As we get closer to the end of another financial year, I have been reflecting on 2019 along with the trends it brought. I have spotted a few workplace coffee trends while dealing with catering managers, operations managers, facilities directors, and customer service directors. 

Here, I’ll highlight some of these trends I noticed in 2019 and also share my thoughts on what the trends in 2020 will be. 

Workplace Refreshment Trends 

As a London based account manager at The Vending People, I have the pleasure of dealing with companies of all sizes based in the city and surrounding areas.

The main trends in the last year have been around sustainability, premium coffee and healthy snacks.  

Here are my takeaways. 

Sustainability 

Our water filter solution supplier Brita, did a brilliant report on the future of workplace sustainability. Their research showed that 86% of millennials and Gen Z choose to stay longer at a company if it reported back on its sustainability initiatives. 31% said that hydration stations are a key element of their dream offices of the future.  

Workplace sustainability is no longer a “trend”. It has become a critical success factor for businesses. A lot of the business managers I talk to in the city are making a deliberate effort to protect the future of the planet and our wonderful environment.

This strategy will pay off in the long term, not just because it tells a great story to potential customers and employees. It will have a positive impact on our environment too!

Because of this, The Vending People offer unique popup vending concepts to our customers. We want to tackle some of the challenges our customers care about like reduction in single use plastics and the availability of on the go healthy snacking. We even recently introduced a machine refurbishment service. Get in touch with me for more information about that. 

One of our partners, Crane have adopted a KeepCup policy to minimise the quantity of single-use cups used at their HQ, and we do a similar thing by giving out a branded re-usable cups. 

Premium Coffee 

2019 was a massive year for workplace coffee machines. We placed some of the best coffee machines in offices around London and surrounding areas.

It is no doubt that consumers have developed a taste for premium coffee. If you are currently considering a machine for your office, we have a handy guide to help you choose the best coffee machine for your office.

As a company, we were proud to work with QA to provide a flexible refreshment solution for their training centres across the UK. Almost half of the machines we upgraded for them were bean to cup. A clear indication that their delegates expect a certain taste profile which we were able to meet. You can read that case study here.  

Healthy Eating 

Our report on the evolution of snacking shows that in the UK, ZERO-sugar canned drinks are this year’s most popular drink choice.

On the other hand, high-sugar bottles have seen the biggest drop. Sales of these drinks were down by 19.8% when compared to the same timespan last year. 

There was also an increase in snack sales of 16% year-on-year. Transition snacks saw the biggest year-on-year increase (35.7%) followed by high-sugar choices (22.4%). However, low-calorie snacks are the most popular snack in 2019. We sold 169% more low-calorie snacks than the other choices we offer. 

Summary 

2019 was a great year for us and 2020 looks to be even more exciting. I believe sustainability and health will be huge talking points again this year, however, with the introduction of iced coffee from Monster and Costa, we might see an increase in people searching for those products. 

What do you think? 

If you would like to find out more about how The Vending People can help you with your workplace refreshment solution, please get in touch with me.