By Daniel Granderson, Packaged Facts
Twitter: @packaged_facts

86% of full-time employees drink coffee — and for most of these employees, coffee is a daily habit, according to Office Coffee Service in the U.S.: Market Trends and Opportunities (March 2015), a new report by Packaged Facts.

Among daily coffee drinkers, per Packaged Facts consumer survey data, 75% had drunk coffee at work within the past seven days, including 65 million (54%) who make coffee at work and 61 million (50%) who bring coffee to work.

There are challenges to office coffee service providers optimizing profits by capturing the first morning cup of coffee and the coffee consumed throughout the workday, including individual and multiserve “take it to the office” offerings by major market players.

Degree Employees Want More Single-Cup/K-Cup Variety at Work, by Age Bracket, 2014

“I would like more single-cup/k-cup variety at work.”

Note: Responses represent mean responses from 5-point scale of 1 to 5, where 1 = strongly disagree and 5 = strongly agree. Base = 775 adult (age 18+) daily coffee drinkers employed full time. Source: Packaged Facts November 2014 National Online Consumer Survey

Nevertheless, because coffee consumption overwhelmingly occurs during work hours, the opportunity for office coffee service to compete with at-home and commercial options is substantial — as long as employees, including harder-to-please Millennials, are well-satisfied with the workplace coffee options.

For employers, the incentive to keep employees onsite with high-quality coffee is high:  a trip outside the office to a foodservice establishment can cost in excess of $1,500 annually in lost work time per daily- coffee-drinking employee.

Convincing employers that office coffee service can increase productivity and morale — and thereby justify the cost of office coffee service — remains a key to the industry’s future success. So does leveraging coffee’s health halo in relation to employer wellness program trends, and navigating increasing concerns about plastic waste, opening the door for alternative packaging and bean-to-cup office coffee brewers.

NCA members have free access to our on-demand webinar, “The Shifting Landscape for Office Coffee Service,” recorded live June 23, 2015. 

For more information from “Office Coffee Service in the U.S.,” including insights on the opportunities, challenges and trends shaping the U.S. office coffee service market, contact Marc Rosenberg at 212-807-2626 or mrosenberg@marketresearch.com or click here.

National Coffee Association members can receive an exclusive 10% discount off report price by using promo code PFNCA2015