For those in the industry, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that office coffee service consumers of all ages crave unique, specialized beverages. Long gone are the days of boring cups of joe being synonymous with the break room. In order to meet these demands, OCS equipment suppliers shared some of their thoughts on equipment trends:
At Bravilor Bonamat North America, bean-to-cup has experienced some of the most monumental and fastest growth. In response to the growing demand, the Aurora, IL-based company will launch another bean-to-cup machine in the fourth quarter of this year. The machine will be a low profile, fully automatic true espresso brewer named the Esprecious. In 2018, the company will launch a very cost effective bean-to-cup unit for smaller usage locations where operators currently are not able to justify placing a higher priced unit.
“Bean-to-cup machines offer OCS operators an opportunity to distinguish themselves with premium quality drinks from, for example, that hip local roaster and café,” said Debora Mehlert, office manager at Bravilor Bonamat North America. “Bean-to-cup equipment allows an operator to truly offer that unique experience and service that distinguishes themselves from their competition or even the possibility of losing business to Amazon or other retailers.”
At Québec, Canada-based Cafection, the bean-to-cup category has also shown great promise.
“The growth of bean-to-cup can be related to the decline of the traditional vending industry,” explained Mike Cochrane, vice president of sales and business development at Cafection. “Those companies need to seek new markets in order to survive. A quick glance around where the margins are and satisfaction all points to coffee. This has helped fuel the growth. Over the last few years, those operators were convinced that less expensive or even free machines with flavor pack coffees were the way to get into the market only to find that the margins were tight and clients were using their equipment with their own purchased coffee. Now we are full into bean-to-cup and the growth is accelerating.”
Personalization is key
Interaction and personalization are also trending in OCS equipment, says Cochrine. The way users interact with the screen is paramount.
“The ability to utilize the screen to message and create more of a user interaction with their co-workers or human resource (HR) departments is growing in popularity,” said Cochrine. “I really think as we go forward, more operations based technologies to reduce downtime, be more proactive and more entertaining will become a need.”
“Our bean-to-cup equipment offers enormous possibilities when it comes to programming drinks, matching the customers exact taste profile and offering a variety of options when it comes to on-screen branding,” added Mehlert. “All of this comes of course, with a need for more operator education, so we never try to lose sight of the ease of operation, programming and serviceability when we design our equipment.”
High-tech becomes a must
According to Karalynn McDermott, senior vice president of market development at Springfield, IL-based BUNN North America, self-service equipment that “wows the operator” is trending.
“Large touchscreens that can upload at install with the client’s content [are trending],” explained McDermott. “For the past six months, interest has been in touchscreen, innovative solutions. At BUNN, that is our specialty. Operators want easy to clean equipment and pictures on the touchscreen of the unit of the cleaning process. Picture-prompted cleaning on the front touchscreen gives ease in cleaning.”
With technology also comes a higher demand for technical support.
“As OCS operators bring on more new technology in bean-to-cup equipment, they expect partnership with their equipment manufacturer, who supports them with 24/7/365 phone support, technical service schools and parts availability,” said McDermott. While there are challenges to service, the rewards in higher margins and more product sales can make up for it in the right location.
The OCS industry has experienced continued growth over the past year. The outlook is positive with the variety of single-cup equipment that exceeds the expectations of customers available.
