Office

The Evolution of Office Coffee in America

by • Beverages, Coffee, Hot Beverage • Tags: , , , • 0 Comments

Having coffee in the office is a normal part of work life in America. In fact, long before coffee houses became a thing in this country, groups of workers were chipping in at the office to make sure there was a regular supply of coffee on hand. Today, not having coffee in the office is rare.

The question is, how did we get here? That depends on who you ask. Historians generally agree on how coffee made it to the Americas and what made it popular here. But what took coffee into the office remains a matter of debate.

Coffee Replaces Tea

Tea was the preferred hot beverage from the birth of the colonies right up until the start of the Revolutionary War. From the end of the revolution through the Civil War, coffee’s popularity grew in the U.S. By the mid-1860s, smart business owners whose coffee sales were limited to families and small coffee houses started looking for bigger and better sales avenues.

Some started selling to cowboys out west while others tapped into California’s mining market. Still, having coffee in the office didn’t quite catch on. The office environment was still quite limited back then, and offices were not large buildings with hundreds of employees. They were one- and two-room spaces occupied by family-run businesses.

Then came the industrial era and two world wars. That is when large-scale employment and the offices that came with it began to flourish. It is when office coffee finally came into its own.

From Instant to Drip Brew

History is pretty clear on the evolution of coffee up through the start of the industrial era. This is where it gets a bit fuzzy. As best we can tell, office coffee became a thing in the years following World War II. That makes sense, given the big push toward industry and manufacturing. But office coffee in those days was instant coffee.

It was not until Starbucks came onto the scene in the 1970s that coffee providers realized they could install brewing equipment in customer offices to offer them the same high-quality technologically advanced equipment experience they got at the coffee house. Once the equipment started flowing, so did the coffee.

By the late 70s and early 80s, instant coffee in the office had been mostly replaced by drip brew. Coffee service providers like Galaxie Coffee started popping up all over the country. Advancements in technology led to better brewers, better coffees, and eventually the coffee pods we are also familiar with today.

Office Coffee is Still Evolving

It would be foolish for us to assume that office coffee is done evolving. It isn’t, and never will be. Our industry continues to innovate and change. We continually search for better beverages and more technologically advanced equipment.

If you are interested in learning about coffee service for your office, feel free to reach out to us. Galaxie Coffee is proud to serve the greater New York area with the finest beverages and best equipment in the industry.

Is the Future of Office Coffee Taking Flight?

by • Beverages, Coffee, Hot Beverage • Tags: , , , , • 0 Comments

Predictions about the future of office coffee almost always relate to things like user preferences, coffee bean sources, and pricing. IBM has its own prediction, a prediction that is rooted in a technology they have invented. The only question is whether their invention will succeed or not. If it does, the future of office coffee could be taking flight in the near future.

A USA Today article published at the end of August (2018) describes what IBM calls their coffee drone. Apparently, the 107-year-old technology company has filed both patents and trademarks for a drone device that flies around public spaces delivering cups of coffee to those in need.

Airborne Coffee Delivery

Trademark filings indicate that IBM’s coffee drone could be used in just about any public space, including the typical office. It could be deployed to deliver a cup of coffee ordered using a smartphone or kiosk. The drone could ostensibly fly around a public space waiting to be hailed by a coffee drinker who places an order and then waits for the airborne delivery.

We must admit, the concept is rather intriguing on its face. We can even see how it would work at something like an outdoor music festival or in a public park setting. But there appear to be too many pitfalls to use it effectively in an office or café. For starters, just think of the implications of drones flying around in enclosed spaces.

To make it work, IBM would definitely have to address the following:

Noise – The sound of drones buzzing through the air might elicit a bit of excitement at first, but it would not take long for the noise to get old. Workers trying to concentrate on their tasks would be driven crazy by the constant buzzing going on over their heads.

Lighting and Fixtures – Galaxie Coffee delivers to a lot of New York area offices, and we can tell you that office environments are not known for their unencumbered airspace. There are all sorts of lights and other fixtures to get in the way. Having to navigate an office could create quite a challenge.

Accidental Spills – Perhaps the biggest pitfall of airborne coffee delivery is the accidental spill. Do you remember that lady who sued McDonald’s years ago because she spilled hot coffee and burned herself? Imagine what is going to happen the first time an IBM drone loses its load in the middle of the office.

Not a Good Fit for Office Coffee

It doesn’t appear that IBM’s coffee drone is a practical solution for office coffee. But who knows? They could find a way to make it work. We will have to wait and see.

In the here and now, Galaxie Coffee offers the finest of office coffee solutions. We carry state-of-the-art equipment that complements our extensive inventory of coffees, teas, fruit juices, bottled water, and snacks. We would be honored to serve your office – even without a drone to make deliveries.

Where Is Your Coffee Better: At Home or the Office?

by • Coffee, Hot Beverage • Tags: , , , , , , • 0 Comments

Where Is Your Coffee Better: At Home or the Office?Coffee is the fuel that drives America – at least where human production is concerned. We drink coffee at home, at the office, down at the local coffee shop, and in the restaurants that we dine in every evening. It is fascinating to listen to people talk about their opinions on coffee. For example, where is your coffee better: at home or at the office?

Making a great cup of coffee is no accident. A lot of things go into good coffee, including:

  • coffee bean selection
  • how beans are roasted
  • the volume of coffee used in brewing
  • the temperature of the water during brewing
  • brewing method (drip, steam, press, etc.).

Measuring Coffee Quality

So, there are several different ways to decide where your coffee is best. If your choice is primarily based on the quality of your drink, then home brew is probably your preference. There is a simple reason for this: making coffee at home gives you absolute control over every aspect of your brew.

Another thing to consider is that coffee made at the office might sit around for hours before you get to it. If you prefer fresh, you are going to appreciate home-brewed coffee more.

Measuring the Convenience Factor

You might feel that coffee is better if it is quick and convenient to procure. In that case, your office coffee is probably your best choice. Unless you are the one tasked with keeping the coffee flowing, your only responsibility is to saunter up to the coffee machine and pour yourself a cup. Somebody else handles making it and cleaning up the mess.

Of course, the convenience factor is erased if you have single-cup brewers both at home and the office. Then it is the same process either way. The advantage you have at the office is not having to order supplies or clean up at the end of the day.

Both Have their Advantages

It should be obvious that both home brew and office coffee have their advantages. You may prefer coffee at home because you are able to curl up with a good book or sit out on the patio and enjoy a cup while you’re watching the sun come up. You certainly cannot replicate those experiences in the office.

On the other hand, your office might offer certain coffee choices you do not have at home. There is no need for you to purchase 10 different flavors at home because you can get them at work. That would certainly be an advantage to enjoying most of your coffee during the work day.

We know there is no right answer for every coffee drinker. Nonetheless, we are here to serve your office with the finest coffee and beverage service in the greater New York area. We invite you to look through our entire inventory of products and equipment at your leisure. If you are ready to take your break room to the next level, give Galaxie Coffee a shout.

15 Employee Engagement Activities For Your Small Business

by • Employee Engagement, Snacks • Tags: , , , , , , • 0 Comments

15 Employee Engagement Activities For Your Small BusinessModern business is all about employee engagement. When employees feel like they are engaged, they are more happy and productive. The problem for many companies is that they assume they do not have the budget to develop employee engagement programs. But nothing could be further from the truth. Something as simple as offering free coffee and snacks can mean the difference between engaged employees and unhappy cubicle dwellers.

Employee engagement is more than a buzzword.

Time and time again, studies have found that higher employee engagement rates contribute to greater productivity and with it, profitability. According to the Gallup State of the American Workplace Report companies were indicated to also experience 37% less absenteeism and 90% less turnover.

So, why do so few small businesses invest in employee engagement? Three words: budget, budget, and budget. With limited resources, it’s easy to see why investing in employee engagement tends to dwell on the bottom of SMB to-do lists. But here’s the good news. There are many low-cost ways for small businesses to increase employee engagement, and with it, foster a happy and healthy work environment.

1. Host a Brown Bag Presentation

Often used for training or information sessions, a brown bag is an employee-hosted casual meeting during lunch with a short presentation on a topic that usually relates to the business. Participants bring their lunches, listen in, and ask questions. Learning from a fellow co-worker versus reading a 60-page PDF is certainly optimal, and far more memorable.

2. Take a Half Day and Hang Out

Friday is known to be the least productive day of the week. The work slows down, people slip off to happy hour, and slam their computers shut at 3:00. Once in a while, encourage a final boost of productivity by offering a half day and then afterwards getting the team together for an outdoor event. This can be anything from a picnic in the park to a department-vs-department sporting event to a relaxing barbeque where employees can invite friends and family.

3. Try to Complete an Escape Room

An escape room is a physical adventure game, where puzzles and riddles have to be solved using clues and other strategies to get from one room to another. Perfect for the small company, escape rooms are known for encouraging teamwork. Learning to communicate with each other and solve puzzles is a positive skill that is directly transferred to the workplace. Another plus is seeing how individuals think and come up with solutions so you know the best person to bring certain problems to.

4. Host Work Clubs

Ever notice how certain hobbies bring about like-minded people? There can be different work clubs for beer, fantasy football, improv, and more! They’re a great way to change the conversation from purely work to personal life, and offer an environment to develop friendships in. When co-workers are also friends, they’ll be more likely to help each other out at work, which makes working less stressful and more enjoyable. A workplace comprised of good friends consists of better communication and greater engagement as a whole, which means they’ll be sticking around for a while. The Society for Human Resources Management found that the more friends an employee has at work, the more likely they are to reject another job offer.

5. Make Onboarding and Learning Fun

Ever have a job where you’re told that the first few months are like drinking out of a firehose? It can be stressful to have to learn so much in such a short time. If you have a lot of new information for employees to learn, you can make things easier by gamifying the process. Whether you have unique terminology for your line of business, lots of stats, or case studies, there are all sorts of creative ways you can incentivize learning. Encourage competition and set up an afternoon trivia game between teams, or hand out personal quizzes and set a timer. (Don’t forget the prizes!) Once onboarding is finished, have your new employees present to the larger team to ensure they understand the rules, regulations, and processes at your business.

6. Ask for Feedback Often — and Act upon It

Everyone wants to be heard. This is as true in the office as it is anywhere. Make it clear that you care and want all feedback — the good, the bad, the ugly. Then actually do something. Let your team know what you are changing or implementing based on what feedback was received. Connecting the feedback to real change makes employees feel valued and appreciated. The smaller a business is, the fewer decision makers there are. To act in the majority’s best interest, bring your employees’ voices in to help make decisions. Send out surveys on which snacks they’d like, how to utilize a currently empty room, or which brown bag topic they’d like next. Knowing one is heard and respected provides a huge incentive to stay.

7. Promote Perks That Support Physical and Mental Health

As a small business, providing great care is expensive. It also eats away at other perks you could be offering, and when 4 out of 5 employees want benefits more than a pay raise, it’s time to get with the program. Try giving a stipend each month to go to exercise classes or see a nutritionist. Consider including employee benefits packages. Employees will love the perks, be more encouraged to make healthy decisions, and feel that you really care about their well-being. Healthy employees also need less sick time, get more done, and are generally happier!

8. Offer Healthy Snacks

More and more, employees are expecting snacks in the office. (I blame the millennials!) You can help everyone out by offering snacks that give your team energy without the sugar crash. No more digging into the receptionist’s candy bowl — make it a fruit bowl. Healthy food improves concentration, provides lasting energy, helps with digestion, and overall increases happiness levels. For snacks consider having avocados, blueberries, nuts, and other fruits to munch on.

9. Ongoing Training and Mentorship

Once onboarding is complete, that shouldn’t mark the end of learning. Employees who are consistently challenged are more engaged! Communicate with employees and find out who their mentors are. Make an effort to connect young employees with other mentors you know of to help them grow. This will help build solid work experience, and offer your employees a way to grow their skills, their network, and their careers.

10. Bring in Motivational Speakers

This idea may be skipped over more than it should be. Having a good motivational speaker can do wonders. Think about your favorite pep talk or an inspiring speech from your favorite movie. Goosebumps, right? You’d watch it on YouTube the night before your 5,000 word essay you haven’t started and bang it out. Now, imagine hearing one for real. It may sound cheesy, but motivational speakers can be genuinely inspiring, and a good story can reignite some fading embers and inspire your employees to reach farther and work harder.

11. Sip’n’paint Night Vs Hackathon (Creatives vs Brainiacs)

Know what employees appreciate? Choices. Have activities geared more toward right-brained individuals, and activities geared more toward left-brained individuals. Then, encourage full participation at both! Each event will have different stars of the show, and give others the opportunity to try something new. Add in a little wine, and those not holding a paintbrush or clicking away can mingle and chat with others.

12. Create a Comfortable Work Space

Think about it. When your back hurts, when the sun is too bright, when the coffee machine is broken — are you really thinking about work? Make sure your employees have all the supplies they need to feel comfortable and focus for longer periods of time. Keep snacks stocked, the AC at a reasonable level, and be willing to invest in good chairs and more. Making the office feel like the home office will increase productivity and satisfaction. If you could use a time tracker to see how many hours your team spends in the office, you would agree: It’s time for better chairs.

13. SWAG

Everyone has seen the company backpacks, fleeces, and water bottles. They’re useful, memorable, and pretty cool! It’s a great way to get the word out when others see them and ask about the company, and employees can feel company pride using them. Some kind of onboarding goodie bag is a treat, and having smaller knick knacks to give away such as bottle openers and stickers are also fun for employees. Never underestimate the value of SWAG, it really is something that employees talk about and want to have.

14. Performance-based Promotions

Retention, you say? Millennials are notorious for job hopping, staying at the same company between 18 months and 3 years. Giving promotions based on performance rather than tenure can motivate employees to stick around longer if they continue to advance. Emphasizing performance will encourage more consistent communication between leaders and employees, build trust, and strengthen mutual respect. These take time and dedication to achieve, something an engaged employee won’t want to lose so soon.

15. Freedom in the Office

In 1981, Adam Osborne invented the very first laptop, “Osborne 1”. With all the major technological advancements made to computers since, laptops are more portable and cheaper than ever before, and there should be no excuse as to why any employee shouldn’t have access to one. Being constrained to a desk for several consecutive hours has been shown to cause back pain, migraines, and dangerous blood clots. Instead, have employees freely move to rooms they can concentrate better in, stretch their legs throughout the day, and reap the benefits of a more productive, happy employee.

Investing in your employees’ happiness and education is the key to fostering employee engagement, and will ultimately benefit the both of you in the long term.

Original article posted on ClickTime.

How Big Does My Office Need to Be to Have Coffee Service?

by • Beverages, Coffee • Tags: , , • 0 Comments

How Big Does My Office Need to Be to Have Coffee Service?Providing employees with professional coffee service is a great way to show them how much you appreciate their hard work and loyalty. This is just as true for small companies as it is for large ones. You might be wondering if your office is large enough to warrant professional coffee service. We aim to answer that in this post.

First and foremost, no office is too small for professional coffee service. Office coffee solutions can always be tailored to the size of the organization, whether there are 25 employees or a couple of hundred. Even offices with fewer than 10 employees may want professional coffee service to accommodate frequent guests or meetings.

The key here is to let the office coffee professional size the solution to the specific needs of your organization. Let’s say your office is fairly small. We would recommend a thermal carafe brewer that keeps coffee hot for several hours. If your office wants to brew individual cups of coffee instead, there are multiple options for that.

It is Worth Looking At

You are familiar with that old phrase many of our parents told us we were young: you’ll never know if you don’t try. Well, something similar applies here. You will never know if your office is large enough for a coffee service if you don’t look into it. Don’t merely assume that coffee service would be too expensive or too wasteful for your office. Instead, give us the opportunity to earn your business.

If you are already buying coffee and other break room supplies, give Galaxie Coffee an opportunity to see if we could offer you a comparable solution. Perhaps we could not only relieve your staff of the responsibility of having to run to the store, but also save you money at the same time. We will give you the best possible pricing we can on all the coffee and break room supplies you’re already buying. One way or the other, you’ll be able to choose the option that gives you the best value.

Note that the service we provide goes above and beyond coffee pots and hot coffee. In terms of equipment, we have a complete inventory of machines ranging from traditional pour-over machines to the latest single-cup brewers. We also offer water coolers too.

In terms of product, our inventory continues to grow to meet the needs of our clients. We offer hot and cold coffees, teas, water, soda, snacks, condiments, paper products, and more. Everything you need to fully stock your break room or coffee cupboard is available through Galaxie Coffee. Eco-friendly break room products are our specialty!

We invite you to contact us to learn more about how we can serve your office with professional coffee service. Why not leverage what you are already purchasing for your office as a means to motivate us to want to serve you the best we can? Choose us as your office coffee and break room supplier, and we will do just that.

5 Benefits of Having Coffee Service in Your Office

by • Coffee • Tags: , • 0 Comments

Top 5 Coffee Industry Trends for 2017

There is a significant difference between having a coffee machine in your office and providing staff with professional coffee service from a company like Galaxie Coffee. A coffee service provides the equipment you need, along with regular deliveries of all your beverage products and supplies. When you choose Galaxie Coffee as your provider, you get more than just coffee. We also offer a selection of teas, cocoas, bottled beverages, and breakroom and janitorial supplies. Additionally, you get a level of service that is hard to match.

If you’re not thrilled with your coffee service provider or you’re doing the work yourself, we encourage you to consider professional service. Below are some of the benefits of teaming up with Galaxie Coffee:

1. No Equipment Hassles

There are absolutely no equipment hassles when you have coffee service through us. We provide late-model equipment that is meticulously maintained to the highest standards. If anything goes wrong, one phone call dispatches a technician to your office to either fix your equipment or replace it.

2. Plenty of Variety

Our full list of beverage products is too extensive to show here. Needless to say, we offer you and your staff plenty of variety. From the finest specialty coffees to single serve options, we have it all. Just take a look at the ‘Our Products’ heading here on our website. You’ll be amazed at the sheer volume of products we carry.

3. Save Time and Money

You and your staff will save time and money by getting all of your break room needs from one source. We deliver them on a regular schedule, based on your needs. We have many office coffee solutions that vary according to your budget. After a brief meeting, we will provide a proposal that offers excellent choices within your financial parameters. There are some new single cup products that are less expensive than you think. The meeting will be worth your time!!

4. No More ‘Coffee Person’

Since a professional coffee service handles everything for you, your office will no longer need a designated ‘coffee person’. There will be no more disputes about who did it last week and whose turn it is to do it this week. Everyone in your office will have access to great coffee and other beverages without having to worry about assigning responsibility, blame, or both.

5. Create a Better Office Environment

There is something about sharing a cup of coffee, tea, espresso or cold brew that boosts office morale and promotes collaboration. Having a professional coffee service makes it better by guaranteeing you always have what you need on hand to keep staff happy. When they are happy, they are more productive. When they have great coffee, they spend more time talking and collaborating.

Scientific studies have proven that regular, moderate coffee consumption boosts productivity at work. This suggests that having a coffee machine in your office is a great idea. As long as you’re going to provide coffee, why not do it through professional coffee service like Galaxie Coffee? We save you time, money, and all the hassle that comes with serving beverages in the office.