The hidden price of bad office coffee: What it’s really costing your team

Coffee is part of a ritual. For many employees, it gets them through the workday. In many offices, people go out to a nearby coffee shop. Often, this is because they can’t get good coffee in the office, or they don’t have time in the morning to brew it and bring it in.

But those daily Pret runs aren’t just costing your team personally, they’re quietly draining company time and productivity.

The numbers don’t lie

Let’s break down how much your team will be spending on going elsewhere for their coffees.

• Latte (£3.95) × 5 days = £19.75/week → £928.25/year
• Americano (£3.45) × 5 days = £17.25/week → £914.15/year
• Mocha (£4.10) × 5 days = £20.50/week → £963.50/year

That’s nearly £1,000 a year per employee just on one daily coffee.

The average coffee in London is now £3.73, and it has been increasing by about 20p a year for the last three years. If that trend continues, that same latte habit could easily push past £1,000 per person per year before long.

The hidden cost: lost time

Now, some companies won’t comp their employees’ coffee, so they may be thinking “Who cares how much my team is spending on their coffee?”.

This article breaks down the benefits of providing good office coffee in detail. But we know that over 80% of those surveyed believed that high-quality coffee increases morale.

Morale impacts productivity, engagement and retention, three things any good business should want.

The financial cost is only half the story. Let’s talk about time.

A quick “coffee run” isn’t really quick. By the time an employee leaves their desk, queues up, orders, waits, chats, and walks back, you’ve often lost 15 to 20 minutes.

Do that once a day, five days a week, and it adds up to over 80 hours a year per employee. Or, two full work weeks lost just to fetch coffee!

The hidden cost: decreased productivity

Now think about what those interruptions do to focus. Studies show it takes the average person more than 20 minutes to get back into a flow state after being interrupted. So it’s not just the time out of the office that you’re losing out on, it’s also the momentum when they return.

Every business leader talks about efficiency, but here’s the truth: the productivity loss from coffee runs is often invisible because it’s baked into the culture.

A 15 minute break feels harmless, but when you multiply it across dozens of employees and hundreds of workdays, it’s staggering.

In contrast, when employees have access to great coffee at the office, they’re far more likely to stay in their flow state, protect deep work time, and collaborate more naturally.

How to fix

A lot of companies still think “office coffee” means a dusty kettle and a jar of instant granules. But today’s workforce expects more. High-quality office coffee isn’t a perk, it’s a retention tool. When employees feel taken care of, they stay longer, collaborate better, and spend less time wandering the high street in search of caffeine.

Investing in a good in-office coffee setup doesn’t just save money. It sends a message: We value your time. We value your comfort. We want you at your best.