Great office coffee is an asset to any busy NYC workplace.
Providing staff with the pick me up they need during a dull winter day, giving team members a much-needed release during times of stress and providing refreshments to clients and colleagues alike, are just a few of the perks of supplying great office coffee.
There is no room in your busy workplace for sub-par office coffee, low quality products or unreliable delivery.
If you are noticing staff complaints, watching pot after pot of coffee get poured away or losing a lot of time because your staff are running off to the café up the road for a round of drinks before a meeting, it might be time to reconsider your office coffee suppliers.
Before you start to panic about the arduous task of selecting a new office coffee supplier, consider these four simple steps compiled by our office coffee experts.
Know what your staff wants from their office coffee (and what they don’t)
The only way to find out if your team members like the office coffee service is to ask them. Create a survey, have a meeting, do a straw poll around the break room – you must actually get out there and talk to the folks who use the coffee products and equipment to find out what they like.
It is vital to understand what the general consensus is about “what’s wrong with the office coffee” before making plans and consulting new office coffee suppliers.
Knowing what products, and equipment, your staff wish you had is a great way to start narrowing the field of potential office coffee vendors so you can focus on the right products and services for your firm. Similarly, understanding the complaints your staff have about the existing office coffee supplier will help you weed out office coffee services prone to the same problems. Understand from the outset that there is no way to please everyone, and aim to provide a wide variety of high-quality products.
Do all the research
With a clear picture of what your NYC office needs from its office coffee service, start researching office coffee suppliers. Look online, read reviews and ask for personal recommendations from colleagues, coworkers, friends or anyone else you can think to ask. The most important thing to do during your research phase is to consider the source of your information carefully.
Office coffee suppliers with a few short, anonymous reviews that simply say “they’re great” and offer five stars might not be all they seem to be under their online review rating. On the other hand, a company with great reviews from global brands on its client roster is likely to be a great asset. So read reviews, but more importantly ask promising candidates on your short list of office coffee suppliers for recommendations or references from existing clients. Any coffee service worth its grounds will be glad to provide these to potential clients.
Weigh the existing service against new options
Being able to compare the existing service with the potential new office coffee vendors, is a great opportunity to really consider the benefits of switching. A few areas worth careful consideration when comparing your current office coffee service with new office coffee suppliers are:
- Delivery – Knowing the pattern of consumption of office coffee at your workplace is a good starting point. Consider whether your company needs a monthly or more frequent delivery, how fresh the products will be, how you will store them and whether the suppliers in question can be flexible about quantities and products ordered at any given time.
- Variety – If one of the areas your staff criticizes the current office coffee supply company for is a boring product selection, revisit their catalog. Now, compare that offering with the bounty of goodies on offer from the other office coffee suppliers you’re considering. If the variety of coffee products available addresses part of your current coffee conundrum, you are on to something great.
- Value – There is more to office coffee suppliers than the price paid for the products and service – you should also consider the value the service offers your workplace. Office coffee should be viewed as a great perk, a good investment in a happy workplace and an asset to overall function and office culture. Consider how your potential office coffee suppliers fit the bill in this area carefully so your team feels rewarded with the delicious coffee products on offer rather than sentenced to their consumption.
See if you can taste the difference
“The proof is in the pudding” is a catch phrase for a reason – some things are better tried than explained or discussed. Your office coffee should not be left to chance, so when you are close to making a final determination on which of the many office coffee suppliers is right for your New York City office, ask for a taste test.
An exceptional office coffee service will have no problem letting you have an in-office trial, both for the taste test itself and the evaluation of new office coffee machines.
The beauty of this is it allows you to roll the decision making process out to some of the people who initially helped you understand what was wrong with the existing office coffee supplier. This takes some of the heavy burden of making the choice off your shoulders, and allows you to gain both confidence and control in the selection of a new office coffee service.
If your office coffee delivery service relationship has gone cold, contact the team of friendly experts at Corporate Essentials to see just how wonderful the world of office coffee can be.
