Office Coffee Service in Fairfax, VA

Fairfax, VA’s Evolving Office Coffee Service

Office Coffee Service in Fairfax, VA

 

Have you ever considered what the workday would be like without coffee service? No? Well, neither have I. And Fairfax, VA employers don’t want to see that happen either.

According to a recent report by Emily Refermat, Editor at Automatic Merchandiser, “employers are taking it [coffee] to the next level, spending money to bring in quality coffee, beverages and other refreshment. Due to an increasing number of options, including single-cup brewers, OCS [Office Coffee Service] providers are able to create a solution tailored to their customers wants, size and budget, while still keeping good margins.”

There is, however, one important factor to consider when determining the best possible solution—don’t treat coffee like it is a commodity.  

Beans

A coffee bean is actually a seed from the coffee tree. The two types of coffee species that are used for coffee are Arabica and Robusta. Arabica represents 70 percent of the world’s coffee and Robusta represents the other 30 percent. Of the two types, Arabica is the more expensive one and is used in specialty coffees. Arabica grows at higher altitudes on steeper terrain at cooler temperatures and is more disease-prone. Robusta is primarily used in coffee blends and instant coffee. A hardier tree, the Robusta is more resistant to diseases, can withstand warmer temperatures and is grown at lower and more accessible altitudes.  

For Fairfax, VA’s  office coffee service, there are several different types of suppliers:

  • locally roasted coffee: the brand is known to local consumers; 31.1 percent of OCS sales
  • national coffee brands – value: the beans are sourced from different locations, and are mixed, processed, roasted, and ground on a large scale; 28.3 percent of OCS sales
  • national coffee brands – specialty: the beans are from a single location, grown to produce a higher quality bean, and roasted on a smaller scale; 21 percent of OCS sales
  • espresso coffee – a concentrated form of coffee made by forcing pressurized, hot water through very finely ground coffee beans; 8.9 percent of OCS sales

Office Coffee Service in Fairfax, VA

Packaging & Brewers

Options for packaging and brewing can be just as varied as the different types of coffee. In an office coffee service, coffee is packaged using several different methods: frac pack (enclosed filters filled with pre-measured amounts of coffee), whole bean, single cup (non k-cup), and k-cup. While the packaging can dictate the type of brewer required—single-cup packaging requires a single-cup machine, for example—often the two are separate decisions.

Today, pour-over coffee brewers and automatic brewers continue to play an important role in many Fairfax, VA break rooms. Single-cup brewers, however, are slowly finding their own place. Emily Refermat wrote that “consumers love the idea of brewing coffee one cup at a time. Whether it is the novelty, the ability to brew a personal hot beverage choice, create an espresso-based drink conveniently at work or the newest, must-have OCS innovation, single-cup attracts consumers, despite the fact that it costs more per cup.”

An alternative to the single-cup brewer, and a potentially a less expensive option, is the bean-to-cup brewer. When a/an Fairfax, VA employee orders a drink, the appropriate amount of whole beans is dropped into the grinder, ground, and brewed to the drink’s specifications. It’s a gourmet coffee shop and single-cup brewer all rolled into one.

Offering coffee service in your office break room is a great benefit for future and current employees, but don’t forget about other popular Fairfax, VA employee benefits. Water filtration services and healthy vending machine choices are popular additions. For more information about adding or updating any of these options, call SunDun Office Refreshments at 800.466.2731. We look forward to hearing from you.

Healthy Food and Beverage Choices in Alexandria, VA

New Food and Beverage Choices Fill Millennials’ Shopping Carts in Alexandria, VA

Healthy Food and Beverage Choices in Alexandria, VA

Which food and beverage choices did you purchase the last time you needed something to eat or drink? Was it a green tea or maybe a breakfast smoothie? If so, you might be one of the many Alexandria, VA residents who have recently posted online about your experience.

According to a recently released study by CBD Marketing, Millennials, or those between the ages of 18 and 35, have played a key role in changing “long-standing truths” within food and beverage categories. The research analyzed 10.8 million social media posts and other online content specific to food (8.6 million) and beverage (2.2 million) product groups. Frequently used hashtags for foods included #healthy, #organic, #naturalfood, and #healthyfood), while #greentea, #healthy, #coffee, and #tea were seen most frequently for beverages.

Even though Millennials are tech savvy and share their thoughts and buying habits frequently and openly, it would be a mistake to treat all Millennials as one group. Millennials consist of three overlapping subgroups whose differences can greatly impact their preferences. Some are college students or living at home, others are out of college and just entering the workforce, and others are buying homes and starting families.

And don’t forget to consider other Alexandria, VA demographics when monitoring social media insights. For example, women created 62 percent of the content while men created only 38 percent. The study also found that “Millennial men and women use very different descriptors when talking online, so it’s important to use language that reflects your target audience.” The top terms used more frequently and often by women include love, amazing, good, best, favorite, enjoy, and delicious) while men used good, love, great, enjoy. Men also seemed to express negative options more frequently.

Healthy Food and Beverage Choices in Alexandria, VA

CBD Marketing’s Co-CEO Lori Colman said it best when she said that “businesses and brands that mine this treasure trove of online data will be the ones that market their products successfully.” In order to learn about your Alexandria, VA employees’ food and beverage preferences for the office break room consider the following criteria.

Beverage Preferences
  • Looking for green tea, kombucha and even traditional hot lemon teas
  • Want flavored, sparkling and plain water, “better-for-you” drinks promoting energy, immunity, digestive health
  • Enjoy plant-based milks and cold brew
Food Preferences
  • Like healthy, natural snacks; support alternative food distribution via meal delivery and meal services
  • Buy from environmentally conscious manufacturers and purveyors; want transparency
  • Gravitate to cultural flavors and foods like Scandinavian and Indian

How many of these healthy food and beverage choices are available for your employees in the Alexandria, VA office break room? If you’d like to add more options or bring some variety to your current vending machine offerings, SunDun Office Refreshments can help. Contact us at 800.466.2731 to get started.