilled. As feedback increased, so did the range of preferences, from premium snacks to specialty drinks and highly specific requests. Meeting every ask wasn’t realistic, especially at scale.

That meant having clear pantry budget visibility and the ability to adjust it as the program evolved. With the Crafty Platform, the workplace team can track budget against actual spend in real time, giving them the control needed to move quickly without losing oversight. But, instead of limiting the program, the team focused on building one that could adapt in real time. 

“We manage most of our budget directly in the platform, but we also partner with Crafty on forecasting. They help us understand cost per person and what increases would look like,” offers Michelle. 

That visibility made it easier to move from reactive decisions to more strategic ones.

“The visibility is huge," says Michelle. "We can clearly see where to reallocate the budget, for example, shifting spend from New York to San Francisco based on usage.”

At the same time, the team continued refining the program itself, balancing variety with efficiency, and employee preferences with operational reality. Today, they work confidently from a system that controls costs while making better decisions possible.

Scaling Office Pantry Programs with Intention

As more companies navigate the return to office, programs like this highlight what’s possible when workplace experience is treated as a system continuously shaped by employee feedback and real-time data. With the right combination of visibility, flexibility, and on-the-ground support, teams can move beyond reactive programs and build something more intentional, one that evolves alongside their people.

“Now we focus on offering the right mix, enough variety to satisfy employees, but not so much that it becomes inefficient, ” says Michelle.