Roger Stewart, NCE5, CCS Director of Coffee and Water Service.

Thanks to a demand cre­ated mostly by gourmet cof­fee houses like Starbucks, cof­fee ser­vice oper­a­tors who under­stand the ben­e­fits cof­fee ser­vices deliv­ers to busi­nesses as well as how to brew a gourmet-quality cup of cof­fee at the work­place are poised to tap into this quickly grow­ing mar­ket and enjoy the asso­ci­ated prof­its.

And as Director of Coffee Service for the National Automatic Merchandising Association (NAMA) I wanted to share with you some of the resources that are avail­able through our orga­ni­za­tion to help you grow your busi­ness and succeed.

First, many, many busi­nesses today do not under­stand the value cof­fee ser­vice deliv­ers to the com­pany in terms of increased pro­duc­tiv­ity and improved morale. It’s easy to see why: employ­ees who enjoy qual­ity cof­fee at work don’t need to leave the office to get a good cup of cof­fee, which make them both happy and more productive.

In addi­tion, many employ­ers today do not under­stand how inex­pen­sive cof­fee ser­vice is as a ben­e­fit when com­pared to other tra­di­tional employee ben­e­fit pack­ages. For exam­ple, an employer who offers employ­ees a typ­i­cal ben­e­fit pack­age that includes health insur­ance, life insur­ance, long term dis­abil­ity insur­ance, worker’s comp, paid vaca­tion and hol­i­days gen­er­ally will spend $875 a month in ben­e­fits. However, the aver­age cost to employ­ers for adding cof­fee ser­vice as a ben­e­fit is only $6.12 per month!

For cof­fee ser­vice oper­a­tors, this trans­lates into a tremen­dous oppor­tu­nity to cre­ate new rev­enue streams by edu­cat­ing prospects about the ben­e­fits of cof­fee ser­vice. And there’s no ques­tion that oper­a­tors who under­stand not only how to tap into these oppor­tu­ni­ties, but also how to deliver an upscale gourmet cof­fee house expe­ri­ence, are poised for a new level of growth and prosperity.

At NAMA, we are see­ing many mem­bers expand­ing their cur­rent cof­fee ser­vice pro­gram in order to par­tic­i­pate in this growth mar­ket, as well as oth­ers just launch­ing a cof­fee ser­vice pro­gram. Coffee ser­vice has been a pri­or­ity at NAMA for the past five years, which is why we have been work­ing to help mem­bers under­stand both how to improve their busi­ness oper­a­tions, and also to deliver insights about how to brew the very best cof­fee possible.

For exam­ple, our Quality Coffee Certification Program (QCCP) helps oper­a­tors in cof­fee ser­vice under­stand all aspects of gourmet cof­fee to help them increase prof­its for the com­pany. The QCCP is enter­ing its 11th year of pro­vid­ing the finest edu­ca­tional expe­ri­ence devoted entirely to the office cof­fee indus­try, and we are pleased to announce that since its incep­tion, over 1,000 indi­vid­u­als have com­pleted the two-day work­shops. This highly regarded and pop­u­lar pro­gram is deliv­ered in two sep­a­rate courses of study to be taught in back-to-back days, begin­ning on the first day with “Coffee Fundamentals,” and fol­lowed on the sec­ond day with “Brewing Fundamentals.”

In the Coffee Fundamentals com­po­nent of the pro­gram, atten­dees learn about every­thing from blended cof­fees and cof­fee pro­cess­ing, to sort­ing, grad­ing, blend­ing and roast­ing and how the loca­tion of the bean affects its fla­vor. The ses­sion also includes a series of guided tast­ing exer­cises where atten­dees can expe­ri­ence the dif­fer­ences themselves.

For the sec­ond part of the pro­gram, Brewing Fundamentals, par­tic­i­pants learn the basic the­ory and prin­ci­ples involved in prepar­ing fil­tered cof­fee. They taste how the slight­est change in the brew­ing for­mula can alter the taste pro­file. In addi­tion, par­tic­i­pants review the results from an in-depth study of single-portion prod­ucts and equip­ment, and after shar­ing the processes estab­lished for our indus­try, par­tic­i­pate in a hands-on eval­u­a­tion of single-portion cof­fee systems.

Another not-to-be-missed event for those seri­ous about suc­ceed­ing in cof­fee ser­vice is our block­buster Coffee Tea & Water event, the must-attend sin­gle largest cof­fee, tea and water ser­vice show for oper­a­tors nation­wide. The show is an excel­lent chance to see what’s new, meet with col­leagues and learn how to do things bet­ter, all while enjoy­ing the fun and glitz of Las Vegas.

At the heart of our Coffee Tea & Water events are the edu­ca­tion ses­sions ded­i­cated to help­ing oper­a­tors improve each aspect of their oper­a­tions. For exam­ple, some past events included ses­sions on sales, busi­ness build­ing, bet­ter under­stand­ing the employee of the future, and other ses­sions ded­i­cated to deliv­er­ing insights designed specif­i­cally to help meet oper­a­tor edu­ca­tion needs. Coffee Tea & Water also boasts table­top dis­plays fea­tur­ing sup­pli­ers of cof­fee, tea, and related ser­vices show­cas­ing the lat­est in equip­ment, prod­ucts and ser­vices. Finally, the event includes plenty of time for net­work­ing and enjoy­ing all that Las Vegas has to offer.

For more infor­ma­tion about the resources avail­able from NAMA to help you and your busi­ness pros­per, visit www.namacoffeeservice.org. All of us in Coffee Service at NAMAare pas­sion­ate about our work and ded­i­cated to pro­vid­ing every­thing our mem­bers need to bet­ter under­stand the mar­ket, increase prof­itabil­ity and pros­per. We wel­come the oppor­tu­nity to work with you to develop tools and strate­gies that help wel­come in a new era of suc­cess for you and your business.

By www.magazine.coffeetalk.com

NEWS TAGS: office vending , office coffee service , NAMA