When your business is picnics, your company picnic better mean business.

It’s a directive self-proclaimed “Captain Picnic” Paul Cosaro has taken to heart at Picnic Time (asi/78065). “We throw the best dang company picnics you could imagine,” he says.

Highlights over the years include dunk tanks and pie throwing where “everybody gets to take a shot at the leadership team.” Or “bubble sumo wrestling” where participants don giant inflatable bubbles and clash for prizes and bragging rights. And there are always plenty of games and giveaways to show appreciation for employees. “We try to mix it up and make it a little unique and different,” Cosaro says.

Picnic Time was started more than 40 years ago by two friends with a vision to sell traditional, but affordable European-style picnic baskets. Since then, the family-owned and operated company has grown in scale and variety of products offered, but the initial mission – to help customers make life a picnic – has endured. Running concurrent to that overall aim is a commitment to keeping its own employees satisfied and treated with respect.

The company’s underlying ethos is what they call “Conscious Culture,” which Cosaro says means that “You don't clock in and out, you dial up your purpose. Every hour spent is an investment in your legacy, both within our walls and beyond." He adds, "At Picnic Time, you're encouraged to push boundaries, to take risks and watch them bloom into something magnificent.”

It’s a culture that has resonated with employees, many of whom have been on the team for a decade or more. “We have people in the warehouse who have been working here for 35 years,” says Cosaro, the son of Gustavo Cosaro, one of the company’s founders. “We have a lot of people who’ve been here for a long time.”

“We stress the fact that our people are what make us great, and so people come first.” Paul Cosaro, Picnic Time (asi/78065)

Even relative newbies to the company recognize they’ve stumbled into something special after starting at Picnic Time. “A lot of companies use that same tired line about, ‘We’re like a family,’ but Picnic Time is probably the only place I’ve worked that lives up to it,” says Colin Allen, business systems administrator who has been with the company since 2021. “I never feel like I’m being told or ordered to do something in isolation, and I never feel like the things I do are for my own personal gain. Everything is collaborative or in service to a larger goal, and tasks are given in a way that reflects that.”

Anett Weller, director of supply chain at Picnic Time, agrees: “We care about what we do, why we do it, and how we do it, and we have fun along the way. But most importantly, we care about each other and have each other’s backs.”

Picnic Time takes care to ensure new employees will fit into the company culture, starting with a robust and “fairly unique” screening process that includes several interviews, not just with the person who will eventually be their supervisor, but also with co-workers in a department, Cosaro says. Cosaro says he’ll personally meet with each new employee to share the company history and explain what Picnic Time is all about. Plus, every new hire is assigned a “Sherpa,” someone from a different department to welcome them into the fold and answer questions about what it’s like working at the company.

Other initiatives that set Picnic Time apart include a significant employee discount – so team members can experience and enjoy the products they’re selling. Plus, the SPAM (Supporting Personnel and Merriment) team organizes fun events year-round to help create a stronger company bond. That includes group hikes, spin classes, yoga, bowling, escape rooms, art classes and an entire month (Move-It May) devoted to step tracking, with a slew of prizes and honors for top steppers.

“We stress the fact,” says Cosaro, “that our people are what make us great, and so people come first.”