Office coffee is the lifeblood of many successful businesses. This is why it is important to find the best office coffee service for the needs your company has; but how do you know your office coffee service is the best office coffee service for you? Settle in and give us ten minutes, we will highlight six ways you can test your office coffee provider’s suitability for your break room.
1. Quality products
First and foremost, consider the quality of coffee that people in your building expect. Do they demand to know the origin of the beans in the grinder, or are they more the “as long as it is hot and wet” type of coffee connoisseurs? In either case, the quality of beverages available through your office coffee service matters.
For those who prefer a quick hit of instant coffee, the quality of leading brands for their single-serve coffee pods should be both reassuring and reliable; there is little worse than being greeted by some sort of “surprise” brand coffee first thing on a Monday morning.
For those with very specific coffee requirements, quality assurance has a number of faces and your office coffee provider should be able to assure your teams that the goods provided are free from cruelty or bad environmental juju though still packed with caffeine, flavor and a wicked good aroma.
2. Fresh flavors
Knowing that your break room is stocked with great quality products from leading local and national brands is fabulous – but if all the coffee products have been sitting there for months, it might be time to think about how you handle your break room stock situation.
A great office coffee service will include some level of monitoring for your inventory, making it easier to ensure an ongoing flow of fresh coffee, tea, hot chocolate and other drinks through your break room.
3. Menu variety
In addition to managing the freshness factor, a great office coffee service should have a broad core of products to offer. Sure, offering a number of different coffee roasts, along with a selection of fine teas, hot chocolate and other popular beverages is important, but odds are it is not enough to keep people truly engaged in your break room.
As time marches on, it is important to inject new life to your break room again and again; one of the best ways to do this is to offer a rolling selection of seasonal flavors on the drink menu. The best office coffee services have a standard selection as well as regular specials.
It usually is no problem to sample those special offerings to see whether people in your building would really like them before you commit to a whole month of a new flavor. Providing regular “tasting events” can be a great way to encourage people to get involved with things in the break room.
4. Flexible service
Another hallmark of excellent office coffee services is their ability to scale to meet your needs. This applies not only to providing more coffee and associated products as your company grows, but also to their ability to ramp up your service for special occasions.
This might mean providing some extra special coffee for a big meeting or bringing in specialized equipment during your AGM; but it could also mean you forgot to order more creamer after that guy from the fourth floor inadvertently dumped the whole box in the stockroom. Whatever situation arises, a good office coffee service will rise to the challenge of meeting your company’s needs.
5. Support
Your office coffee provider should never leave you feeling lost. Great office coffee services provide regular maintenance, service agreements, on-site training for key staff and make product recommendations as they grow to understand the needs of your business.
When you are planning big meetings or special on-site events, your office coffee service should be one of the first ports of call – they can provide suggestions, offer insight and of course bring in virtually any break room related supplies you might need.
6. Enthusiasm
The final standard we suggest you use to judge your office coffee service by is perhaps easiest of all: enthusiasm. If your questions, comments and conversations with your office coffee rep leave you feeling drained, odds are the office coffee service in question lacks the luster your business deserves. The best coffee people have a genuine love of what they do and that enthusiasm is contagious.
If you feel that your office coffee service is lacking in performance or could better meet your needs under one of these areas, reach out for a consultation with one of the coffee experts here at Corporate Essentials. We are ready to put nearly two decades of dedicated coffee experience to work for your team.
