A snack box is a share item, not a lunchbox filler, and it fails when everything in it is the same texture. The producers here cover the range properly. Hunter's Gourmet hand-cooks potato chips in black truffle, quattro formaggi and spicy Korean gochujang. Kangaroo Island Produce Co makes the honey popcorn that goes into more of our hampers than any other item. Mr Filbert's roasts nuts in French rosemary, Indonesian pepper and Italian black truffle. Pimlico handles the sweet end with fruit softies and vegan fruit jellies.
Pick one from each of those four groups and you have a box that lasts an evening rather than five minutes.
Four slots, filled in this order. Something salty and crunchy to open with, something roasted and savoury that slows people down, something sweet to chew, and one item good enough that people ask what it was. Fill all four and the box gets finished. Fill one four times and it does not.
Hunter's Gourmet is the anchor. The Truffle Collection covers black truffle and black truffle with parmesan; the Gold Collection runs to quattro formaggi, pesto parmesan, wasabi and turmeric and smokehouse barbecue; and the newer canisters add chilli lime pickle, spicy Korean gochujang and tangy hot sauce. The rigid canisters survive a courier far better than a bag, which matters if you are posting the box. Beetroot, snap pea and mixed vegetable chips cover anyone avoiding potato.
Kangaroo Island honey popcorn is the item most of our customers meet first, because it is packed into more hampers than anything else we send. Mr Filbert's roasts small bags and gift tins of French rosemary almonds, Indonesian peppered cashews, Mexican sweet chilli mixed nuts and Italian black truffle mixed nuts. Nutworks does the Australian version with macadamias: wasabi, salted chilli, rosemary and sea salt, manuka honey and lamington chocolate. Valley Produce Company's luxury roasted peanuts are the plain, reliable one.
Pimlico makes fruit softies and vegan fruit jellies in boxes and Victorian jars, and its gummy selection boxes are the easy choice for a family. Candy Kittens covers sour watermelon, Eton mess and wild strawberry in bags small enough to drop into a box without dominating it. For the last slot, the one people ask about afterwards, GNAW and Cocoba sit in the chocolate range, and Borgo de Medici's Italian sweets and macarons finish a box properly.
Snacking gifts do a specific job in an office: they get opened in a shared space and everyone remembers who sent them. Our staff gifting range handles that at volume, and care packages suit remote workers, new parents and anyone having a rough month. Holiday rental and hotel operators use the accommodation hampers for welcome baskets, where truffle chips and honey popcorn make a far stronger first impression than a bowl of sachets.
Sealed tins, canisters and jars survive a courier and keep once they arrive, which is the useful filter when you are sending rather than snacking. Bagged chips are fine in a padded parcel but they are not what we would build a gift around.
If you would rather send a finished gift than a box you assembled, the non-alcoholic hampers are built around savoury and sweet snacks of this kind, hand-packed with care in a premium box with a gold ribbon and a free personalised gift card tucked under the bow.
Honey popcorn and a canister of truffle chips to open with, a bag of macadamias or peppered cashews for the middle, and fruit jellies or a chocolate bar for the end. Keep the strongly flavoured chips to one variety, because two competing seasonings on a coffee table cancel each other out.
Canisters, tins and jars. Hunter's Gourmet canisters, Mr Filbert's gift tins and Pimlico's jars all arrive in the shape they left in. Bagged chips are fine in a padded parcel but they are not what we would build a posted box around.
Pimlico's vegan fruit jellies are labelled as such on the box, and the roasted nut and chip lines from Hunter's Gourmet, Mr Filbert's and Nutworks give you plenty of savoury options for a plant-based box.
Order before 12pm on a weekday and it is dispatched the same day, tracked Australia-wide with Australia Post. Gourmet food orders over $100 ship free.