15 Reasons Office Fruit Delivery Is a Win for Employees and HR

Back in the early ‘90s, there was no such thing as office fruit delivery. Most workers powered up with a steady stream of vending machine candy bars and strong black coffee. But that all changed in 1998. That year, The FruitGuys made its first delivery of farm-fresh fruit to an office in San Francisco. From there, the concept spread across the country, bringing healthy options to workers everywhere—but why was it such a hit?

In this article, we’ll dig into the top fifteen benefits of office fruit delivery, including perks for employees and employers (HR, office managers, and more). 

Office Fruit Delivery Benefits for Employees

1. Better Memory and Cognitive Performance

Eating berries and other fresh fruits can help employees learn better, making them more effective at work. Neuroscience dietitian Erin Nella told The FruitGuys that fruit does this by increasing brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)—a molecule that helps the brain adapt to new information, form long-term memories, and perform other critical cognitive functions. 

FruitGuys fan Kimi Stephens of DocuSign said the employees in her office got a brain boost from office fruit delivery. 

“It is important to provide employees with healthy options that can keep their bodies feeling good and their minds alert. The FruitGuys helps ensure that DocuSign employees are nourished, happy, and healthy,” she said. 

2. Enhanced Focus & Productivity

The BDNF boost employees get from eating fresh fruit also helps with productivity. Learning more quickly helps them accomplish more in a short amount of time. 

Stepping away from their desks to snack on a piece of fruit is also a powerful productivity booster in itself. A Slack survey of 10,000 workers found that taking a short break can make workers 13% more productive. 

3. Support in Building Healthier Habits

Stocking the break room with office fruit delivery makes it easier for employees to make healthy choices. When the fruit is handy, they’re more likely to swap their mid-afternoon junk food snack for something fresh and nutrient-dense.

Back in 2011, The FruitGuys participated in a study funded by the Centers for Disease Control and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. We delivered fresh fruit to approximately six hundred workers at nine office locations. 

The study found that workers who had easy access to fresh fruit at the office “showed a statistically significant increase in fruit, vegetable, and total fruit and vegetable consumption, and purchasing of fruit.” It concluded, “The authors can attribute the significant increase of fruit consumption to the heightened availability and accessibility of fruit at the worksites.” 

Rubicon Programs and Common Desk also saw notable shifts in employee habits after bringing fresh fruit from The FruitGuys into their offices. 

Phyllis Crakow of Rubicon Programs said that after two years of weekly fruit deliveries, “Our employees have told us they’ve changed their snacking habits, at least while at work, to healthier foods.” 

Katy Klefeker, the community manager at Common Desk, said, “We’re able to do so much more than just offer fruit to our members, employees, and guests. We’re able to meet everyone’s needs—the entrepreneur on the go who forgoes breakfast for productivity, the everyman wanting to eat healthier, and the snacker who is now reaching for an orange instead of chips.”

4. Reduced Physical Stress

Fresh fruit is packed with healthy antioxidants like polyphenols and vitamins A, C, and E. Those nutrients are like tiny shields for our cells, protecting them from stressors like UV radiation, pollution, and free radicals (the cell-damaging byproducts of breathing oxygen). When employees eat fresh fruit, its antioxidants help reduce inflammation in their bodies and the wear and tear of aging so they feel their best. 

5. Lower Risk of Anxiety & Depression

The food employees eat has a direct impact on their mental health because of the gut-brain axis (GBA). The GBA connects the central nervous system and digestive system, sending information back and forth between the gut and the brain. 

A 2022 study on that link compared the mental health of adults who ate “nutrient-rich foods” like fruits and vegetables with those who ate “nutrient-poor foods” like processed and packaged snacks. It found that “more frequent consumption of fruit” was associated with “reduced symptoms of depression” and “greater positive psychological well-being.” The reverse was true, too. People who snacked on high-calorie, low-nutrient snacks were more likely to be anxious and depressed. 

Laura Powers of Indiana Blood Centers, which got office fruit delivery from The FruitGuys across eight locations, said, “The biggest thing for us is that it boosts morale. People eat a lot more fruit instead of junk food now.”

6. Sustained Energy Without the Crash

Fresh fruit is rich in fiber, which keeps our digestive systems moving smoothly and helps fend off chronic diseases like high blood pressure, diabetes, and cancer. Registered dietitian Barbar Ruhs told The FruitGuys that the fiber in fruit keeps its natural sugars from spiking employees’ blood sugar when they eat it. 

That’s a big win for employees with diabetes. It also means that fresh fruit is a great choice for combatting a late-afternoon energy slump. Thanks to the fiber, employees won’t have to worry about the energy crash they’d get after eating a cookie or candy bar. 

7. Heightened Creativity & Cooperation

Employees may benefit from office fruit delivery even if they don’t eat the fruit! That’s because setting out a bowl or tray of fresh fruit in the break room brings a bright and colorful slice of nature indoors. It can help boost your team’s mood just like natural light and office plants. 

According to the Harvard Business Review, “Experiencing even small doses of nature at work improved the way employees felt in ways that fueled higher task performance, increased helping, and enhanced creativity.” 

8. Quick and Easy Hydration

Our brains need plenty of water to function properly. But if employees are busy or don’t love the taste of water, they might not drink enough—which is where fruit comes in. According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND), food can count toward its water recommendations of 11.5 cups per day for women and 15.5 cups per day for men. 

In an article for AND, Registered Dietitian Barbara Gordon recommends eating cantaloupe, strawberries, watermelon, bananas, grapes, oranges, pears, and pineapples, which are all more than 70% water. Staying hydrated with fruit can help protect employees from mild dehydration symptoms like fatigue, headaches, and trouble concentrating. It’s also a tasty alternative for workers who don’t love the flavor of plain water.

9. Lower Risk of Dementia, Heart Disease, and More

The fiber, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and water in fresh fruit provide powerful health benefits. Fiber, for example, is linked to a lower risk of heart disease, high blood, pressure, diabetes, cancer, and other chronic illnesses. Meanwhile, fruits like apples and berries are associated with a lower risk of dementia. Taken together, these are huge wins for overall employee health and wellbeing. 

As Neuroscience Dietitian Erin Nella told The FruitGuys: “When you add extra fruit and extra veggies that provide these benefits, you’re well on your way to giving your body and your brain all the tools it needs to stay young and healthy and work well, not only from a cognitive standpoint but a mental and emotional wellbeing standpoint,” Nella said.

Office Fruit Delivery Benefits for HR & Office Managers

10. Reduced Employee Healthcare Costs

Eating fruit is great for employee health, and healthy people typically have lower healthcare costs than their peers. This is clear in research reported by the World Health Organization (WHO), which found that office wellness programs—which often include preventative wellness measures like office fruit delivery—reduced healthcare costs by 26%. 

11. Fewer Employee Sick Days

Healthy employees are also less likely to call in sick. The same WHO research found that office wellness programs reduced sick leave absenteeism by 27%. That reduction can have huge benefits for productivity and cost savings. 

12. More Healthy Engagement Opportunities

It’s a universal truth that food brings people together, and that’s just as true in the office as at home. When you bring farm-fresh fruit to your workplace, you create another reason for your team to gather in the break room, get to know each other and swap creative ideas that lead to better work. 

Fresh fruit can also be a jumping-off point for food-focused engagement events like health-related lunches and learns, team-building tastings or smoothie-making sessions, and wellness challenges that create friendly competition. 

Jessica George of Neustar told The FruitGuys that office fruit delivery “has helped with our company culture very much. When we held a national health challenge and asked the winning employees what they wanted, they said ‘extra FruitGuys boxes!’”

13. Hassle-free Break Room Restocks (No Shopping!)

Office fruit delivery—especially scheduled, recurring deliveries from a company like The FruitGuys—can be a real time-saver. Instead of placing online orders or shopping in person at regular intervals, HR and office managers can spend time focusing on other things that are more important to the business. 

At The FruitGuys, our delivery drivers even offer white glove service that includes bringing the fruit to the break room and unpacking it by hand. One customer in Rapid City, South Dakota, wrote that The FruitGuys is, “Always prompt and dependable. [I] have been very pleased with all my orders.”

14. Increased Support for Your Local Community

When offices bring in fresh fruit from local or regional farms, they can support their community and their employees at the same time. Here at The FruitGuys, we source our fruit directly from farms near our customers whenever possible, and we also partner with local hunger relief organizations to donate excess fruit to people in need. 

15. A Greener, More Eco-Friendly Workplace

Fruit is a more sustainable option than many other office snacks. It comes with little to no packaging and any waste it generates is easy to compost. Offices can get even more eco-friendly by choosing an office fruit delivery service like The FruitGuys. Our operation generates zero food waste, and we award grants to small farms for sustainability projects through The FruitGuys Community Fund. 

Get Started with The Original Office Fruit Delivery Experts

The FruitGuys has more than twenty-five years of experience delivering farm-fresh fruit and healthy snacks to offices. You can learn more about how we can help you build a healthier, happier workplace here.