Turns out a Grande Iced Caramel Macchiato with oat milk, extra caramel drizzle, two pumps vanilla, one pump hazelnut, light ice, double blended, topped with sweet cream cold foam and a sprinkle of cinnamon costs more than $7.50 now.
Due to this venti-sized inflation, last week, we bumped our Coffee with a Colleague spend program from $7.50 → $10, giving every employee a weekly budget to grab a coffee (or a small snack) with another Rampling.
But this isn’t just about caffeine—we use these funds to dogfood our own product, helping us find bugs, test features, and improve the Ramp experience for both cardholders and managers.
And for new employees? We tell them to try to break Ramp. Seriously—push the limits, test different flows, and report anything weird. The best way to improve our product is to use it like our customers do (or worse, like a bad actor would).
Here’s exactly how we implement our Coffee with a colleague spend program at Ramp:
How much?
- $10 per employee; resets weekly—encouraging consistent testing
- Intended for coffee or a small snack
How is it issued?
- Auto-issued to every employee
- Funds appear instantly upon onboarding—new hires can start using Ramp right away.
Any restrictions?
- No restrictions—so employees can fully test Ramp’s capabilities.
- Employees can:
- Spend directly with their Ramp card.
- Use virtual cards for online purchases (like pre-ordering on the Starbucks app)
- Reimburse against these funds if they use personal cards or cash.
Automate accounting fields?
- Every transaction is automatically booked to a specific Company Meals GL account in NetSuite.
- Transactions are marked “Ready to sync” for faster month-end close.
What’s needed after spend?
- Receipts, memos, and correct accounting codes are required at submission.
- Card transactions are auto-approved, but reimbursements require manager approval.
- If an employee loses the receipt, they can sign a Missing receipt affidavit.
This program was already in place for $7.50/week, so we edited the spend program & chose to update the associated funds.
As I’ve said before, Spend Programs are one of Ramp’s most underrated features. They make it easy to issue and manage company funds—whether for coffee, wellness benefits, WFH stipends, or travel per diems.
At Ramp, we use our own product daily—not just to manage spend, but to make it better.
How does your company handle small perks like this? I would love to learn how others structure similar programs.
