Office coffee is one of the most critical elements to a successful operation, particularly as winter approaches and the days get shorter and colder. If you are fortunate enough to be entrusted with making the decision between office coffee suppliers for your business, congratulations!
You are just five steps away from finding your office coffee service soul mate.
The pros at Corporate Essentials have poured nearly two decades of corporate coffee experience into this handy cheat sheet to help you filter through the coffee service providers in New Jersey and find the one that best suits the needs of your office.
Step one: do your research
Everyone has an opinion, and for once, that can work to your advantage. Ask new office recruits about the office coffee suppliers they might be familiar with from former workplaces; ask colleagues in other firms about their office coffee service; and, of course, ask your friendly search engine for its top recommendations.
Once you have a few office coffee suppliers, do a little digging on each name, check online reviews and peruse the information on their own websites to see what their client rosters, product offerings and delivery terms are like.
Consider the information you discover carefully and never be afraid to ask potential office coffee suppliers for customer recommendations directly – a great office coffee service takes pride in its customer base and will be more than happy to show off both their customers and their comments.
Step two: compare your options
Whether you already have an office coffee supplier that isn’t quite making everyone jump for joy or are embarking on your first office coffee service adventure, take care to compare your expectations with the offerings various office coffee services can provide. When you are doing your comparisons, be sure to consider:
- Quality – look into the brands on offer. Are they local? Do they fit with your company’s ethos in terms of supporting the local economy, sustainability, environmental issues and dietary requirements? Are the products offered as fresh as possible?
- Variety – enquire about the product portfolio. Ask how often it is updated, whether seasonal varieties of coffee and other break room treats are available and whether items from local coffee roasters or other relevant shops are available. A true quality purveyor of office coffee products will have great local connections and be able to source a wide variety of coffees and other delights throughout the year.
- Flexibility – once you choose a delivery schedule and place an order, how easy is it to change or update the products and/or delivery interval? Great office coffee suppliers are able to help you forecast demand and plan ahead so that there is never a shortage of coffee in your office. More than this, an outstanding office coffee supplier will be able to help you meet the changing demands in your office break room by having a flexible approach to your regular coffee orders, allowing for those special one-off items that may be required for meetings and other occasions.
- Experience – this last point is evident in the ability of office coffee suppliers to provide a high-quality service with a variety of goods and flexibility to meet evolving office coffee demands. An office coffee supplier with a history of providing great service will stay in business longer than a flash-in-the-pan coffee hawker with one or two good gimmicks on offer. Consider the company’s track record for providing reliable service to businesses similar to yours throughout New Jersey.
Step three: sample the wares
Remember when you were a kid and you learned all about Simple Simon? This is one case where the notion of asking the Pieman – or coffee supplier – for a taste should be greeted with glee. No really, glee. Office coffee suppliers make their reputation by providing flavorful refreshments to businesses like yours throughout the Garden State.
For an experienced coffee supplier like Corporate Essentials, providing an in-office sample of a variety of products from our coffee portfolio is a pleasure. The taste test is a mutually beneficial part of the office coffee service negotiation process – allowing office coffee suppliers to get a clearer picture of the types of products and equipment that work best for your staff and the space you have available, as well as allowing you to get a good feeling for what products your staff is most excited about having available in house. To make the most of your taste test experience, consider:
- Involving key staff from different departments so that everyone has a stake in the products selected.
- Making an event out of the tasting process so the widest possible selection of staff are given an opportunity to participate.
- Using the taste test as a kick off for a new coffee culture in our office.
Step four: gather feedback
While the ultimate decision between office coffee suppliers still rests with you, it is important to consider the feedback people from different departments have about the tenets of the coffee services you are considering. This applies both to subjective taste test information and the more fact-based items you will be reviewing during your selection of an office coffee service.
Allowing others to have input to the process takes some of the heat off of you, but also allows for shared ownership of a successful office coffee installation going forward. Sharing ownership of something that becomes a huge point of company pride is a great boost for the morale and community feeling of the entire firm.
Step five: enjoy excellent coffee in your office
Now that you have researched, evaluated, compared, contrasted, tasted and discussed the best office coffee suppliers in New Jersey for your office, the time has come to enjoy the fruit of your labor – literally.
Sit back, relax and savor the flavor of success. You will find that your staff will be more able to focus on their work now that the distraction of having to run to the café for a quick late-morning pick me up is gone. Similarly, your coworkers will be better hydrated, which will help them maintain better overall concentration and general wellbeing.
But more than this, your coworkers will be granted keys to a new kingdom of collaboration thanks to the culture that top-quality office coffee products can bring into your break room. Employees will have something new to talk about – taste adventures, flavor experiences and beverage crafting advice, as well as the humdrum commentary on the state of the Jets this season.
If you are ready to take the next step on your path to office coffee service enlightenment, contact one of the office coffee experts at Corporate Essentials. With twenty years experience in the industry, we will have your team off and running in no time.
