5
OCS Trends You Need
To Be Doing Now
By Emily Refermat, Editor
Office coffee service continues to be a profitable segment for providers
that adopt lucrative and in-demand products and services.
t's a fact that consumers don't
mind spending money on coffee
and coffee-related items. Cof-
feeshops are adding more beverage
options than ever and trying to blend
technology and service to capture the
consumer demand. New forms of
ready-to-drink cold coffee beverages
are hitting shelves to
satisfy Amer-
ica's caf-
feine habit on the go. This leaves
office coffee service providers with
a great advantage since they are
already on site and have an ally in
the location who is paying for their
service. To keep this hard-won advan-
tage however, operators need to offer
new and exciting options. OCS opera-
tors across the country
shared the fast-
est growing
segments of their operations, and it
resulted in five areas of growth that
every OCS operator should consider.
These are the services and products
customers want and will expect OCS
operators to have.
1.
Single cup
A single-cup coffee brewer
is the most requested
program by workplaces looking to
upgrade their coffee service. Custom-
ers enjoy the personalized and engag-
ing experience of single-cup coffee
brewing. "We are growing single
cup at a very high rate," said How -
ard Chapman, president of the office
beverage division for Royal Cup,
Inc., a large roaster, distributor
and office coffee service provider
headquartered in Birmingham,
AL. "I would estimate that over
60 percent of our new business
today includes some form of
single cup."
Part of the appeal is the vari-
ety of coffee and other beverages
available in single-cup, which
is extensive. That many options
comes with a price, however.
Steve Bailey, CEO and Chairman
of Merus Refreshment Services Inc.
based in Greenville, SC, says single
cup is a substantial portion of his
business revenue. While in the past
customers weren't willing to pay over
20 cents per cup, they will now pay
I
SINGLE
CUP
POINT-OF-USE
WATER
PANTRY
SERVICE
COLD
BREW
BEAN-TO-
CUP WITH
DIGITAL
SCREENS
32 Automatic Merchandiser VendingMarketWatch.com February/March 2017
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