Product design question

Given that there are fewer employees in the offices, how would you manage the "Corner Cafes" where coffee and snacks are kept?

Practice this question out loud. An AI interviewer asks it, follows up like a real interviewer would, and scores your answer. Type or speak.

What this question tests

Tests operational and cost-driven product thinking applied to a physical amenity under a demand shock, not a software feature.

Recognize the core problem: lower and less predictable in-office attendance means fixed-stock, always-available snacks now risk high waste and spoilage.
Segment demand by day of week, since hybrid schedules concentrate attendance on certain days, like Tuesday through Thursday, and leave others nearly empty.
Propose shifting from a static full-stock cafe to a demand-responsive model, reduced stock and hours on low-attendance days, informed by badge-in data or RSVP signals.
Add a lightweight pre-order or office-attendance signal so kitchen staff can forecast daily demand more accurately.
Define success as reduced food waste percentage and maintained employee satisfaction with availability on high-attendance days.

Correctly identifies the core operational tension, fixed supply against volatile hybrid attendance, rather than treating this as a simple cost-cutting question.
Proposes using existing signals, badge-in or calendar data, to forecast demand rather than guessing.
Balances cost reduction with maintaining a good employee experience on the days people actually show up.

Simply cutting the cafe budget without considering demand forecasting to reduce waste intelligently.
Ignoring that attendance is uneven across the week, treating every day the same.

How would you forecast attendance accurately enough to plan daily stock?
How would you handle employee complaints if cutting back reduces perceived quality of the perk?