Events • Oct 9, 2025 9:00:00 AM • Written by: Rashed Chowdhury
Every year, we get the full Orchard team together in our home base of Chicago for a few days to align, connect, brainstorm, and simply enjoy having everyone together for a few days. This time around, we celebrated some major milestones, new accounts, and set our sights on what’s to come in 2026.
The welcome wagon
What better way to welcome our out-of-town guests than to show them our beautiful city?
We kicked things off with a sunset cruise of the iconic architectural tour on the Chicago River. And there were some clear favorites!
Some of the buildings our team loves:
- Merchandise Mart (Alfred P. Shaw, Art Deco) — fun fact: you could fit 22 full-sized Costco's inside, with room to spare.
- Carbide & Carbon Building (Burnham Brothers, Art Deco) — a dark green skyscraper dipped in gold that looks like a champagne bottle!
- Reid Murdoch Building (George C. Nimens, Chicago School) — just a straight-up clocktower classic.
Summit sessions
We had several team-led presentations and break-out sessions that were a mix of big-picture strategy and collaborative discussion where we looked back on everything we learned in 2025 & what we’re looking forward to in 2026.
We revisited our goals, challenged our assumptions, and shared the experiments that shaped our year.
A few standout conversations:
- Sweet proof: We tested tastes in candy using in the wild testing versus surveys, and we found that people said they buy based on logic and values — but nostalgia is what actually drove the final purchase decisions, proving that our tastes are actually more complex than we think.
- New year, new us: Updates, stories, and momentum. We talked about all the exciting new things that happened, new partners and clients we met, and how we’re excited to collaborate in 2026 – both internally and beyond.
- Cross-team talks: Taking time to learn what everyone’s working on (and why) sparked some bright ideas — and reminded us how much getting together IRL facilitates better brainstorming and better understanding.
Had our cake, and then ate it
Between meetings and big city outings, we made sure to make time to go full cozy mode with an afternoon of cake decorating.
Everyone learned a few simple piping techniques and designed small cakes to take home. It was fun to see each person’s creativity come to life with a mix of minimalist elegance, bold color experiments, and what we believe to be some truly trailblazing techniques in the field.
The wrap-up
We went home with fresh perspectives, stronger connections, and plenty of cake for the road (or plane).
If 2025 was a year of experimentation and insight, then 2026 is about focus, growth, and continuing to build together by bringing this stronger team energy into everything we do.
