Snacking, happiness and wellbeing (podcast)

This week we have Sonny Drinkwater and Josh Barley on the show. Josh and Sonny are ⅔ of the healthy snack brand, Snackcess. Previous to Snackcess, Sonny and Josh worked for various startups including Scribeless, IOTA and Helpfulpeeps. I came across Snackcess on social media, where they are very active in marketing their core company mission and vision, to unlock the potential of the modern workforce- by curating healthy and innovative snacks from around the world and delivering them to workers. By the end of the episode you will have a better understanding of how healthy snacks can drive employee engagement and productivity, as well as some ideas on how you can implement healthy snacking as a company benefit to reinforce behaviours.

Below are some excerpts from the interviews.

What is Snackcess, how did you and your co founders come up with the idea and what problems are you trying to solve?

Both of us into health: passionate about making health more simple. We believe heath is the base pillar to a happy life and a happy planet too. The first place we wanted to start was with snacks as it is a common eating habit but normally very unhealthy chocolate bars etc. So we want to change the narrative around snacking. 

When we saw the impact of COVID on people’s health this enhanced our mission. The shift to working from home was affecting people’s health as they were eating worse being around food all the time. So our service wants to make snacking healthier for WFH employees. 

Why should organisations care about healthy snacking?

Snacking is common in the workplace as people look for that energy kick in the afternoon, however it is normally something that is going to make them feel worse. We want to provide workers with food that’s going to give them energy to get work done. Plus we see snacking as an access point to healthy eating. Healthier employees means happier and more productive employees. Working from home probably makes this even more relevant for companies as they can’t control what people eat at home as much. 

Do organisations have a moral responsibility to ensure their employees are eating well, taking regular exercise?

100%. This is something workers expect now too. Millennials now make up the majority of the workforce and studies have shown that unlike the previous generation money isn’t the only thing they look for in a job. So if companies want to attract and retain the best employees, they need to be focussing more on this. From a moral perspective, a company is fundamentally a community. Communities look after their people. 

How has COVID 19 changed things?

Firstly, COVID has shown that working from home/remotely is feasible for many organisations. Therefore I think we will see companies offer more and more flexibility to their employees. On the other side of the fence, COVID has put huge stress on people’s mental and physical health. So I think we will see an increase in WFH health solutions appear in the market.

Where do you see healthy snacking fitting into an organisation’s HR policy? It is part of their engagement and wellness programme, is it an employee perk or part of a wider engagement strategy or other?

We see it healthy snacking as more than just a perk. We see it as an employee wellness tool for the reasons we have said. But also as an engagement tool. Especially when workers are separated, our boxes help bring people together over healthy snacks. We have received some really positive feedback around teams sharing snacks over a zoom call, which is great to hear. 

What are some of the pitfalls that organisations should be aware of when considering implementing a snacking programme? 

Many companies do have snacks in their offices. It just tends to be ones that don’t support health and nutrition. Also, many organisations offer snacks without the education or personalisations, that’s something we want to change.

What advice would you give to organisations who want to try out Snackcess?

If you are looking for a way to engage, motivate or reward your teams then Snackcess could be a great solution for you. If you are interested you can go to our website and order a free sample. 

What sort of opportunities are you looking for right now, any types of customers, sectors, and do you have any intro deals that our listeners might be interested in?

The last few months have been very tough for many workers so companies are looking for ways to show their people that they appreciate and value their effort. Our health snack boxes which, with personalised messages have been a great tool for organisations to recognise their people. We’re looking for organisations that want to try out our solution, maybe even on a small scale initially.

Have you recently read a book that you would like to suggest our listeners try (business of pleasure)?

Food Fix by Mark Hymand is amazing. It talks about the problems with our food system and its effects on our health, the planet and much more. It really shows how our choice of eating the rights foods can save our planet. 

That was Sonny Drinkwater and Josh Barley of Snackcess. If you want to connect with them you can find them on Twitter at @SnackcessHQ.  Or contact them through the website https://snackcess.co.uk/ or on Linkedin Sonny and Josh.

If you enjoyed the show then please leave us a review on this podcast, or if you have any ideas or questions about today’s episode please reach me directly on chris@visibly.io