From small law firms to large manufacturing plants, all kinds of businesses can benefit from coffee services. Overall cost can be a big deterrent, though - you may not have the budget to pay for regular coffee services. Prices can range from six to 60 cents per cup, depending on the quality and the brand of coffee. This can add up: coffee services for a 50-person company, for example, could cost several hundred dollars per month. Decide whether this is an expense you want to take on before discussing it broadly with your staff.

Any business with more than 20 people is a candidate for office coffee services. If you have fewer than 20 employees, you're probably better off buying a small coffee maker and a few pounds of coffee from the local supermarket.

Coffee services offerings
As the name of the service indicates, coffee is the primary focus. Most vendors offer regular and decaffeinated coffees from local and national manufacturers. You can select from a variety of flavored, gourmet, or even organic brands for an additional cost. Vendors also provide the creamers, sweeteners, and stirrers for employees to make a cup suitable to their individual tastes. You can also order assorted teas, hot chocolate, instant soups, and oatmeal.

Coffee services let you decide how often you want the vendor to deliver the coffee and supplies - weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. Make sure you select a schedule that provides enough coffee to serve all your employees. You also want to make sure you consistently get fresh product, so don't order too frequently if you won't use it.

Equipment
Coffee services vendors typically provide the brewing equipment you need at no charge. Brewers can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars, but you don't pay anything extra - you simply return the equipment if you discontinue the service. However, you may need to order a certain amount of product each month to be entitled to the equipment. In lieu of a minimum spend, some vendors will rent the equipment for a monthly fee.

The type of equipment you get varies from company to company. Most of the industry uses coffee brewers with standard glass carafes or thermal (enclosed steel) pots. However, the high-end market is shifting towards single-cup dispenser units that make cups of coffee from individual fractionated packs (or "Frac Pacs.") This provides employees with constantly fresh cups of coffee that they can prepare to their liking. A single-cup brewer is also very fast - it can take less than a minute to prepare each cup.

Single-cup brewers are more expensive - Frac Pacs can cost four to five times more than a standard cup of coffee - and you won't be able to brew coffee for several employees at once. To offset some of the expense, you can add a coin-operated mechanism and charge employees a small fee per cup. However, employees may look outside the office to meet their caffeine needs if they're expected to pay.

Some advanced brewing systems connect to your water line for a constant source of hot water. You may have to pay hundreds of dollars for installation, filters, and hardware, as well as replacement cartridges every few months so find out if this is the right option for you.