How Numerator Used a Workplace Pantry Program to Drive Employee Engagement

At a Glance

Challenge

As Numerator embraced hybrid work, office attendance became unpredictable. The workplace team needed to create a compelling reason for employees to come in while managing fluctuating pantry demand and large-scale company events.

Solution

Crafty implemented a flexible, curated pantry program backed by proactive inventory management, event support, and data-driven technology.

Results

• Reduced operational burden on workplace admins
• Created social hubs that encourage employee connection
• Scaled seamlessly during events with 300+ attendees
• Improved employee excitement around the office experience
• Enabled data-driven workplace programming

Creating an Office Worth Leaving Home For

How do you create a workplace that rivals working from home? For Numerator, a data and tech company reinventing the market research industry with first-party, consumer-sourced data, the answer centered around creating meaningful moments of connection.

“We didn’t want people coming in just to sit at a desk on Zoom calls all day,” says Lindsey Leiding, Sr. Executive Assistant at Numerator. “We wanted the office experience to feel collaborative, social, and energizing.”

As a hybrid workplace, Numerator recognized that employees needed a compelling reason to choose the office over their home workspace. Rather than chasing attendance numbers, Numerator focused on making the office a place where connection and collaboration happen naturally.

The office pantry program quickly became a cornerstone of that employee experience. But keeping those spaces consistently stocked and hospitality-ready proved challenging. Fluctuating headcounts, large company events, and the daily operational demands of managing a workplace food and beverage program stretched the internal team thin, prompting Numerator to seek a more scalable solution.

{{gallery}}

When Pantry Management Started Pulling Focus From Employee Experience

When Numerator started asking employees to return to the office, the workplace admin team was ready to manage the company's pantry program entirely in-house using online grocery delivery and a healthy dose of optimism. But what started as a manageable task quickly turned into a time-draining chore that pulled the team away from more strategic work.

"We were managing budgeting, ordering snacks through online grocery platforms, stocking, coordinating deliveries, and troubleshooting the coffee machine, all on top of our actual day jobs," explains Lindsey. "It was incredibly time-consuming, and honestly, the options were limited because we were just trying to get by. We weren't creating the kind of exciting workplace experience we envisioned for employees."

That burden was amplified as unpredictable attendance patterns started to emerge. With a flexible work-from-home policy, week-to-week fluctuations, and large events to support onboarding and host nationally distributed teams, Numerator’s Chicago headquarters saw sudden spikes in food and beverage demand that were difficult to forecast and impossible to manage efficiently by hand. 

The team found themselves constantly reactive: scrambling to reorder on time, juggling multiple deliveries, and patching coverage gaps rather than proactively designing a better workplace experience.

Numerator needed more than basic snack delivery. They needed a flexible operational partner with real-time adaptability and the technology to scale inventory, streamline ordering, and anticipate demand. That need led them to Crafty.

A Workplace Pantry Partner Built for Flexibility

Lindsey’s prior experience with Crafty made the choice obvious. “I had actually worked with Crafty at my last company, so when Numerator moved to a new office space, I immediately thought of them as the best option,” she says.

But familiarity alone wasn’t the deciding factor. What truly set Crafty apart was its partnership mindset. Rather than acting like a transactional food service vendor, Crafty integrated with Numerator’s workplace and admin teams, offering proactive operational support and strategic collaboration despite fluctuating attendance, changing workplace needs, and large-scale company events.

As a hybrid organization, Numerator's office traffic can vary significantly throughout the week. Large onboarding sessions, company gatherings, and team events often create sudden spikes in demand that require far more planning and flexibility than a traditional office pantry program.

"Office attendance can swing dramatically during moments like our New Hire Academy or Super Charge Weeks, when hundreds of people may be on site at once," says Lindsey. "That's why we partner with vendors who can quickly scale orders, adjust inventory, and respond in real time."

To support these fluctuations, Crafty proactively adjusts inventory levels, scales orders based on anticipated attendance, and works closely with Numerator's team to prepare for high-volume events. Rather than scrambling to coordinate last-minute deliveries or manage shortages, the workplace team can trust that kitchens, office coffee service, and gathering spaces will be ready as soon as employees arrive.

Crafty even takes care of equipment cleaning to ensure there are no surprises when it’s time to use the coffee machines, dispensers, fridges and more that keep everything running. 

"Crafty didn't just feel like a vendor; they felt like a true operational partner," Lindsey says. "The entire Crafty team has become an extension of our admin team."

{{testimonial}}

Using Data to Keep the Workplace Experience Fresh

Supporting a dynamic workplace requires understanding how employee preferences and workplace usage evolve over time, with constant decision-making. With shifting attendance patterns, Numerator needed better visibility into what employees were consuming and how their program was performing.

In addition to Crafty's service support, Numerator relies on the Crafty Platform to make more informed decisions about its food and beverage program. Real-time reporting provides visibility into consumption trends, popular products, workplace pantry spend, and inventory performance, helping the team continuously refine the employee experience.

"The Crafty platform takes care of the logistics we used to struggle with," says Lindsey. "We can see what's popular, what's not working, and adjust accordingly, all without the manual tracking we used to do."

Rather than relying on assumptions, Numerator can use real-time data to optimize product selections, identify underperforming items, and introduce new offerings that better align with employee preferences. Combined with regular business reviews and recommendations from the Crafty team, the platform helps ensure the pantry experience stays fresh, relevant, and responsive to changing workplace needs.

"It's nice to see when we make a product swap and the new item is at the top of the favorites list the next quarter," Lindsey says. "That lets us know our swap was successful."

With greater visibility into employee preferences and workplace consumption, Numerator can focus less on managing inventory and more on creating experiences that bring people together.

A Lasting Impact

For Numerator, success isn't measured by pantry inventory or product consumption alone. It's measured by the quality of the workplace experience and whether employees genuinely enjoy spending time in the office.

"Success is when employees genuinely want to be in the office," says Lindsey. "We look at engagement during events, employee feedback, usage patterns, and the overall energy in the space."

Since partnering with Crafty, Numerator has transformed its kitchens and gathering spaces into natural hubs for connection. Whether employees are grabbing a coffee between meetings, catching up with colleagues they don't often see in person, or gathering during company-wide events, food and beverage have become an important part of creating a more engaging workplace experience.

The impact of the office pantry services extends beyond employees. By taking pantry operations off the admin team's plate, Crafty has freed workplace leaders to focus on higher-value initiatives that support company culture and employee engagement.

"Instead of spending hours managing pantry logistics, we can focus on strategic initiatives and creating meaningful employee experiences," Lindsey says.

Today, Numerator has a workplace food and beverage program that scales with its business, supports both everyday collaboration and large-scale events, and helps turn its office into a destination for connection.