Raising the Bar

Mark your calendar: Tuesday, October 20 is Office Chocolate Day, when coworkers bring in chocolate to share and break up the workday grind. There’s just one catch. Chocolate prices jumped 14.4% at the start of 2026 compared to last year, after cocoa beans shot past $12,000 per ton in 2024 thanks to bad weather and crop disease in West Africa, where about 70% of the world’s cocoa is grown.

Your Task: Imagine YOU are the office manager for a 25-person team, and your boss just handed you $75 to make Office Chocolate Day happen.

• How will you stretch $75 when chocolate costs more than ever?

• What will the celebration look like, and how will you include coworkers who can’t or don’t eat chocolate

• How will you get people excited to show up?

Write an 8-10 sentence email to your boss pitching your plan.