Money-Saving Coffee Machines: Tasty Coffee on a Budget

It’s been a tough year in the financial sphere – there’s no use in denying it. A slow economy can often mean we reach for the first luxury we can do without, and get rid of it to expose more disposable income.

In more cases than not, a coffee machine will be at the top of the “I can do without that” list; but, what if getting rid of your coffee machine has the inverse reaction of eventually costing you more in the long run?

How Can a Coffee Machine Save Me Money?

It seems impossible, doesn’t it? Why invest either a few hundreds per month, or a few thousand in the case of hiring a machine for company usage – and expect to make a saving?

Looking at the bigger picture, it’s easy to understand. Let’s speak specifically about a company hiring a coffee machine – a company of about 50 people. By law, you’re obliged to provide coffee, tea and sugar to your employees. This cost is usually covered by a CTC basis on which the employees salary of wage structure is based, so really, it’s not a cost to the company over and above regular salaries in any case. If you were to provide ration packs, or leave out a can of coffee, a box of tea and fresh milk, you could expect to pay thousands more per month! You also allow yourself to become a target to theft in the workplace, where everyone takes a cup of sugar home each day, employees use the fresh milk to add to their cereals etc.

If you were to use an instant coffee vending machine – you eliminate two major cost- driving factors; you entirely remove the threat of theft by having all your product locked safely away within the machine. Similarly, you remove fresh milk altogether. Employees are now exposed to having deliciou sdrinks(including cappuccino!) at a fraction for the cost of regular coffee even! The powdered milk contained within tastes remarkable better than you’d imagine, and cuts costs by sometimes seven half.

What Types of Coffee Save Money?

A bean-to-cup Jura coffee machine is also classed as an office coffee machine, but it makes use of fresh milk, fresh beans – and contains none of the cost-saving mechanisms you’d fine in a vending machine.

On the opposite end of the scale, a capsule machine is going to wreak havoc two-fold in an office of 50 people; firstly a capsule costs in the region of R 7.00 each., Yes, so that’s R 7.00 per cup anyway, which actually works out to more than even a bean to cup coffee machine! The time it takes to make each cup, couples with the teeny-tiny water tank means it’s also going to take away productive time from employees while they queue up to get a cup.

However, using instant coffee coupled with powdered milk is a winning combination. The instant coffee can be of three variations; either Chicory-based (by far the cheapest, but technically not coffee); spray-dried coffee, or the top-end instant coffee – freeze-dried. However you look at it, these types of coffee are the cheapest and go the furthest to satisfy a large staff complement. Adding security into that equation by means of a lockable system means you’re winning all the way to the bank!

How Will I Know Which Machine Will Save Me Money?

Try, try and try again. Always make sure you trial a coffee machine before getting locked into an agreement. A simple rule of thumb is to comprehensively work out your current spend on coffee and coffee products per month; keep track of that number.. When trying out a coffee machine, keep track of how much product is used and calculate the new spend. Also remember to decrease that initial; few weeks’ spend by about 10%-15%, as the novelty of the machine will soon ware off and people will go back to their normal coffee drinking habits.

How to Save Money on Coffee at Work

So, while we’ve advocated the use of a coffee machine at workplaces to save money and control waste, it’s still not going to be the best solution for every last business owner on the planet.

Try out a coffee machine for seven days and find out how it can save you money in the long run.