The Albany Gazette - HUNGRY Acquires Garten: A New Era for Workplace Wellness Has Arrived

SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESS Newswire / July 16, 2025 / In a defining moment for the future of work, HUNGRY, the chef-driven food and catering platform known for delivering happiness through obsessive hospitality, has officially acquired Garten, the workplace wellness pioneer that helped redefine how leading organizations, from high-growth startups to Fortune 100s, nourish and support their people. This union marks a powerful new chapter where wellbeing and hospitality intersect, providing employers with a comprehensive, scalable solution to nourish their teams physically, emotionally, and culturally.

"This is more than an acquisition," says Jeff Grass, Co-founder and CEO of HUNGRY. "It's a shared mission coming full circle. Both companies believe that food and care go hand-in-glove and that how you nourish your people says everything about who you are as an organization."

From Root to Reach: The Journey of Garten

Founded on the belief that wellbeing isn't a perk, it's a performance driver, Garten quickly grew into a leading workplace wellness infrastructure partner and experienced hyper-growth, landing it on Y-Combinator's Top 100 class SC16 2018-2020. Through curated snack programs, behavioral design, and a proprietary analytics platform, Garten helped companies weave wellness into the rhythm of everyday work.

What began as a premium pantry service evolved into something deeper: a system for shaping workplace culture through nutrition science, sustainability, and an understanding of how environment and daily habits drive human behavior. With its real-time Analytics Dashboard, HR and people teams gained powerful insights, not just into what employees were eating, but into how those choices reflected broader engagement and health goals.

"We never wanted to just feed people," says Gary Batara, CMO at Garten. "We wanted them to feel seen, supported, and energized by the spaces they work in. Wellbeing isn't a moment, it's a movement. It's a lifestyle."

By 2024, Garten had reached a critical inflection point. Demand was surging, the impact was measurable, and the model had outgrown its original infrastructure. With recent national recognition (including the 2025 Workplace Wellness Award) and a growing client base seeking scale, it became clear that the next chapter would require a partner with greater reach, deeper resources, and the same human-first DNA.

That partner was HUNGRY.

Why HUNGRY Was the Right Partner

HUNGRY, founded in 2017 and now operating in over two-dozen markets, has built a reputation for transforming workplace dining into memorable experiences. With a curated network of top chefs and local restaurant partners, HUNGRY delivers fresh, high-quality food with flawless execution, eliminating the friction of traditional catering.

Underpinning all of it is a bold, clear promise: We are obsessed with hospitality.

That same promise, to connect people through care, food, and hospitality, is what drew the two companies together. Both believe that feeding people is an act of service, and that experience matters as much as nutrition.

"Garten built something remarkable. But to reach more people, more markets, and deliver on the promise of total workplace wellbeing, scale matters," says Batara. "HUNGRY gives us that. Together, we can go from changing offices to changing entire work cultures."

What Clients Can Expect From the HUNGRY + Garten Experience

At the heart of the transition is HUNGRY's commitment to obsessive hospitality, a mindset that goes beyond simply delivering meals. It means anticipating needs before they're spoken, customizing experiences to match company culture, and treating every touchpoint as an opportunity to show care. With Garten's data-driven wellness model and HUNGRY's hospitality DNA, clients can expect a service that is not only seamless but deeply human.

Clients will continue to receive all the wellness benefits Garten delivered, now with the scale, flexibility, and service precision HUNGRY is known for. Snack and pantry programs will be seamlessly integrated into their national platform, with no disruption to service.

The combined offering includes:

• Chef-curated meal delivery & catering

• Healthy snacks & pantry services

• Micro-market & self-serve kitchen design

• Wellness programming, nutrition analytics, and events

• National scale with local flexibility

Garten's proprietary data tools will live on as part of HUNGRY's workplace solutions suite, empowering clients with even deeper insights into how food impacts mood, energy, and engagement.

From a team perspective, the move brings together experts from both companies under one purpose: obsessive hospitality. The message is clear: this isn't the end of something. It's a bold continuation under one name.

With this transition, the Garten brand will be sunset, and its offerings will now live under Hungry

Where Hospitality Becomes Strategy

In today's workplace, food is no longer just fuel; it's a signal. And caring for people means more than passing perks, it means embedding wellbeing at the core of your culture. According to Gallup, "When organizations intentionally address both well-being and engagement, the effects are additive and mutually beneficial for employees and business outcomes alike."

That principle lies at the heart of this acquisition. By combining HUNGRY's obsessive hospitality with Garten's wellness infrastructure, the move cements wellbeing not as an afterthought, but as a strategic advantage, one that fuels retention, energy, and performance across teams.

This move reflects a growing shift in the workplace: where hospitality becomes strategy, and where the small daily moments, a better snack, a thoughtful note, and a personalized menu. Add up to something bigger.

"We're here to shape those moments," says Grass. "And now, we can do it with more heart, more science, and more scale than ever before."

About HUNGRY

HUNGRY (www.TryHungry.com) is revolutionizing workplace dining with an unwavering commitment to obsessive hospitality and flawless execution. Founded in 2016 by entrepreneurs Eman Pahlavani and Jeff Grass, HUNGRY connects corporate offices in 19 cities across the United States and Canada with top-tier chefs and local restaurants to deliver extraordinary culinary experiences. From large-format catering and memorable events to individually packaged group meals, snacks, and pantry solutions, HUNGRY ensures every detail is thoughtfully handled to prioritize quality and convenience. Rooted in a mission of social responsibility, HUNGRY fosters local economic growth while embracing eco-friendly practices. The company goes even further, donating one meal for every two purchased, making a tangible impact on communities nationwide , as it has already donated over 2.5 million meals to date.

About Garten

Garten Wellbeing (www.garten.co), PBC, formerly known as Oh My Green, was founded in 2014 to help organizations prioritize workplace wellness as a strategic advantage. Headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, Garten partnered with companies ranging from fast-growing startups to Fortune 500 Companies, delivering healthy snacks, meals, beverages, and wellness experiences through micro-kitchens, micro-markets, curated catering, Snack-from-Home boxes, and virtual programs.

Recognized as a leader in wellness infrastructure, Garten helped reshape how companies approach employee care, blending nutrition, behavioral science, and data to create healthier, more engaged teams.

Garten is now proudly part of HUNGRY.

Media Contact:
Veronica Welch
VEW Media
[email protected]
508-643-8000

SOURCE: Hungry

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire

(B.Smith--TAG)