If you want to begin offering coffee to your employees you might be overwhelmed trying to figure out how to get started. Should you go through an office coffee service distributor? Or, do you purchase and maintain your own equipment instead? Until we started Wandering Bear, we had no idea how many options exist in the office coffee world. We put together a step by step guide to help you get started and create an office coffee program your employees will love (and that is easy to maintain).
Five tips for starting your office coffee program
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Determine how many employees you need to provide coffee for
Not everyone drinks coffee (we know, weird) so this isn’t strictly based on your headcount. You also want to consider if visitors will be coming to your office and how frequently when deciding how much coffee you’ll need.
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Plan where you will store and serve coffee
In order to bring in the right office coffee program, you will need to audit your space. Do you already have a breakroom or cafeteria that can accommodate the coffee equipment and store supplies? For a good, simple program you will at least need enough counter space to accommodate a coffee pot or single-serve coffee maker, cups, and a caddy for things like shelf-stable creamer and sugars.
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Decide if you will bring in a vendor to run your program
Investing in quality equipment and maintaining it can get costly if you have a large office. This is a solid reason you might want to outsource to a vendor. Do you want a regular or high-capacity coffee brewing system? Do you have enough people to brew an air pot or two every day? Will you use a Keurig (or similar) and coffee pods? Or, if you have a lot of people to provide fresh coffee for throughout the day, do you want to invest in a bean-to-cup machine? For those new to the coffee world, a bean to cup machine has a hopper full of whole coffee beans at the top and coffee is freshly ground for each cup! (We think that’s pretty cool too!) For a small to medium-sized office, it might be more reasonable to bring in your own equipment and coffee and put it on a subscription so you’re getting your coffee and supplies on a regular schedule and you never run out of anything.
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Communicate with your employees
Let your team know you are starting a coffee program and watch the excitement build! You may want to send out a short, sweet survey to get an idea of their preferences and what they want to see on your coffee station. While you may not be able to accommodate everyone’s wish list, having an understanding of their likes and dislikes will help.
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Make adjustments as your program is adopted
As you roll out your program, you can make adjustments. Do you have some flavored coffee going stale? Stop ordering it. Going through cold brew kegs at a faster rate in the warmer months? Up your order for the season. You also might want to start small and let the coffee program grow over a few months or even years.
When you’re ready to make the investment in an office coffee program, these 5 tips should help you get started. At Wandering Bear, we provide many options for your office coffee program that accommodate your employees’ tastes and your budget. From our gallon coffee boxes to our single serve cartons and even cold brew kegs we have something for everyone. Contact us to get a subscription set up for your office or let us connect you with the right vendor for your needs.
