Office Coffee Stations: The Social Way to Save Costs
We all know that a water cooler is one of the most common places for staff to “waste a little time”, but it has a lot of limitations. For one – it doesn’t make coffee… Creating a coffee station at your workplace may seem like an unnecessary spend, but it can have exceptional benefits both financially and for staff morale.
A coffee station need not be an expensive exercise at all; here are some handy tips on what to add, what to leave out – and how to go about making a cost effective coffee station for your staff:
What Is a Coffee Station?
A coffee station can be a few thing, but the most common is a dedicated space where staff can go during lunch or tea breaks, help themselves to a refreshment and enjoy their break. This is why a coffee station will typically be installed in a pause area, where there is space for the staff to sit and socialise.
A good coffee station would include:
- Coffee products
- Tea bags
- Sugar and sweetener
- Spoons
- Milk
- Coffee machine
- Kettle for those who opt for tea
The coffee machine vs coffee product debate has been raging for decades; if you are looking to keep costs low, why not install a filter coffee machine? It will almost certainly work out cheaper to batch-brew up to 24 cups of coffee at once than it would to provide all the necessary ingredients and equipment to do so with various coffee products. Using a coffee machine will also save your staff valuable time – in that they don’t need to waste any time on the preparation of their coffee and can get the most out of their short breaks.
For a very busy environment, however, you may want to consider a coffee vending machine, these can typically dispense any coffee and milk-based (note that these use powdered milk) drinks in under 30 seconds. For high volume areas this is deal, as it can decrease the time spent waiting to make the drinks by more than half. This also prevents theft, overuse or misuse of the products.
While milk is a luxury offered by very few companies, a good way to curb your spend on this singular item is to switch to powdered milk. It may not bode well with tea drinkers, but for coffee is will drastically reduce your costs. This again ties in with use within a coffee vending machine, as powdered milk is housed inside the machine and only dispensed in pre-portioned amounts.
Having a coffee station at the office allows staff a much necessary break from their desks, a moment to enjoy a drink and recharge so that they are able to focus on their work ahead.
If it is correctly structured, with the right equipment and product – this can be a huge saving and even bigger staff-motivating effort.