The world of office coffee is diverse and bountiful – which can be intimidating for a person charged with finding an ideal coffee system for a new office here in New York City.
If that task has landed on your desk today, have no fear – the team of coffee gurus at Corporate Essentials is filtering close to 20 years of experience in the office coffee kingdom into providing you this size-based guide to finding the office coffee systems that are best for your workplace. Forget the Venn diagrams and price per person comparisons, grab yourself a tasty beverage and see what you can learn.
Tiny Team
You could be forgiven for thinking that small companies do not really need office coffee systems. The fact of the matter is, businesses of all shapes and sizes thrive where the right office coffee equipment is available for staff to refresh, nourish and indulge themselves from time to time. The challenge of finding the right coffee system for a small office is typically establishing the most cost efficient equipment you can, while retaining the flexibility that a firm with a bright future on the horizon may need for future growth.
The single-serve brewer is a logical choice for our “tiny team” where everyone feels like a family, wants to do right by one another but has diverse tastes to satisfy in a limited physical space. The beauty of single-serve office coffee systems is that they are inherently flexible – if someone new joins the group that only drinks tea or cocoa, it is incredibly simple to add a new beverage to your normal delivery, and in the mean time someone can grab a box of popular coffee pods from the local grocery. Also, in a compact staff break area, the single-serve brewer occupies far less space than even the old-school setup with a pot of leaded and a pot of unleaded coffee on the go throughout the day.
The other amazing office coffee solution for a small office is more indulgent, and less flexible, but if you are a tight-knit group of coffee aficionados, consider heading straight for the espresso machines. With a selection of machines catering to a variety of barista skills, you are likely to find one that meets the sophisticated needs of your small office – whether your crew are likely to want control over the whole process, from dosing the coffee to steaming their milk and all points in between, or favor the PHD (that stands for “push here dummy”) approach to a custom-crafted espresso beverage. These office coffee makers offer an amazing perk to interested staff and give any break room a certain curb appeal that cannot be denied.
Mid-Sized Mayhem
For a growing business, office coffee systems are increasingly important, as your teams are likely taking on more and more responsibilities and feeling the pressure to achieve targets that fuel continued business growth. The odds are solid that if you are looking for office coffee equipment for your successful mid-sized operation, you have outgrown the office coffee setup you started with – or you are only just waking up to the benefits of having an office coffee service working with your company. In either case, there are a number of great options available to serve the growing – and changing – population of your busy office.
A popular option for companies which wake up to find they are no longer small “mom and pop” operations is to invest in a full-pot brewer to stand alongside a single-serve office coffee machine. This is an incremental step for many companies, and popular because it provides a level of scalability – and successful mid-sized businesses know all about the benefits of scalable operations.
Another thing that larger mid-sized companies notice a definite benefit from is including a selection of treats for staff and guests to eat. Perhaps not a full-on snack bar, but some nibbles here and there as an extra reward or thanks for teams who are giving each day their all.
Large and in Charge
With large companies, the pressure for you to provide an amazing office coffee system is higher because staff develop an expectation of the benefits of working for a bigger firm. The good news is, with a large company you are more likely to have plenty of space to install a variety of office coffee equipment to meet the demands of your bevy of staff all over the building, throughout the day. The bad news is that figuring out which products to supply can be difficult.
In our experience, the best option for you is to survey your teams to find out what they want, and work on finding a way to provide the most popular items to the majority of people. When designing an office coffee system for a large office, you should also consider the rolling tide of visitors who come to the site for meetings, interviews, pitches and other events. Ensuring you can meet spikes in demand for quality office coffee is absolutely key to successful office coffee systems.
Another key factor in establishing a successful office coffee system for your large business is including all the variables that people expect – as well as working to incorporate things that both surprise and reward your staff. Consider additional equipment, like smoothie machines or even offering satellite coffee equipment to larger departments with their own distinctive thirst.
Achieving the right balance here will help to create a great office culture for your firm, which is important because where employees feel valued and refreshed, they are more able to focus on collaboration, problem solving and achieving their targets.
The Massive Undertaking
When your company crosses the threshold from large to truly massive, office coffee systems continue to play a vital role for your firm. Partially because they provide refreshment and sustenance to your workers; but more so, they bring your staff together from the furthest reaches of your physical space.
Teams who may not have any other reason to interact will have the common ground of coffee to stand on and discuss everything from the Yankees preseason roster to the new client your firm has secured in the far east. The benefits are clear – and so are the challenges.
For you, as the person charged with getting a great office coffee system up and running, it may become a balancing act where the tastes of one population have to be restrained by the needs of the whole building. But you can use this to your advantage by hosting a series of office coffee events in your well-stocked break room – tastings, brew-offs, new product launches with raffle prizes – to encourage better engagement, which will lead to a more positive office coffee experience for all.
Whatever the size of your New York City firm, Corporate Essentials has a team of experts with nearly two decades of experience in office coffee systems. Our team can help you find the best solution for your company, what’s more, we can help you keep that break room stocked with the best treats and beverages the local area has to offer.
