An insight into the desires of HBI employees

Hardly any tool has supported and promoted our work more over the long term. It has been a constant companion for 20 years and stimulates our creativity in our daily work. In the morning it supports us in bridging the time until noon and after lunch it helps us over one or two afternoon lows. Everything without a new release or upgrade!

We are talking about the snack bear. The so-called mini kiosk for the office offers sweets, salty food and nourishment directly at the workplace – 24 hours a day and always ready to hand in a 53 cm x 42 cm cardboard box. And it has been popular among all colleagues for years! In our business park we have seen several trends come and go, from homemade burgers fresh from food trucks to the Buddha Bowl at an Asia snack bar, the snack bear remains a permanent fixture of our agency. Unimposing from the outside it hides some surprises or exotics – in the meanwhile worn out cardboard display. English Winegums, dried superfood or unusual bars like the Energia Cocunut Energy Bar from Poland provide us with lasting energy. Just in the afternoon there is movement in the aisle and you can hear the rustling of packaging and the jingling of money falling into the payment slot.

It quickly becomes apparent: whether vegan, vegetarian, meat freak or low carb adherer – at the snack bear, we’re all the same.

According to the results of the consumption and media analysis (VuMA) among the most popular sweets and snacks, around 24.1 percent of Germans eat candy bars at least once a week. Chocolate bars, chewing gum as well as wine and fruit gums are also highly ranked. Regardless of the high calorie content of sweets, over 40 percent are seduced several times a week by foods with high sugar content. Against this background, we are in line with the German average, which is reassuring. According to nutrition experts, it is not unhealthy to eat chocolate or sweets from time to time. It just must not become a habit and should not be unconsciously between computer work and telephoning. Probably the most dangerous office snack trap of all is not the four o’clock hunger, but breakfast if you look at the comprehensive assortment of the average baker. Baked goods and sandwiches are among the most treacherous snack traps in everyday life, and their calorific values already cover a large part of the daily calorie requirement in the morning. For example, a chocolate croissant makes 240 calories, a pretzel with cheese makes 460 calories. Then it’s better to hold back in the early morning and to nibble from the snack bear in the afternoon? What counts anyway is the energy balance of one day, which can be positively influenced by the consumption of muesli bars or student food. 

Incidentally, women who spend most of the day sitting at their desks have a basic consumption of only 1,800 kilocalories. Men, on the other hand, consume 2,300 kilocalories, a nuisance of nature! Bearing this in mind, the unsalted nuts and superfood bars with chia seeds should be reserved exclusively for female colleagues in the snack bear. All right, dear colleagues?

Since a few years HBI has a weekly fresh fruit basket – certainly the healthier alternative. But do you always have to be rational?

Professional coaches recommend, by the way, instead of a chocolate bar here, a chip pack there, other strategies to escape the afternoon low, such as drinking water, coconut water or unsweetened tea, movement in between or a light lunch. An after-lunch nap should also be good, which is better suited for the Home Office. If you absolutely need something to snack on, fruits such as berries, chopped vegetable strips or a pack of student food are the best.

P.S.: While writing this article, the author was in an early afternoon low, from which he navigated himself out of in no time with a delicious snack from the Snack Bear Box. Against this background we do not guarantee neutrality.

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