OCS trends center on delivering the experiences that customers seek

Dan Welch, a veteran operator and owner of World Cup Coffee in Portland, Ore., thinks the term “OCS” might be obsolete. “The abbreviation for office coffee service, in my 40 years, has always been OCS. That abbreviation should include a lot more letters because the business has changed dramatically in a short period of time,” he said.

“It should include a W for water, and an I for ice, a P for pantry service and an M for micro market. There are many reasons for that. Part of it is to replace lost income you had before the remote workforce happened,” he said.

“You need to add pantry items and snacks and other foods whenever you can, even laundry soap if they ask for it. You are now selling more SKUs than you ever had before just to replace that lost income from accounts that had 300 people but now work comfortably with 100 people in the office. OCS is a lot more than it was five years ago,” Welch added.

Moving into new channels of convenience services such as micro markets, however, can be challenging for an OCS operator, he acknowledged.

Kim Lenz of Associated Services in the San Francisco market said she has seen a lot of change to what she knew as OCS. “There is a lot more crossover today than there ever was. I think when I started in the industry almost 15 years ago, a customer was either vending, pantry or OCS. And you had some customers that did OCS and maybe some pantry service. That was really your crossover. Now, it seems like almost every single OCS customer is a potential pantry customer,” she said. “These new services create some routing and service challenges.”

Trending: Cold brew

The expansion of services by OCS operators comes at a time when current product trends and customer requests are requiring them to venture outside the traditional coffee service operator role. Fabian Campos, business development executive at InReach, said cold brew is the hottest trending item his company is seeing right now. That can mean dealing with kegs, carbon dioxide tanks, ice and cooling systems.

“It's massive for us — but you'll see different stats from different reports. At least from Starbucks, 60% plus of the drinks ordered today are cold drinks. The same thing we are seeing in the consumer space, we are seeing in the office space as well. Customers want that special type of experience in the office for their employees. It’s one small perk — having the same experience in the office that you would normally have to go out for, and people appreciate it. Cold brew, hands down, is the number one trend we are seeing now,” Campos said.

Linda Saldana, CEO of Seventh Wave Refreshments in Atlanta, said her company is focused on serving customers and understands that it means keeping an open mind. “Anything that helps us make money, we absolutely look at it. Water, ice and all the other products that clients are asking for — we want to make sure that if we are serving an account, we are doing absolutely everything we can for the client,” Saldana said. “Seasonally, cold beverages are big in the summer — I mean cold brew kegs in particular — and we are having some fun with ColdSnap, the ice cream machine.”

Trending: Private label and sustainability

A more traditional interest trending among Saldana’s clients is in high quality private-label coffee, which has led to the launch of Galia Coffee, Seventh Wave’s newest offering. “Galia looks like a wave on fire,” said Saldana. “When I think of Galia, I think of passion and that extra caffeine you need to go conquer things.”

Also trending in Saldana’s market — a movement that continues to grow — is sustainability. “It is always going to be a conversation for the workplace. When I mean sustainability in our channel, I mean things like Bevi. Any way to reduce plastics is a big conversation for us. Even going from bottles to cans when it comes to sodas, I think that has been a big push for our clients,” she said. “The compostable goods are in demand. We used to say it was a trend, and it used to be a really expensive thing to do, but now, most companies have to do it.”

An interest in sustainability and a desire to reduce costs is helping coffee pods to gain momentum. Shawn Vargo, president of 3rd Coast Coffee in Ohio, said his largely blue-collar customer base is often torn between offering quality refreshment amenities, being sustainable and saving money.

For those who are willing to spend, Vargo said sparkling flavored water units and cold brew kegs are trending in an upward direction. For those who favor sustainability and savings, coffee pods are growing fast. “My pod business is huge now compared to other single-cup options. Bean to cup is still big, but pods are a cost-saving product, environmentally friendly and an excellent cup of coffee,” said Vargo, who noted that the addition of Peet’s Coffee pods is a big change that he hopes will be a new trend — elite roasters offering coffee pods.

Trending: Local products

The demand for local products is an ongoing trend that shows no sign of letting up soon. Saldana at Seventh Wave said that her company’s move into private label is partly a reflection of her client’s desire to buy and support local brands. Lenz at Associated said that local roaster requests are an ongoing trend. “We have a lot of requests right now for roasters that we've never even heard of. There are so many roasters throughout the Bay Area and Northern California and the Pacific Northwest, that I have three requests in my inbox right now. I think there is a shift going on, back to that local third-wave coffee roaster,” she said.

Lenz decides whether to accommodate the specific coffee requests based on the expected usage. “Volume is a really a big driver, so when we have some customers that only go through a few pounds, that makes it hard for us,” Lenz said. “But if we have some key accounts that are driving that request, that will generate large volume, it allows us to establish that roaster within our warehouse, and then we can offer it to other customers.”

Trending: Coffee tastings

According to Lenz, another trend has emerged relating to the way her company sells coffee. Customers had been reluctant to grant site visits since the pandemic, but increasingly, her sales reps are being given a chance to conduct a coffee tasting on-site. “That has made a comeback for sure. We did a lot of coffee tastings pre-pandemic. I would say up until about six months ago, we really didn't have any, and now we're starting to see a lot of requests. More engaging activity is starting to happen again, which is great, especially when you are selling coffee.”