From Bare Kitchen to Full Pantry: How Crafty Launched GrubHub's New Headquarters

At a Glance

Challenge

GrubHub needed an office pantry services partner that could support a corporate office buildout, deliver an exceptional workplace food and beverage experience, and adapt to shifting budgets during a period of rapid organizational change.

Solution

Crafty's office pantry services and workplace management platform gave GrubHub the flexibility, operational support, and real-time visibility needed to navigate organizational change with confidence.

Key Results

• Supported the successful launch of GrubHub's new Chicago headquarters
• Maintained a consistent employee experience throughout organizational change
• Improved visibility into pantry spending and budget performance
• Simplified workplace food and beverage operations
• Enabled data-driven pantry decisions based on employee preferences
• Gained a strategic workplace partner that extended beyond traditional office pantry services
• Selected through a competitive RFP process
  

Keeping Employees Connected Through Change

New headquarters. An acquisition. A return to office work mandate.

For Grubhub, the “leading global online food delivery marketplace,” these weren’t isolated stressors; in 2024, they were realities that hit all at once.

Amidst the chaos, employees understandably craved stability. On their quest to satisfy that need, Workplace Manager Mark Gamber and his team kept one priority front and center: creating a consistent, creating a workplace experience that felt welcoming, consistent, and worth coming into.

Food and beverage quickly emerged as an important part of that strategy. Drawing on his experience building employee experience at Yelp and leveraging an intimate understanding of food's power through Grubhub's own business model, Mark knew that shared meals and thoughtfully curated snacks were reliable touchpoints that brought people together and signaled support. 

Enter Crafty. 

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Delivering Stability From Day One

Crafty's partnership with GrubHub began at one of the busiest moments in the workplace team's history.

While navigating an acquisition and preparing employees for a new way of working, Mark's team was also launching GrubHub's new Chicago headquarters inside the iconic Merchandise Mart. With dozens of priorities competing for attention, they needed a partner that could own the workplace food and beverage experience from planning through implementation.

"We were juggling a lot," says Mark. "Implementation of pantry services and design was just one piece of a much larger office launch."

Rather than simply stocking snacks, Crafty helped bring GrubHub's workplace vision to life. Working alongside the team, Crafty designed kitchen layouts, sourced space-saving shelving, planned equipment installation, curated pantry assortments, and optimized the flow of each space to complement the office's design.

"They were especially helpful when it came to aesthetics and design," says Mark. "The shelving system they sourced for our smaller kitchens was both functional and really fit the vibe of our newly built space."

Crafty also helped solve the practical challenges that often emerge during office buildouts, from equipment installation to water lines and electrical planning, ensuring the workplace was fully operational from day one. Looking back, what Mark remembers most isn't a single recommendation; it's knowing the rollout was in capable hands.

"One day we had a bare-bones kitchen, the next we had a full-fledged pantry with an elegant layout and quality snacks," he says. "It felt great knowing that Crafty took our rollout plan and effectively executed it behind the scenes."

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Adapting Alongside the Business

Launching the headquarters was only the beginning.

As GrubHub continued integrating into Wonder, workplace priorities continued to evolve. Pantry budgets shifted throughout the year, employees requested healthier options, and pantry offerings needed to align with new organizational initiatives, all without sacrificing the workplace experience employees had come to expect. Crafty adapted alongside them.

"We had been on a roller coaster with our budget," says Mark. "Starting high, scaling back, and then bumping it up again."

The Crafty Platform gave the workplace team real-time visibility into spending, product performance, and ordering trends, allowing them to make data-driven pantry optimizations as conditions changed.

"For me, it's seeing the budget: both high-level and the fine details," says Mark. "I can track exactly where we're at on any given day... I can break down orders to see how much we're spending on certain snacks."

At the same time, Crafty's account team worked closely with GrubHub to analyze spending, recommend new product mixes, and build sample orders that aligned with evolving budget goals.

"They really dug in to analyze spend and create sample orders to prevent us from going over budget."

Employee preferences evolved as well. Requests for more protein-rich and healthier options increased, while one memorable complaint about missing chocolate reminded everyone just how meaningful workplace food can be.

"Food is emotional," Mark says. "We want employees to have both a good experience and have options that account for dietary restrictions or local foods."

By combining employee feedback with real-time data and ongoing service, Crafty helped GrubHub continuously evolve its workplace food and beverage program without losing sight of the employee experience.

A Partner That Evolves With You

Today, GrubHub has a workplace food and beverage partner that continues to adapt alongside the business. Whether supporting a headquarters launch, navigating changing budgets, introducing new product strategies, or helping create a workplace employees enjoy returning to, Crafty has become an extension of the workplace team.

"It's seamless," says Mark. "I feel more like I'm working with a team than a vendor."

As GrubHub continues to grow within Wonder's portfolio, the workplace team has confidence that its food and beverage program can evolve with it, helping create consistency for employees, regardless of what comes next.