Office Coffee Solutions.
Look around any office space of a business, large or small, and you will see either coffee mugs or paper coffee cups on many of the desks. Coffee is a large part of the business environment, but some business owners often do not consider what it is costing them when they do not provide coffee in the office on a regular basis.
Some businesses offer their staff free or subsidized coffee in the office as a perk (no pun intended) of the job. Unless they are using a quality office coffee service, the coffee can be “hit or miss.” When a small business owner offers a coffee maker and the supplies to go with it, the quality of the coffee depends on the person whose job it is to make it that particular day. Unless the person making the coffee each time it runs low is the same person, the consistency will change from pot to pot.
Another way that some businesses can provide easily available coffee without costing the business anything, is to allow a coffee company to install a free coffee machine that is pay-per-cup. Alternatively, a small business could purchase a single serving coffee maker such as a Kurig or Tasimo and allow workers to bring in their own serving cartridges. These cartridges can be purchased at almost any grocery store or supermarket in a variety of styles and flavours of coffee, including coffee-shop-branded cartridges for those who prefer a certain brew.
When a small business opts not to provide free or subsidized coffee, there are still costs to the business. As a small business owner, you have to consider the cost of a worker leaving the office to get a coffee from a local coffee shop. How much time will it take him or her to get to the coffee shop, wait to be served and then return to the office? This not only reduces productivity time, but it may also cost in terms of that worker getting back into the stride of being productive.
When it is time for your small business to provide coffee for long, drawn-out work meetings, there are lower-cost alternatives to purchasing each individual their coffee the way they want it from a local coffee shop. Many chains like Tim Horton’s and Starbucks offer multi-cup “Take Ten” or “Travelor” packs that give you 10 to 12 cups of coffee and the condiments to go with them. These bulk coffee solutions can also be a way for one worker to fetch a mid-day coffee order – without having to spend more time getting multiple orders.
Small business owners and their staff who have office space at a business centre like Telsec Business Centres, can enjoy several brands of complimentary coffee and two brands of tea whenever they feel the need. Instead of a 20-minute or 30-minute trip to a coffee shop, it is a 2-minute walk down the hall. There is no need to leave the office and there is never a lineup. This also works well for meetings within the various meeting rooms that are used by tenants. Finally, with the right notice, the Telsec staff can prepare an after-hours carafe of coffee for any meetings hosted by a Telsec tenant in one of its upscale meeting rooms.
