Your Guide to Buying a Commercial Coffee Machine.
Finding the right commercial coffee vending machine for your workplace is about more than just how the coffee tastes – it’s about balancing convenience, quality, capacity, and your budget. Whether you’re looking for a quick and reliable fully automatic coffee machine or a premium bean to cup coffee machine making the right choice can boost employee satisfaction, increase workplace productivity, and be used as a recruitment and retention tool.
At Connect Vending, we use a consultative approach to provide you with expert guidance and tailored solutions to ensure you get the most out of your office coffee machine. This guide will walk you through everything you need to consider when choosing a commercial coffee machine from the different machine types, payment options and whether you should charge your employees for a cup of coffee.
Finding the Right Commercial Coffee Machine for your Workplace
Connect Vending works with industry leading manufacturers such as Rex Royal, Coffetek and Crane to offer a wide range of commercial coffee machines to buy or lease that suits any size workplace and budget. With so many different types of commercial coffee machines on the market, it is difficult to know which type is best suited to your sites needs which is why we have broken it down for you in an easy to digest format.
Instant Coffee Machines for Workplaces
Instant coffee machines are perfect for small offices, with less than 50 employees, who want high-speed drinks without the burden of maintenance. Rather than using fresh milk and coffee beans instant coffee machines use soluble ingredients (powders and freeze-dried coffee). Instant coffee machines such as the Coffetek Vitro S1 Instant create barista styled beverages, such as lattes and mochas, using water pressure and steam to replicate high street quality coffee.
Although these machines don’t use fresh ingredients, they do not compromise on the quality of the drink. In approximately 20 seconds instant coffee machines can provide your employees with quality beverages. As for convenience, being able to create delicious hot drinks at the touch of a button is just the beginning as with instant coffee machines you don’t need to worry about the coffee beans going stale or remembering to deep clean the commercial coffee machine daily.
Bean to Cup Coffee Machines
If your employees regularly come to the office with a coffee-on-the-go in their hands or if you’re trying to cut cost from your inhouse barista then a bean to cup coffee machine might be what you need. Bean to cup commercial coffee machines offer the perfect alternative to high street coffee shops. These machines are equipped with coffee grinders and pressurised brewers, the same mechanisms that you’d find in a professional coffee machine in the local coffee shop.
Bean to cup coffee machines are ideal for office spaces that want to offer premium coffee solutions with a full coffee shop menu. The machines that Connect Vending recommends are the La Cimbali S20 or Rex Royal S2 for fresh milk coffee machines and the Coffetek Vitro Series 3 or the Gaggia G300 for powdered milk bean to cup coffee machines.
Tabletop vs Free Standing Coffee Machines
Commercial coffee machines tend to come as either tabletop or free standing, each more suited to a certain environment than the other. For example, tabletop coffee machines are ideal for smaller offices with less traffic, whereas floor standing coffee machines are ideal for larger industrial spaces with more square footage and higher demand due to their increased capabilities. Most freestanding coffee machines also dispense disposable cups, making it perfect for placing wherever there are areas of high footfall, even in the warehouse, without having to worry about proximity to the breakroom.
Floor standing coffee machines, commonly known as coffee vending machines, also offer something that tabletop machines can’t: the opportunity to make the machine part of your brand. These machines can be fully wrapped in your own business’s branding, turning your coffee station into an extension of your workplace identity. This is a popular choice for head offices, reception areas, and customer-facing environments, where a branded coffee machine helps to reinforce a professional and polished impression to both employees and visitors.
Alternatively, floor standing coffee machines can be wrapped in the illy branding to display the premium coffee beans being served. This is commonly done on the Crane Coti and it works in a similar way to the high street coffee shops, where the branding itself sets the expectation of quality before the first cup has even been poured. For businesses that have invested in premium beans, promoting that investment visually is a simple way to boost the perceived value of your coffee offering and encourage employees to make the most of it.
Something to bear in mind is that currently floor standing coffee machines can only use soluble milk and do not come with fresh milk functionalities. For many high traffic environments this is a worthwhile trade off, as soluble milk keeps the machine low maintenance and reliable even with hundreds of cups being dispensed each day. However, if fresh milk drinks are a priority for your workplace, then a tabletop bean to cup coffee machine with a milk fridge would be the better option.
Although floor standing coffee machines have their advantages, Connect Vending’s data shows that tabletop coffee machines continue to dominate the market with 8 out of 10 machines that we install being tabletop models. When you consider what tabletop coffee machines have to offer, it is easy to see why. Not only are many tabletop machines available with fresh milk functionality, but they also fit neatly into kitchens and breakout areas and have more than enough capacity to keep the average UK workplace caffeinated. For most offices, a tabletop coffee machine offers the perfect balance of space, quality and cost, which is why they remain the most popular choice amongst our clients.
Size and Scale: Matching Your Machine to Your Workplace
Choosing the right workplace coffee machine rental for your workplace capacity is paramount and it’s equally important to look forward at your businesses projected growth expectations to future proof your machine. There are several ways that you can measure a coffee machines capacity and Connect Vending’s expert team can walk you through the process.
Coffee Bean Hopper or Canister Capacity
Cake Bin Capacity
Water Capacity
How to Calculate Cups Per Day
Coffee machines have a sort of “mileage,” where manufacturers recommend how many cups a day their machines can make per day. Some of the entry-level machines such as Evoca Saeco Magic and Coffetek Vitro S1 are perfect for small offices with 20-50 members of staff on site, whereas the larger machines such as the Crane Cali and Rex Royal S500 are suited to busy environments with over 250 staff. It can be tempting to save money by going for a lower-entry machine, but it’s going to wear out much faster than more suitable models.
Before deciding which commercial coffee machine is right for your business you need to understand your sites daily coffee consumption. There is no exact way to measure how many cups of coffee your employees will consume, but as a workplace coffee supplier we have worked out a general rule of thumb based off the following assumptions:
Out of your workforce 1/3 will consume three cups of coffee a day, 1/3 will only have one cup a day and 1/3 don’t drink coffee at all. Overall, this works out as one cup of coffee per person per day.
By selecting a coffee machine for business that’s suited to the demands of your workforce, you’ll be preventing breakdowns and reducing the number of times your machines will need to be refilled and emptied.
The Commercial Coffee Machine: The New Social Hub of the Workplace
Over the past decade, the high street has experienced a coffee shop boom and with that employee’s coffee expectations have risen. Employees now expect the same lattes, flat whites, and mochas at work that they would happily queue for on their morning commute, and workplaces that deliver on this expectation are reaping the rewards.
The commercial coffee machine has become the social hub of the workplace. It is a place where spontaneous conversations happen, cross-departmental relationships develop, and a space where employees can take a moment to recoup and regain their focus. Some of the best ideas don’t come from scheduled meetings, they come from a chance conversation while waiting for a cappuccino.
With the rise of hybrid working, this has become even more important so for many workplaces, the office is no longer just a place to work but a place to connect, collaborate and build company culture. A quality coffee offering gives employees another reason to come into the office and creates a natural gathering point once they are there. In fact, many of our clients tell us that upgrading their coffee machine was one of the simplest and most cost-effective ways to improve the office experience and encourage employees back to their desks.
Investing in a quality commercial coffee machine is about more than just providing great tasting coffee to keep the workplace productive. It is an investment in your workplace culture, employee wellbeing and the moments of connection that keep a team working at its best.
Paid VS Non-Paid: Should You Charge Staff to Use the Coffee Machine?
Connect Vending’s experience across their client base reflects a big behavioural shift when it comes to providing coffee in the workplace. For the most part, offices have opted to provide coffee in the workplace free of charge as part of the wider workplace experience and office perks, but over the last few years there has been a shift in businesses taking a different approach.
Considering that there is a wide variety of commercial coffee machines, some businesses have taken the view that their investment in a high-end commercial coffee machine should not be completely free for employees and instead subsidise the offering using a commercial coffee machine with a payment system to allow employees one hot drink for free a day and pay thereafter. This approach helps to control the cost, and it is also seen as fair to both the employer and the employees.
Whereas, other business’s view providing coffee in the workplace as an office perk, and many employers will accept that a break even on a premium solution is fair. Some are happy to simply offset some costs and some outright require the numbers to be commercially viable. At Connect Vending, we see clients charging 50p on a 45p cup, and others who charge as much as £2.00 on the same drink, there is no right or wrong answer it depends entirely on the business.
Find your ideal solution in three easy steps
Based on your businesses size, environment and preferred tastes, our simple solutions finder can suggest your perfect coffee and vending machines.
The Benefits of Free Vend Commercial Coffee Machines
Affordable Employee Perk
Boost Employee Morale
Increase Productivity
Staff Recruitment and Retention
Connect Vending’s Commercial Coffee Machine Services
Now that you have more of an understanding about the types of machines that are available, it’s time to decide how you would like to manage the maintenance and restocking of your office coffee machine. At Connect Vending, we understand that all businesses are different and there is no one size fits all, which is why we offer two different service plans for you: a fully managed vending service or a service and maintenance plan.
Service and Maintenance Vending Plan (DIY Option)
Connect Vending’s service and maintenance plan provides your site with planned preventative maintenance (PPM) for your office coffee machine. Wear and tear is inevitable, especially for those business coffee machines in high traffic areas, so it is expected that eventually something will break. Regularly servicing and keeping your office coffee machine in good working order means that potential issues such as a grinder breakdown or loose seals can be caught before they cause a breakdown. As part of the service plan, we will regularly replace the water filters to prevent a build up of limescale and maintain the high-quality taste that you are used to.
Our service and maintenance plan also covers unlimited call outs and labour associated with the repairs, so if you do experience a breakdown our engineers will have you back up and running in no time.
How Quickly can Connect Vending’s Engineers Get to You in a Breakdown?
We have a fleet of engineers operating within designated patches across the UK, which allows us to uphold industry leading standards when it comes to our service response:
· We attend 90% of service calls within 4 working hours
· And 100% within 8 working hours
· We keep 98% of commonly replaced parts in our engineers’ vans which means
· We maintain a 91% first time fix rate (FTFR)
These response times are the same for all our customers, regardless of what service plan they are on. We believe excellent service should be available to all our clients and by being a part of our service and maintenance plan, you are helping us to achieve this.
Fully Managed Vending Service
Connect Vending’s fully managed vending service covers all the above as well as cleaning and restocking your machine, making the entire experience hassle free for you. Alongside our engineers, we also have a fleet of operators who visit the various machines to clean and replenish. For office coffee machines, this includes refilling the coffee bean hoppers and any dry ingredients, cleaning the mixing bowls and tubes inside the machine as well as emptying the waste and running a cleaning cycle.
For fresh milk machines, as part of the fully managed vending service, an operator will visit your machine daily to clean the machine and replenish the ingredients and milk fridge. For instant coffee machines, which don’t use fresh ingredients, an operator will visit your site as often as necessary at times which suit your sites schedule to cause minimal disruptions.
Opting Out of Maintenance: Call-Out Only
Sometimes customers want more flexibility, which is why we also offer call-out only contracts. You can opt to either pay per visit, which helps you to avoid monthly payments, or you can pay a small monthly or weekly fee. As part of this service, our engineers will train you on how to maintain the machine to prevent untimely breakdowns to give the customers peace of mind. Even if you don’t have a service and maintenance plan you are still entitled to regular PPM visits, providing you have a call-out contract with us. If you choose to purchase your commercial coffee machine from us, you will also be entitled to the manufacturers warranty which covers all the parts for free during the warranty period. On the other hand, unexpected callouts may incur higher charges, as we are unable to anticipate and plan for them in the way we do for our maintenance and service plan customers.
Milk and Coffee Wholesale
Our Wholesale department offer milk and coffee deliveries to your office with no contract or minimal order required (although there is a minimum order of £120 for free delivery). This is a great option for small businesses who wish to manage their coffee machine themselves but want to streamline their purchases with convenient recurring orders delivered straight to their door. Order your coffee beans, tea bags, sugar sticks, stirrers, and cups all in one convenient place, as well as ambient snacks, cleaning supplies and more.
Interested in local milk and coffee wholesale deliveries? Place an order today for next day delivery.
Should You Buy or Lease Your Commercial Coffee Machine?
At Connect Vending, we offer flexible payment options to suit your business needs, whether you prefer the financial ease of a lease rental agreement or the long-term benefits of outright purchase.
Lease Rental Agreement
Our lease agreement is the most popular option among our clients because it essentially means that you rent the commercial coffee machine, allowing you to spread the cost over a period of 12 to 72 months.[IC1] Typically, a commercial coffee machine for lease is paired with a fully managed vending service for a hassle-free experience.
Outright Purchase
Buying a commercial coffee machine outright involves a single upfront payment, making it the most cost-effective choice for short term, as there is no lease cost involved.
Free on Loan
A free on loan agreement is where we put a machine onto your premises, for an agreed period, with a responsibility of all associated costs and revenue remaining with us. There are certain requirements that must be met for this model to work:
-A minimum of 15 machines on site
-Revenue must exceed £160 per machine per week.
This is to cover our overheads and to produce enough revenue to be beneficial to the business. Whilst we don’t ordinarily offer a free on loan commercial coffee machine, we are always open to discussions.
Choosing the right commercial coffee machine is about more than just great tasting coffee. It is an investment in your workplace culture, employee satisfaction, and the day-to-day experience of your team. Whether you opt for the speed and simplicity of an instant coffee machine, the premium quality of a bean to cup coffee machine or a fully managed vending service that takes care of everything for you, the right solution is the one that fits your site, your budget, and your people.
If you are still unsure which commercial coffee machine is right for your workplace, that is exactly what we are here for. At Connect Vending, our consultative approach means we will take the time to understand your site, your daily consumption, and your future growth plans before recommending a solution. Get in touch with our team today for a free consultation and let us help you bring high street quality coffee to your workplace, one cup at a time.