Office coffee for hybrid-remote offices

With working from home commonplace, new challenges have emerged for facilities managers in the last few years.

The question is:
How do you give your team great coffee when you can’t predict how many people will be in the office?

Facilities managers need to find a solution for their office coffee that minimises waste and is relatively low-maintenance.

Let’s talk about what actually works.

Why “premium” still matters (even if you’re not in every day)

Just because your team isn’t in the office every day doesn’t mean standards should drop.

Coffee isn’t just fuel. It’s an opportunity to put your businesses’ best foot forward. It’s the first impression for visitors. It’s a small but powerful signal to your team that says, “we care.”

The mistake is assuming premium always equals complicated. It doesn’t. Today’s best office coffee solutions deliver high-quality drinks, innovative technologies, a variety of menu options and easy maintenance.

Expect that you will still need to keep on top of cleaning, that will be the case no matter what sort of machine you choose. But some machines are easier to take care of than others.

The truth about fresh milk machines

For hybrid teams, the challenge is keeping everything running smoothly. Someone needs to top up the milk, empty the containers at the end of the day, run cleaning cycles and refill the beans. If no one takes care of these jobs, the machine can quickly become a problem. Mould, long-term damage and extra maintenance costs are all risks. And that means wasted time, wasted money and frustration no one signed up for.

In offices with low footfall, fresh milk machines often create as many problems as they solve.

This is where powdered milk systems quietly take the win. They’re stable. They don’t expire overnight. They don’t need daily checks. And here’s the part that surprises most people: modern powdered milk isn’t the chalky stuff of the past, technologies have improved. Today’s systems produce smooth, creamy drinks that feel high-quality.

 

 

The ‘right’ coffee machine depends on your busiest day

 

When businesses choose coffee machines, they often ask the wrong question.

It’s not:

“How many employees do we have?”

It’s:

“How many people are in the office on our busiest day?”

A few things to consider:

• Larger teams need faster machines with higher capacity
• Smaller teams can go compact without sacrificing quality
• You might want nice machines in visitor areas

Plan for peak demand, not averages. That’s the best way to avoid queues, breakdowns, and disappointment.

 

Keep the coffee as flexible as your office

Hybrid work thrives on ease and flexibility. Your coffee solution should do the same.

Match the machine to how your people actually work, not how offices used to work and you’ll create a better experience with fewer problems. And that’s what good workplace decisions should always do.