Many employers often wonder what their employees want, besides a raise of course. The answer might be surprising. A number of Fortune 500 companies have discovered that one of the most treasured perks they provide for their employees is something they might never expect – coffee! A break room well-stocked with a variety of coffees and other beverages is high on the list of perks that employees are looking for. More and more employers are finding that the very best way to give their employees something they will enjoy is by bringing coffee pods into the employee break room.

Coffee pods first made their appearance on the market about a decade ago. At the time, they were expensive and there were few varieties available. The critics were not kind about the coffee either, but all that has changed. Today, coffee machines that use coffee pods are among the most popular office coffee machines on the market, and with good reason. Why choose coffee pods for your office break room? Take a look at what some of the best makers of single serve coffee makers with coffee pods offer your office.

Consistently Good Coffee

Previously, many workers felt ‘office coffee’ was synonymous with mud. No matter how good the coffee you started with, it soon turned into oily black sludge. That was partly because the pot inevitably sat on the burner and scorched the coffee, and partly because the machine just didn’t get cleaned often enough. With coffee pods, those issues are grievances of the past. Each pod is pre-measured with the precise amount of coffee, tea or cocoa to make one perfect cup at a time. Also, because you are only making one cup at a time, there’s no coffee to turn to burnt sludge in the bottom of the pot. The coffee maker does not pick up all the oils from the brewing process either, meaning that you get fresh, clean coffee every time around.

Easy Cleanup

Coffee pods also mean no more messy drips and grounds on the counter of the break room. The coffee grounds are completely contained in the pod. When the coffee is done, you just eject the pod and throw it away. Your coffee room will stay clean, making it a more inviting place for your workers to brainstorm and work together.

Save Money

When the best coffee in town is right there in the break room, your employees are far less likely to wander off looking for a coffee shop. More time at the office and less time spent standing in line waiting for a cappuccino at the local shop is good news for you. Your employees will be happier and more productive. At the same time, they will be saving money on all those specialty coffees bought over the counter. Even if you decide to establish a coffee fund, they will be paying far less per cup for coffee pods at the office than they will for a paper takeaway cup from the local shop.

Everyone gets what they like!

One of the best things about replacing the office coffee pot with a single cup brewer and a coffee pod system is the selection of beverages available in coffee pods. With selections of coffee ranging from light breakfast blends to full-bodied espressos, everyone in your office can have the style and flavor of coffee that they like best. Coffee enthusiasts can find flavored coffees among varieties such as vanilla, hazelnut, mocha and even blueberry. Even better, most of the single serve coffee systems that use coffee pods are not confined to just making coffee. Depending on the supplier you choose, you may be able to also receive an assortment of flavored teas and gourmet hot chocolate drinks as well.

The Best Coffees Available

As single cup coffee makers have gained acceptance and popularity, the selection of coffees available in coffee pods for brewing has grown exponentially. The biggest reason for that is the number of nationally known fine coffee roasters who have jumped on the bandwagon to offer a variety of their coffees in pod form so that you can enjoy the same coffees that you love at the coffee shop. Among the coffee roasters who now offer their coffee in pods are Seattle’s Best, Starbucks, Melitta and Baronet. Java One offers a wide variety of coffee blends, and Senseo, makers of the Senseo single serve coffee system offers their own line of a dozen different coffee varieties that range from a light, tart Brazilian that will please most American palates to their latest gourmet offering, a rich, sweet, dark coffee appropriately named Café Noir, with just a hint of chocolate in the finish.

Your office staff will appreciate the investment in a coffee pod brewing system. A coffee pod system can pay for itself in happier workers and increased productivity, and your staff just may vote you supervisor of the year.

Each year, the National Coffee Association of the USA publishes their report on National Coffee Drinking Trends. The report has become one of the bibles of the coffee industry. The 2008 report has recently been made available, and the NCAUSA web site gives a brief summary of what the organization has found out about how we Americans like our coffee. Here are some highlights from the 2008 Coffee Drinking Trends report:

Single-serve coffee systems and one cup coffee makers were first introduced in the late 1990s, and have become more and more popular with each passing year. If you are considering a one cup coffee maker for your house or office, there are a number of things you should consider in making your decision. Types of Single Serve Coffee MakersThese days, a one cup coffee maker is more than a just a miniature drip coffee maker. There are many different kinds of coffee makers that only make one or two servings of coffee at a time. They include some of the oldest types of coffee makers in the world – the French press and the steam mocha pot, for instance. However, when most people refer to one-cup coffee makers today, they’re talking about automatic coffee makers. These fall into two different types of machine – a drip coffee maker that serves up one cup of coffee at a time, or the so-called single-serve coffee systems that use pods, cups or some other sort of special delivery system for coffee.The first thing to consider when deciding on a single cup coffee maker is whether you’re willing to be limited in your choice of coffee. The major brands of single serve coffee makers – Senseo, Tassimo, and Keurig – all require that you use coffee that is specially packaged for their machines. If a wide selection of coffees is important to you, or if you have a specific favorite, you’ll either want to be sure that the coffee maker you choose offers your favorite brand of coffee or choose a standard drip coffee maker that brews a single cup at a time.What to look for: One-Cup Drip Coffee MakersThere are only a few considerations if you’re choosing a one-cup drip coffee maker. They include:

An office coffee service can save you money in surprising ways. That may seem to go against the traditional wisdom that says doing something yourself is always cheaper than paying for a service, but providing coffee for your office staff and clients can add up in the accounting books in places where you don’t see it. Contracting with an office coffee service can increase productivity, increase staff and customer satisfaction with your company and reduce the unexpected overhead costs of coffee in your office.

Is coffee costing your company money?

If your company provides coffee for the staff and clients, then you probably think you have a pretty good idea of what your coffee costs are. Bankrate.com, one of the premier finance websites on the Internet, points out costs that few businesses consider when totaling the cost of providing coffee service for their employees. Among those “hidden” costs are the amount of time it takes to shop for break room coffee supplies and the time your accountant or bookkeeper spends tracking coffee expenses for your annual expense reports. Those may seem minor, but when you consider how much you are paying your accountant, it can add up surprisingly fast.

Believe it or not, even those businesses that do not have a break room on premises where they provide coffee for their staff and customers could be losing money by not employing a coffee service. When you provide coffee service on premises, none of your employees are leaving the building to pick up coffee at the local coffee shop; trips that add up in terms of lost productivity and time out of the office. By contracting with a coffee service to provide fine coffee for your employees, you can increase the amount of time that your employees are at work and focused on their jobs.

Can a coffee service increase your company’s profits?

The surprising answer to that question is “absolutely!” Here are just some of the ways that providing coffee through a coffee service can affect your bottom line.

- Providing coffee service for your staff improves employee morale.

Happier employees are more productive employees. While coffee may seem like a very small thing in the larger scheme of things, providing good coffee (especially free good coffee) to your employees’ rates very high with them. In a number of surveys, researchers asked employees to name something that their employer does that makes them feel valued and appreciated. In nearly every survey, more employees named free coffee than any other perk.

- Offering fine coffee to your customers increases their positive feelings about your company.

Anything you do to make customer or client experience with your company will show up in your bottom line, even if it can’t be easily quantified. Offering your customers a cup of gourmet coffee is one way to make them feel valued and appreciated. This is a lesson learned by high-end hair stylists, doctor and dentist offices and even upscale retail stores. Give your customers good coffee, and they will leave feeling far more appreciated, which can translate into a better bottom line for your business.

- Coffee can improve focus and can increases productivity.

A recent study measured productivity in workers who drank coffee during the day against the productivity of workers who do not drink coffee at the office. They found that workers who drank coffee at their desks were more focused on their work and completed more work than their co-workers who did not. The difference between the two groups of workers became more marked as the day went on. In fact, most of the coffee drinkers avoided the typical mid-afternoon slump in productivity entirely. A good coffee service can improve your bottom line by increasing productivity and reducing errors. Not to mention, your employees most likely will not be heading out the door to grab a coffee at the local coffee shop if they have a great coffee service providing coffee in the break room.

Using an office coffee service is less expensive

In many cases, the coffee service will provide a high-end coffee maker for your office for free as long as you purchase a minimum amount of coffee from them. Depending on the quality of the coffee that you choose, a coffee service for your office will cost between 4 cent and 19 cents per cup; the 19 cent figure is for Starbucks coffee from a coffee service. The machines ranges from double burner pour-over coffee makers to fancy bean-to-cup coffee machines that dispense gourmet espresso, complete with frothed milk.

If you are considering providing coffee for your office, or if you already provide free coffee for employees and customers, take a look at what a coffee service can do to save you money on your coffee.

A coffee service is commonly touted as one of the best perks that you can offer your employees; and one of the best ways to add positively to the company experience for your customers and your clients. Why a coffee service? And precisely what IS a coffee service?

Coffee Services Come in Many Flavors

When working with a coffee service, run-of-the-mill flavors such as French Vanilla and Cinnamon Hazelnut coffee flavors are just the beginning. There are several different standard kinds of coffee services, and each coffee service provides different services and equipment to your office. Each of them also offers benefits, both in general and specifically for your office.

Full Office Coffee Service

Most coffee service companies provide a free coffee machine – or more than one machine, depending on the needs of your company, as part of their service contract. You pay nothing for the coffee machine as long as you purchase a minimum specified amount of coffee and other supplies from the coffee service company. The coffee machines supplied run the gamut from basic Bunn Coffee-matic pour-over coffee pots to elaborate high-end espresso machines that make multiple kinds of hot drinks, usually dispensing one cup at a time.

If you opt for a full coffee service contract, the supplier will generally set up an automatic delivery schedule of coffee, teas and other beverages, commonly referred to as consumables. Some may also include such supplies as water filters for your coffee machine, bottled water, automatic coffee machine cleaner, coffee filters, disposable coffee cups and napkins. Most likely, you will be assigned to an account manager who will be available to discuss your coffee service needs if you find that you are ordering too much or too little coffee.

When you use a coffee service to provide coffee for your office and customers, you reap some very tangible benefits, and a few intangible ones. Here are just a few of them.

1. Your coffee expenses are far easier to track when you use a coffee service

If you are providing coffee to your employees and customers for free, it is a legitimate business expense. When you use a coffee service, you only have one expense stream to track, the bills from the coffee service. Compare that to tracking the receipts from the food service, from the supermarket, the replacement coffee machine when the old one failed, the box of tea. It will save your bookkeeper a lot of aggravation and time, and probably save you some money on your taxes.

2. You don’t have to worry about running out of coffee or coffee supplies when you use a coffee service

When you sign up with a coffee service, you could set up automatic regular deliveries of coffee and supplies. No one has to think about ordering coffee, and you should never run out of coffee again. That means no sending out your secretary to pick up filters at the last minute so you can serve coffee to an important client, or rooting around in the break room cabinets to find a leftover coffee pod.

3. It costs you nothing for coffee machine maintenance

Since you do not own the coffee machine, you do not have to worry about maintenance. In many cases, the coffee service supplier will attend to routine maintenance chores, or at least remind you when it is time to do them. More to the point, if the machine just quits working, the coffee service provider will generally replace or repair it almost immediately. The same holds true if the coffee carafe gets knocked off the counter, no more hunting around for hours, or buying a new coffee maker because the carafe broke.

4. You have a wide choice of coffee machine options with a coffee service

Most office coffee services feature a full range of coffee makers and coffee machine options. The most popular are single-serve coffee makers that allow each of your employees or customers to make their favorite kind of coffee, tea or even hot chocolate. They can supply machines for any size office or retail operation.

Even if your company decides that it can’t foot the entire bill for your employees’ coffee habit, there are coffee services that can provide you with vending machines, but not the “old school” vending machines that dispense watery brew. The new coffee vending machines dispense gourmet coffee in different flavors, as well as hot chocolate and hot water for tea. Using a vending machine in conjunction with a coffee company allows you to offset the cost of providing coffee for your office by collecting a small fee for the coffee sold.

If the thought of using a coffee service sounds intriguing, coffee services can be found in just about every city as well as online. Contact a sales agent or account representative from a local coffee service to find out more about the benefits of using a coffee service for your office or business.

With all the brands and blends of coffee available, ordering coffee for the office can be a real challenge. Should you buy one blend to satisfy everyone? Should you order one or two flavored coffees to please those that like flavored coffee drinks? Maybe you should order at least one special blend for the gourmet coffee drinkers, and what about Fair Trade coffees? Should you make an effort to buy those products that are Fair Trade certified, organic, and shade-grown such as Kenyan, Ethiopian, Colombian or Mexican? The choices are enough to make all but the most dedicated coffee drinkers throw up their hands in despair.

It can also help to know which coffee blends are the most popular with office coffee drinkers. If you’re trying to decide which coffees you should stock in your office pantry to please co-workers, employees, clients and customers, these are the top five coffee blends enjoyed in offices around the country. When you are ordering coffee for your company, you can’t go wrong if your order contains coffee blends that fall into these five categories.

South American coffees are particularly suited to the American palate. The flavor is brighter than most African or Pacific Rim/Indonesian coffees, and has a definite “snap” that we associate with coffee flavors. Brazilian, Mexican and Colombian coffees are at their best when the roast is fairly light. Most coffee service companies offer several varieties of “American blend” coffees from companies like Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, which partners with Keurig to supply well over 100 coffee blends in K-cups for Keurig single serve coffee systems, Starbucks and Tim Horton’s.

Many coffee roasters make a variation of an “eye opener” or “Morning Fog Cutter” blend. Generally, the Eye Opener is a blend of South American coffees with an addition of an African coffee like Ethiopian Yrgacheffe to add a darker, almost earthy flavor. The roast is usually just a little darker than the standard “American” blend, and though the coffee flavor is richer, the blend is actually a bit lower in caffeine than a lighter roast blend of South American coffees. Look for names like “Eye Opener” or “Fog Cutter” from the major coffee roasting companies.

Coffee drinkers are growing more and more aware of the wider social, environmental and economic effects that their beverage of choice has on the world. These considerations have persuaded many office coffee drinkers make a point of choosing coffees that are Fair Trade certified, certified organic or shade grown. Most major coffee companies offer a huge variety of both single origin and coffee blends that are certified Fair Trade, organic, shade grown or some combination of the three certifications. If you’re uncertain whether a coffee blend carries one of the three certifications, you can always look for Newman’s Own Organics, which is always 100% certified organic and Fair Trade.

French roast coffee is not actually a “blend”; it refers to the darkness of the roast. French roast is one of the darker roasts on the coffee roasting scale. The coffee flavor is generally more intense than it is in lighter roasts, making most people think of it as “stronger” coffee. In reality, the darker the coffee roast, the lower it is likely to be in caffeine. The flavor, however, is richer and more intense, and the body is fuller.

Flavored coffees have made a big dent in the coffee world, and some of your employees are bound to be flavored coffee drinkers. The question, of course, is which flavored coffees should you order regularly and keep on hand. Obviously, if you have employees with a particular favorite, that should guide your choice. If you don’t know your employees’ favorites, however, you can still make a pretty good guess by looking at the top flavors ordered through Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, one of the country’s largest suppliers to office coffee service companies. French Vanilla, Hazelnut or cinnamon? Believe it or not, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters’ single best seller is none of the three. It’s their Blueberry Morning blend coffee, which is Green Mountain’s overall best seller, not just their best-selling flavored coffee. Most office coffee service companies offer some sort of flavored coffee variety pack that includes the most popular flavored coffees sold by their company.

In addition to a variety of coffee blends, the well-stocked office break room should also offer other beverages for your workers who don’t drink coffee. Most office coffee service companies include a variety of teas, hot chocolate and even soups that can be made with hot water from the office coffee maker.

If you’re considering hiring an office coffee service to provide coffee and beverages for your office or just beginning to investigate the options provided by an office coffee service, you’ll find that office coffee services provide far more than just coffee. When your business partners with a company that provides office coffee service, you’ll be able to choose from a wide variety of services and items ranging from coffee makers to vending machines, equipment and supplies for your coffee or break room, coffee and other beverages and even snacks. Here’s a quick tour of what you might expect a typical office coffee service to provide for your office or place of business.

Coffee Makers

The typical office break room has a coffee maker that is meant for home use. Unless you’ve only got a couple of people drinking coffee over the course of the day, you’ll find yourself replacing that coffee maker far more often than you would at home. Professional office coffee services generally will offer a wide choice of coffee makers to suit the way your office drinks coffee. Your choice of coffee maker will vary from provider to provider, but most offer several choices that include standard drip coffee makers, espresso machines, single serve coffee machines, semi and fully automatic coffee makers and even vending machines.

These days, the most common coffee maker choices are single-serve coffee systems like Keurig, Flavia or Senseo. Single serve coffee makers cut down on maintenance and clean-up by brewing one cup of coffee at a time using a self-contained coffee “capsule” or cup. Some of these are connected directly to the plumbing so that even filling the water receptacle is a simple matter of turning a tap. Single serve coffee systems offer a number of advantages over coffee makers that brew by the pot. Perhaps the biggest advantage is that each employee or client can make a different kind of coffee without having to brew up a full pot. If your secretary loves her Rainforest Hazelnut, the rest of the office isn’t stuck drinking up the rest of the pot.

The cost of the coffee machine will often depend upon two factors: the type of machine and the volume of coffee that you order from the coffee service each month. Many coffee service companies provide a standard coffee machine for free as long as you continue to order your coffee and other supplies through them. Often, however, you can continue to rent the machine for a small monthly fee even if you buy your own coffee to use in the machine.

Coffee

In addition to the coffee machine, coffee services also deliver coffee to your office on a pre-determined schedule. If you’ve chosen a pour-over pot or drip machine, the coffee will usually be packaged in pre-measured one-pot pouches. If you’ve chosen a single-serve coffee system, you’ll be able to order coffee in single serving coffee pods (K-cups, T-cups or other pod types depending on the coffee brewer supplied by the company). In either case, you’ll usually find that having coffee available to your employees in pre-measured pouches cuts down on waste and reduces the amount of coffee that’s used per cup.

Other Beverages

In addition to coffee, many coffee services also carry tea and hot chocolate, and some also provide soups that can be made with hot water. In fact, if you’re renting a single serve coffee system like the Keurig from your office coffee service, you’ll probably be able to order their entire range of beverages through your service provider.

Snacks for the Break Room

Some coffee service companies also offer a range of snacks for your office break room. The snacks offered by your coffee service may include bags of chips and pretzels as well as individually packaged bagels, doughnuts, croissants and muffins. The companies that provide snacks may also provide other individually packaged items like jams and jellies, butter pats, coffee creamers and cream cheese. Many offices find that providing these in sanitary individual packages cuts down on waste and is more economical than buying them at the supermarket.

Supplies and Equipment

What happens if your coffee carafe shatters or your machine needs servicing? Office coffee services provide all service for your coffee machine, including replacement parts and repair. In most cases, if your coffee machine malfunctions the coffee service will provide you with a replacement for it if it can’t be repaired in place. You can usually set up a service contract with your provider and let them take care of regular maintenance like cleaning, de-scaling and replacing filters and other parts on a regular schedule.

When choosing an office coffee service, be sure that you ask to see their full catalog of supplies and services. Compare all costs of using the coffee service with the costs of providing a similar level of coffee service on your own to help you decide if a coffee service is the best option for your office.

There are many excellent reasons why a company would choose to provide coffee for its employees, customers and clients, but can you really save money using a coffee service? When you count in all of the costs associated with providing coffee for your business, you may be pleasantly surprised to find out just how cost-effective it can be to use a coffee service for your office coffee needs. Take a look at some of the obvious, and not so obvious, cost benefits of using a coffee service as opposed to providing the same coffee and machine on your own.

The Cost of the Coffee Machine

When considering the cost of the coffee machine, be sure to evaluate your office’s needs in terms of cups of coffee served per day. If you’re making more than two or three pots of coffee a day for your office or company, chances are that a coffee maker designed for use in a home kitchen just won’t do. While you may not need a coffee machine designed for restaurant or coffee shop use, you do need one that will handle higher traffic than the typical kitchen coffee maker or you’ll be replacing the coffee machine every few months. A coffee maker that can handle the typical office or business traffic will easily cost you upwards of $150-$200, while a top-of-the-line coffee machine or a coffee vending machine can easily run into the thousands of dollars.

By contrast, most office coffee service companies provide a high quality, professional coffee maker for free as long as you contract to buy a minimum amount of coffee and supplies through their service.

The Cost of Coffee through an Office Coffee Service

Office coffee service companies tend to buy their materials from coffee suppliers in large quantities. These companies are usually able to get a discounted price for the coffee that they buy. In general, you won’t pay more for coffee bought through an office coffee service than you would if you bought the coffee at your local supermarket or through a coffee subscription service. There are, however, many other ways that you’ll see savings when you buy coffee through a coffee service.

- Coffee ordered from a coffee service is delivered directly to your office on a pre-determined schedule. That means that no one has to spend time shopping for coffee and no one has to run out in the middle of the day to buy coffee because you’ve run out.

- Generally, the coffee service will deliver coffee packaged in pre-measured pouches just right for making one pot of coffee. That helps you control the amount of coffee that’s used per pot, potentially saving you money on every pot of coffee.

- If you choose a single serve coffee system, your potential savings are even greater. Because your employees will be making coffee to order, one cup at a time, you won’t be pouring old coffee down the drain because it’s become undrinkable.

In addition to the savings you’ll get by choosing a coffee service, you’ll also be serving better coffee. You won’t be brewing up ground coffee that’s gone stale in the can or the bag because your coffee will be in vacuum packed pouches or cups until just before you brew it.

Save Money on Supplies and Equipment through an Office Coffee Service

Your coffee supplier will also offer a range of coffee making equipment and supplies to mix with your coffee. That means that you won’t be paying supermarket prices for cream, milk, sugar and creamer for office use. Similar to the coffee, you’ll be able to purchase office coffee supplies through your coffee service in individual serving packets, which is both more sanitary and more economical. You won’t be throwing away cream or milk that’s gone bad in the refrigerator, or running down to the store to pick up another quart of milk before a big meeting.

Those supplies also include napkins, coffee cups and stirrers. Disposable coffee supplies are optional, of course, but could be an enormous boon if you regularly serve coffee to clients or customers.

Save Money on Repairs, Service and Replacement

One expense that’s not often counted when you’re calculating the cost of providing coffee at the office is the cost of maintenance. A coffee machine requires regular maintenance and cleaning in order to continue making good coffee. A broken coffee carafe often means buying a new coffee maker because it can be difficult to replace the carafe with the right size.

When you use an office coffee service, your service provider takes on the responsibility for maintaining and servicing your machine on a regular schedule. If your coffee machine malfunctions, the coffee service will replace or repair it, often within 24 hours so that you’re not left without a functioning coffee machine for your employees and customers. Depending on your contract with the coffee service, those replacements may be at no cost to you, or at a very nominal cost.

An office coffee service isn’t right for every office, but if your company provides coffee for employees or for customers and clients, it’s an option well worth exploring. If you’re considering using an office coffee service, the points above can help you make a realistic analysis of your possible savings.